He studied theology and was licensed to preach by the Donegal Presbytery in 1777; he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry at Lower Conotheague in 1779, and was a missionary in Virginia and west of the Allegheny Mountains. From 1786 to 1789 he was a pastor at Bedford, Pennsylvania, and later at Frankstown (now Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania).

Bard was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fourth and Fifth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1795 to March 3, 1799.

He was elected as a Republican to the Eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1803, until his death in Alexandria, Pennsylvania; he was interred in Sinking Valley Cemetery, near Arch Spring.

References

• The Political Graveyard