Richard Beard
Richard Beard came up from Virginia to the South River country of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, with Col. William Burgess. The two men were brothers-in-law. Burgess's wife, Elizabeth, and Beard's wife, Rachel, were sisters, daughters of Edward Robins of the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
He was a surveyor, and he built a mill on the creek that took his name, Beard's Creek. His son Richard became a surveyor too, and drew the first map of Annapolis.
He made his will on 24 July 1675. To "wife Rachel" he left the home plantation for her life and made her his executrix. After her the plantation was to go to his sons Richard and John. He left "to dau. Ruth and her sons, part of 'Timber Neck,'" and to his daughter Rebecca and her sons part of "Indian Range." If those children died without issue, everything was to go to "dau. Rachel Clarke and her sons." He named his "Brother-in-law Wm. Burgess" and Burgess's sons as overseers, the men who were to see the will carried out.
He lived six more years. The will was proved on 10 August 1681.
His daughter Ruth was single when he wrote it. She was probably the Ruth who married John Gaither of South River, whose first child was born in January 1677/8 and whose son later swore that his mother was a Beard.
Children
Sources
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Cite: Heirology, "Richard Beard (d. 1681)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/richard-beard-1681-fe4a2d.