Beard Surname

My grandmother Ruth Osborne was a Beard. These are vital statistic documents I have for some of her immediate family.

In light of recent coal mine disasters, it's interesting to note how commonplace they were in the early 1900's. Three of Ruth's brothers were killed in two separate mine collapses. One in 1926 and the other two in 1942.

An interesting story that was passed down to me from my family happened in regards to the mine collapse in 1942, when Ennis and Oscar were killed. So the story goes, about the same time of the mine collapse, the folks at the homeplace heard a strange rattling noise against the side of the house with nothing to explain it. The family cemetery sat just a few yards away from the home. When the locals came to help dig graves for the two boys the next day, they threw their shovels up against the house, making the exact same noise that had been heard the morning of the accident.

Take it for what you will. I'm personally not a believer in "ghost" stories. But a lot of people are.