Pierre Benoît Bard (1679 - 1734)

Born 1679 in Montpellier, Languedoc (Herault), France

Husband of Dinah (Marmion) Bard — married 1709 in New Castle, Delaware

Descendants

Died 13 Jul 1734 at about age 55 in Mount Holly, Burlington, Province of New Jersey

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Biography

"None of the early families of New Jersey was more interesting than that which came from Peter Benoît Bard. In this work it fills a niche of the highest importance because it is typical of of the whole Bard kinship. It is the connecting link between the Bards of Italy, Germany, France and England and the Bairds of Scotland, and the Bairds and Beards of Ireland and America.

Among Americans of Continental extraction it stands for that distinctive brand of French Protestantism that rejoices in the name of Huguenot. Unfortunately, a disposition has been shown by some of the American families of Continental extraction to confine their claim of Huguenot descent wholly to themselves, and seek to narrow the widely disseminated sects of the Bards to a few families of French Protestants. The effect of these efforts at limitation has been to obscure instead of conserve.

The Bards of Burlington, who are of unquestionable Huguenot descent, have suffered with the others from this narrowing policy, and it has been found impossible in consequence to make the history of this fanily as complete as it might have been had there been an earlier and wider recognition of the Bard kinship.

Pierre Benoît Bard was a Huguenot, who fled to England with his family in 1682, and died in London. According to some accounts, he remained in France, it being his son, Pierre (Peter), who fled with his wife and family to escape religious persecution after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but this is disproved by the fact that Peter, the younger, was married in America.

Peter Benoît Bard, son of Pierre Benoît Bard, was born at Montpellier, Languedoc, France, in 1679, and died at Burlington, N. J., July 18, 1784. He came to America in 1706, and settled at Burlington, N. J. He was naturalized, June 12, 1718. He bought a large tract of land in Burlington township in 1714, that he named Montpellier. The iron works at Mount Holly and the Eayrstown mills were included in the purchase. He sold this property in 1715, but continued to deal in lands, on which he built mills and sawmills.

He was a justice of the peace, 1720-84; Colonel Commandant of New Jersey's Regiment of Foot, May 4, 1722; and Judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey." ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ "'The Bard Family: A Chronicle of the Bards' 'Carroll's Delight' Together with A CHRONICLE OF THE BARDS and Genealogies of THE BARD KINSHIP', by G. O. SEILHAMER; KITTOCHTINNY PRESS; Penn., USA; 1908, pp. 94-5."