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Nathan Beauregard

Shiloh M.B. Church in Ashland, Mississippi

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Nathan Beauregard backstage at the 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival
Nathan Beauregard backstage at the 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival

Memphis Country Blues Society

In 2017, Dr. Augusta Palmer reached out to the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund while making a documentary film about the Memphis Country Blues Society (MCBS), and she wanted to memorialize one of the artists that performed at the Memphis Country Blues Festival (MCBF) in the 1960s. The members of the MCBS referred to the artist as Nathan Beauregard, but historians had compiled very little information about him over the past 50 years, and the myths associated with his alleged age of over 100 years and re-emergence as a performing artist served as a poor replacement for actual knowledge about the African American experience in Memphis and his native Benton County, Mississippi. By compiling the published and unpublished research of scholars as well as mining official government documents and newspaper articles, the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund discovered that his real name was Nathan Bogard, and he died in 1970 at the age of 78. On May 30, 1970, the Brittenum Funeral Home of Holly Springs, Mississippi buried his remains at Shiloh M.B. Church Cemetery in Ashland, Mississippi. 

“Nathan Beauregard stayed [in Ashland], like one of the jinn bottled up by Solomon for eons, living on well past what can really be called ‘old age,’ until his life came to resemble the myth of the blues itself, patient, undying, and indomitable…Beauregard’s musical breakthrough would not come until he was almost one hundred years old. Then, like a genie in the Arabian Nights loosed by a chance passerby—in this instance, a Memphis hippie—he would perform at the Memphis Country Blues Festival, make recordings, and appear on the television screen of Joe Beard in Rochester, New York, who gazed in mute astonishment at the flickering image of the ancient man singing ‘Spoonful Blues’ on the public television station.”

—Daniel Beaumont

"Nathan Beauregard" - Artwork © Gary Tennant, 2018
“Nathan Beauregard” – Artwork © Gary Tennant, 2018
Mt. Zion Memorial Fund research specialist Abdulrahman Ajibola installing the headstone of Nathan Beauregard on January 8, 2023.
Mt. Zion Memorial Fund research specialist Abdulrahman Ajibola installing the headstone of Nathan Beauregard on January 8, 2023.

Historical Consciousness

The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund for Blues, Music, and Justice aims to raise the historical consciousness of blues enthusiasts as well as promote a more inclusive process of memorialization, and this project reflects the amazing potential of a more self-conscious and collaborative inquiry. The death certificate of Nathan Beauregard was discovered due to the determined efforts of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund’s Memphis affiliate Bill Pichette, who managed the campaign to mark the grave of Charlie Burse and clean up Rose Hill Cemetery in 2018. He soon learned that Beauregard’s exact death date was unclear, and he searched several Memphis newspapers for his obituary from May 1 – June 15, 1970, knowing that he died sometime in May 1970. Despite previously locating the obituaries of other blues artists, namely fiddler Will Batts, Pichette knew that this time-consuming method had great potential. In this case, it only proved frustrating, as he scanned page after page of microfilm to no avail. Most researchers would have given up and thrown in the towel, but the affiliates of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund realize that the research process is often daunting, sometimes excruciatingly disappointing. Our ethical practice of memorialization, however, is grounded in archival research, and it can be a most rewarding experience, especially for someone whose passion for the music inspires a greater curiosity about the African American lived experience.

No Centenarian 

Nathan Bogard was actually in his late seventies when he passed. In 1900, Frank Bogard and his wife Ellen (Ayres) Bogard told the census enumerator that their sixth child, Nathan, was born in February 1892. The Bogards lived in Beat 3 of Benton County, Mississippi. His registration card for World War I lists his birthdate as 1893. While his death certificate lists his birthdate as 1883, the most accurate document to determine date of birth is usually the earliest document. The 1900 US Census, therefore, which contains the information that his parents gave when he was eight years old, is the most accurate information available.
Shiloh Missionary Baptist (MB) Church in Ashland, Mississippi
Shiloh Missionary Baptist (MB) Church in Ashland, Mississippi
Bogard family headstone

The cemetery contains the headstones of several members of his family, MZMF affiliate Emily Hilliard worked with the deacons and congregation at the church to obtain permission to install his headstone near the graves of his ancestors. You can read her blog posts about her efforts on our research blog. Click HERE for the first installment and HERE for the second post.

We solicited the help of Bolton, UK artist Gary Tennant to render a line-drawing of his signature Kingston “Swinga” guitar, and we hired master stonemason, Alan Orlicek, to engrave the guitar on his memorial. On January 8, 2023, the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund dedicated his headstone at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Ashland, Mississippi with church members and several fans in attendance.
Nathan Beauregard and his cousin Marvin at the Memphis Country Blues Festival in the 1960s
The headstone of Nathan Beauregard at Shiloh MB Church in Ashland, MS. The line drawing for the Kingston Swinga guitar was done by Gary Tennant, and master engraver, Alan Orlicek, fabricated the marker.
The headstone of Nathan Beauregard at Shiloh MB Church in Ashland, MS. The line drawing for the Kingston Swinga guitar was done by Gary Tennant, and master engraver, Alan Orlicek, fabricated the marker.
Research is Respect
Research is Respect

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