Greenbrier County, West Virginia          Biography of HARRY L. BEARD, M. D.

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 613


HARRY L. BEARD, M. D., a representative physician
engaged in successful general practice at Lewisburg, the
county seat of Greenbrier County, expresses in unostenta-
tious and effective service his professional and personal
stewardship.  He is a native of this county, his birth
having occurred September 7, 1869, and he is a scion of one
of the old and honored families of Greenbrier County. Here
was born his father, John J. Beard, and also his grand-
father, Joseph Beard, whose father, William Beard, was
the founder of the family in this section. Joseph Beard, a
farmer and stock-grower, removed to Pocahontas County
just prior to the outbreak of the Civil war, and there he
passed the remainder of his life. John J. Beard likewise
was a representative of farm industry in the earlier part
of his career, and after his removal to Pocahontas County
lie was there elected clerk of the courts. He served as a
soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, in which he
was made lieutenant in a cavalry regiment, and he took part
in numerous engagements, in one of which, near Winches-
ter, he was wounded. He was one of the honored and
influential citizens of Pocahontas County at the time of
his death, in 1898. His wife was Minerva A. Edmiston. Of
their three children two are living.

Doctor Beard was reared in Pocahontas County.  He
advanced his education along academic lines by attending
Hillsboro Academy, the University of West Virginia and
the historic old University of Virginia. While a student
at the last named institution, in 1891, he entered its
medical department, and in the same he was graduated
as a member of the class of 1893. After thus receiving his
degree of Doctor of Medicine he entered the United States
marine-hospital service at New Orleans, and while there
holding the position of interne he gained most valuable
clinical experience.  In 1895 he returned to Lewisburg,
where he has since continued in the active practice of his
profession and where, in years of consecutive practice, he
now has priority as the next oldest physician of the city.
When the nation became involved in the World war Doctor
Beard promptly tendered his services by entering the
medical corps of the United States Army, his preliminary
training having been received at Camp Greenleaf, at Fort
Oglethorpe, Georgia. Thereafter he was stationed in turn
at Camps Hill and Stuart.  In May, 1918, he entered
active service as ship's surgeon on a transport assigned to
the conveying of troops from the United States to France,
and he continued his service in this important capacity
until the close of the war.

Doctor Beard has been a close student of the best
standard and periodical literature of his profession, has
taken various post-graduate courses and has kept in close
touch with the advances made in medical and surgical
science. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and as a citizen
he is loyal and public-spirited.