An early-day abstractor in Marshall County, Oklahoma was L. E. Green, who prepared abstracts under his own name and certificate. The Guaranty Abstract Co. was operated by E. Floyd Taylor and purchased by Ollie Logan Beard in 1923. The Pioneer Abstract Co. was operated by Roy Stone, and later acquired by Winston Smith. It was purchased by Wayne H. Beard, son of Ollie Logan Beard, for his father in 1950. Marshall County Abstract Co. was operated by S. P. Boyd and was purchased from his heirs by Ollie Logan Beard in 1944.
All index books and records of Guaranty Abstract Co., Pioneer Abstract Co., and Marshall County Abstract Co. are now located under one roof, and abstracts prepared under the Certificate of Authority of Marshall County Abstract Company in Madill.
Ollie Logan Beard was the sole proprietor of the company at his death in 1951, leaving it to his wife, Gertrude, and children, Ollie Logan Jr., Wayne H., Norvell Ayres, and Pauline E. Bomar. After Wayne's death in 1961, his son sold his interest in the business to cousin, Herschel. O. L., Jr. later sold his interest to his brother, Norvell.
Herschel is a third-generation abstractor. He moved to Madill in 1974 and began working in the plant with his father, and later purchased Norvell's interest in August 1985. Pauline Bomar continued to be a partner in the firm, but died in 1987. Herschel is now the sole managing partner of the firm. Herschel is Past President of Oklahoma Land Title Association, selected as their Title Person of the Year in 2001, and served many years as a member of the Education Committee. Currently, he is serving as the Finance Chair on the American Land Title Association’s Board of Governors, a member of the Abstractor/Agent Section, ALTA’s Education Committee and as the Oklahoma trustee for TIPAC. Herschel is active in the United Methodist Church, Rotary Club, Madill Committee Day Care Center, and chair of the city planning and zoning commission. He is married to Sue Jennings Beard and they have two grown sons, Wade, and J.T., both of whom are fourth-generation licensed abstractors.
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