From Bridgeport Post, December 4, 1954: Bethel, Dec. 2 — Mrs. Cora Barnum Beard, widow of George E. Beard, died yesterday in Sunnyside hospital, Stratford. A lifelong resident of Bethel, she had been in the hospital several years.
Services will take place from Hull's funeral home Saturday at 2 p.m. with burial in Bethel Cemetery. Mrs.Beard was a direct descendant of Thomas Barnum, one of the group from Fairfield who founded Danbury, and of Capt. Ephraim Barnum of the Revolutionary War. She was an active member of the Society of Founders and Patriots and of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a member of the Bethel Congregational Church 80 years. Mrs. Beard is survived by a daughter, Mrs. B.B. Sturtevant of Bethel; a son, Theodore H. Beard of Easton, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.