RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2020



KINSEARCHING

by

Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
 

     In this week’s column, we present miscellaneous selected data from the December 1923 (Volume 3, Number 2) issue of The Cumberland Alumnus. The periodical was published by the Alumni Association of Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Surnames are capitalized for emphasis. Some punctuation may be changed for clarity.)

     Page 6 contains a picture and full-page article about the resignation of Judge E. E. BEARD. Here are some excerpts from the essay.

     “Owing to ill health, Judge Edward Ewing BEARD, Professor of Law and Dean of the Law School of Cumberland University, recently handed in his resignation to the Trustees, having served as Professor of Law since 1911 and Dean since 1920.... Judge Beard was born at Princeton, Ky., August 27, 1850. He was the...son of the late Dr. Richard BEARD, for many years a Professor of Systematic Theology in Cumberland University.

     He received his A. B. degree from Cumberland University in June, 1870, and the LL.B. degree a year later. Cumberland University conferred on him the LL.D. degree only last June.

     Soon after his graduation, Judge Beard was made a Trustee of the University and at the same time was made the Treasurer of the Board. He remained a Trustee until October 1920 and Treasurer until the same date.”

     In addition, he served in many other capacities over the years. Prominent in the affairs of the church, for example, he was made moderator of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1891 and was a member of the Committee on Church Union, which led to the union of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in 1906. He was also one of the directors of the American Bible Society for many years.

     Additionally, he was President of the American National Bank in Lebanon, Tennessee, for many years. In the political arena, he served three terms as mayor of Lebanon, 1877-1880, and was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1885.

     E. E. Beard married Miss Sarah LIVINGSTON of Nashville, Tennessee, on October 12, 1876. They have three children: Mrs. Thomas M. PIERCE of St. Louis, Missouri; Mrs. Beverly McKENNIE of Nashville, Tennessee; and Mrs. Weaver HARRIS, also of Nashville.

     Judge Beard was one of three brothers. His deceased brother, Judge W. D. BEARD, was Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. His other brother was the Hon. Richard BEARD who practiced law in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

     A short article on page 1 furnishes information about the two men who taught Judge Beard’s classes during the first two weeks of his illness. John H. DEWITT was one of the leading attorneys in Nashville and son of the late Rev. M. B. DEWITT, who had received his A. B. degree from Cumberland University in 1856. Besides practicing law, John H. Dewitt was an elder in the Hillsboro Presbyterian Church and a prominent layman in that denomination. In June 1922, Missouri Valley College conferred upon him the LL.D. degree.

     Replacing Judge Beard as a Professor of Law until a permanent successor was found, Albert Williams, LL.B. (class of 1922), was a member of the law firm of Chamber and Williams in Nashville. Williams had studied at Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee. He was the Superintendent of Education for the State of Tennessee “a number of years ago.”

(End)


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