The Edmond Frank Bearden Family

Facts by J. D. Bearden

Edmond Frank Bearden came to East Texas about 1855, as a young boy, and settled at Gorine, a community seven miles west of Jacksonville. In 1855, he and Addie Ewing Reynolds were married. Addie had a daughter, Annie, by her previous marriage. She and Frank had two sons, Hershel and James Olney.

Frank Bearden was a farmer and lived his entire life after coming here in the Gorine community. He died in 1919 and is buried in Corine Cemetery.

Annie Reynolds Bearden married Henry Bearden, a nephew of Edmond Frank Bearden, and they had eight children: Clyde, Ruth, Mattie, Etna, Preston, Alvis, Laurie and Adalene.

Herschel Bearden married Ida Smith and they had five children. The family included Frankie, Woodrow, Johnny, Gladys and Opal, who moved with their parents to Beaumont in 1925, and have remained in the area. Hershel died in 1969, but had retired fifteen years earlier from Pure Oil Company.

James Olney Bearden married Dorothy Gray in 1914. He was a gospel music teacher and song writer, and his death occurred at the early age of 45. The James Olney Beardens had three sons, J. D., Robert and Lloyd, and a daughter, Cleta. Robert resides in Palestine, and the other children here. The early family home of Frank Bearden, where Olney spent the greater part of his life, now is owned by J. D. The J. D. Bearden home is located on this farm.

J. D., Lloyd and Cleta are associated with Bearden Furniture, founded in Jacksonville in 1937 by J. D. Bearden, oldest son of the Olney Beardens. There are four stores located in Dallas, as well as one in Jacksonville. Through the years they have had stores in Rusk, Palestine and Fort Worth.

J. D. Bearden served for three years as mayor of Jacksonville, while a member of the City Council. He has served as vice-president and director of Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, and has been active in Lions Club work.

All the members of the Bearden families were Baptist, and their original church memberships were at Friendship Baptist Church at Corine.

James Olney Bearden in a photo made in 1910.

Dorothy Gray, who married James Olney Bearden, in 1914.