Alan Lindley Beard

Son of Julian “Ralph” Beard and Shirley Elaine Place Beard.

Alan Lindley Beard was born 22 November 1954, the fourth child of Julian Ralph Beard and Shirley Elaine Place Beard of Dallas, Pennsylvania. He grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania and followed his father’s example to Penn State University, earning a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1974 — the same institution where his father had studied on the GI Bill a generation earlier.

Alan went on to a career as a SCADA Engineer and Project Manager for Schneider Electric, a position he has held from 1974 to the present. SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) engineering involves the design and management of industrial monitoring and control systems. Over the course of more than fifty years with the company he has led projects across a wide range of industrial and infrastructure sectors.

He married Patti Jane Heath (born 18 December 1952), and together they raised two children, Heather Noel Beard (b. 10 Dec 1979) and Jeffrey Paul Beard (b. 28 Jan 1983). The family resided for many years in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, where Alan served for three years as Vice President of the Congregation at St. Paul’s Lutheran (Blue) Church. He currently resides in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Beyond his engineering career, Alan has devoted decades to the history of the Beard family. He is the author and maintainer of this genealogical archive — a research site tracing the descendants of Thomas Beard and Jean McNutt across fourteen generations in Virginia, West Virginia, and beyond. The archive, which incorporates census records, deed transcripts, church sessional records, and family photographs, has grown over more than twenty years of research into primary sources including Two Hundred Years and Growing: A History of Oak Grove Presbyterian Church (1988) and William T. Price’s Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, West Virginia (1901).

He is also the author of a historical fiction trilogy tracing the Baird / Beard family from Ulster in 1718 to post–Civil War West Virginia. The three novels — Under the Watch of the Rivers, The Road That Ends, and The Ground That Held — are drawn from the same genealogical record documented in this archive and represent more than two decades of research carried into fiction. He is a ninth-generation descendant of John Baird of Ulster, whose sons Thomas and Edwin crossed from Ireland to Boston in 1718. Further information about the trilogy is available at the Beard Trilogy site.

Alan Lindley Beard is the compiler and author of this genealogy archive. Family vital statistics on this page were provided directly. For the history of his father’s family, see the biography of Julian “Ralph” Beard (1923–1981).

Career: SCADA Engineer and Project Manager, Schneider Electric, 1974–present.

Education: B.S. Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 1974.

Church service: Vice President of the Congregation, St. Paul’s Lutheran (Blue) Church, Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, three years.

Publications:
• This genealogy archive (compiler and author).
• Under the Watch of the Rivers (novel).
• The Road That Ends (novel).
• The Ground That Held (novel).
The Beard Trilogy is historical fiction tracing the Baird / Beard family from Ulster, 1718, through post–Civil War West Virginia. See wvbeard.com for details.