Willard L. Beard (1865-1947) was born in Huntington, Connecticut and received the A.B. degree from Oberlin College in 1891. In 1894, he married Ellen L. Kinney of Union, Connecticut (1868-1953), a student from 1893-94 in the Oberlin Theological Seminary and Academy. The Beards were missionaries in Foochow, China from 1907 to 1947. Their daughter, Phebe Beard, was born in Foochow in 1895 and received the A.B. degree from Oberlin in 1919. She was active in the Oberlin Band of Student Volunteers for Foreign Missions. In 1921, she was commissioned by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to teach at the Girls' School in Ponasang, Foochow. She died there in 1925.
From the description of Papers, 1910-1925. (Oberlin College Library). WorldCat record id: 27115997
