John Wesley Beard

BEARD MOWERS CRASWELL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 4/2/2010 at 16:54:09

Woodbury County History 1982

Rev John Wesley Beard
By Lani Pettit

John W Beard, 1883-1951, was born in Kirwin, Phillips County, Kansas, the son of Sam and Rosetta (Mowers) Beard. When he was small his mother remarried. Thomas Pettit, was like a father to John and his brother Dan. When they came to Sioux City, John was eight or nine years old. (See also biography of Frank Pettit.) He attended Worcester (‘Wooster’) school.

As a boy John already showed a great interest in the history of Sioux City. He would often stop at Floyd Monument with brother, Frank, and talk about the Oregon Trail.

In 1908, John married Miss Lulu Craswell. The Beards had three sons, John Craswell, Robert Wallace, and Paul Douglas. Their only daughter, a twin to John C, died at birth.

John attended Buena Vista, at Storm Lake, and Omaha Theological seminary to become a Presbyterian minister. He served churches in Randolph and Wayne, Nebraska, as well as Third Presbyterian in Sioux City. For 25 years, he was Pastor at Mount Tabor Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon.

During WWI, John was a chaplain with the 91st Division. Ministering to the wounded in some of the most dangerous places, Chaplain ‘Chappy’ Beard was called, ‘the fighting chaplain’. He became a captain, and received the French Croix de Guerre, and also the Silver Star and was cited for the Distinguished Service Cross award. He was chaplain with the 41st division before WWII. Later, he was chaplain of the Oregon National Guard.

In 1919, John began the first of many traveling adventures dreamed about in boyhood days. He traveled the Missouri River from Sioux City to St Louis. A few years later, he along with son, Robert, finished the trip by canoeing 1,200 miles from Three Forks, Montana, to Bismarck, North Dakota. In 1948, John and Lu rode the Oregon Trail on horseback from Oregon City to Independence, Missouri. An account of their trip is recorded in his book ‘Saddles East’.

John Beard was a strong man, who loved the out-of-doors; and a good Christian who was admired and high regarded by those who knew him.