| 530 cont'd | HISTORY OF ALLEN AND |
WILLIAM BIRD.
WILLIAM BIRD, one of the pioneers of Allen county and a worthy representative of the brotherhood of farmers, is a son of Emmer Bird whose entrance to Allen county, as a settler, occurred in 1857. The latter brought his family hither from Lee county, Iowa, going to the latter place, as a pioneer, from Illinois. He was born in the State of Virginia in the year 1802, was married to Prudy Hamilton, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1804 and died in 1865. He was the father of Margaret A., wife of Daniel Horville; Jasper N. Bird, of Elk Falls, Kansas; Emerilla J., wife of John McGee, of Seattle, Washington; William, our subject; Samuel L., of Arizona, and George Bird, of Iola.
Emmer Bird settled on the east bank of the Neosho river, at the site of the water mill, purchasing the claim from Judge A. W. J. Brown. He lived there a brief and uneventful period and died in 1863. His wife died the year 1865.
William Bird was born near Keokuk, Iowa, September 15, 1850. He grew up in Allen county from a boy of seven years and passed many years as a farm hand. Twenty years of this time he was in the employ of Daniel Horville and with his wages thus earned he purchased a tract of wild land on Deer Creek which he afterward improved and developed into a desirable farm.
In 1868 the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians gave the settlers in
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western Kansas much trouble and captured and carried away two white women. The State raised a regiment, the 19th Kansas, which was sent in pursuit of the warriors. William Bird joined this regiment and experienced all the hardships of a winter campaign, in a hostile and trackless country and, occasionally, with no other than mule meat for his ration. The march was down into New Mexico, where the band was overtaken and the captives recovered. This ended the trouble, for the time being, and the regiment returned to Ft. Hayes and was mustered out there in the spring of 1869.
In 1882 Mr. Bird went into the wilds of Wyoming where he joined a ranchman, and where he was employed as handy man on various ranches during the three years he remained in the Territory. On his return to Allen county he took possession of his Deer Creek farm and proceeded with its cultivation and improvement.
February 5, 1888, Mr. Bird was married to Emma Fackler, a daughter of George Fackler, a substantial and worthy German farmer of Carlyle township. The children of this marriage are Dannie E., Edna May, Grace and Pearl.
In politics our subject is well known as a Republican. He cast his first Presidential vote for General Grant in 1872 and has maintained a steady and enthusiastic attitude toward his party in recent years.
Pages 530-531, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.
