Edwin A. Bird

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Edwin A. Bird

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

Edwin Augustus BIRD certainly deserves representation among the men have been instrumental in promoting the welfare of Chester. He has done much to advance the wheels of progress, aiding materially in the development of business activity and energy whereon the prosperity and growth of any community always depend. He has found in each transition stage opportunity for further effort and broader labor and his enterprise has not only contributed to his individual success but has also been of marked value to the city in which he makes his home. Since 1909 Mr. Bird has been proprietor and manager of the Flagstaff Inn at Chester Crossroads and he is a stockholder in and president of Fairview Realty Company.

At Peapack, in Somerset county, New Jersey, March 7, 1856, occurred the nativity of Edwin A. BIRD. His parents, Terry H. and Mary L. (BOWMAN) BIRD, were born and reared in Chester township, Morris county, this State, and they are both now deceased, being buried in the Chester cemetery. The father was a blacksmith by trade, and he and his wife were devout members of the Congregational church. He was a Democrat in his political proclivities but never held public office of any description. The BIRD family consisted of the following children:

George H.;
Edwin A., of this sketch;
Emma, widow of former Senator Elias C. DRAKE;
Frank, deceased;
Ada, wife of Benjamin MOTT.

In the public schools of Chester, Edwin Augustus BIRD received his primary educational training. At the age of twenty years he entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the trade of painter at Morristown, remaining there for four years. He then went to Paterson, New Jersey, where he was employed in a confectionery store for a period of seven years, at the expiration of which time he engaged in the milk, cream and ice cream business at Paterson, following that line of enterprise for about twenty years. He came to Chester in 1909 and since that time has conducted the Flagstaff Inn at Chester Crossroads. This inn is an up to date hostelry and caters a great deal to automobile tourists. In addition to the hotel business Mr. BIRD is a stockholder in the Fairview Realty Company, of which corporation he is president. He is a Democrat in politics, and is president of the Chester Cemetery Association. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 88, F. and A.M. of Paterson; has passed through all the degrees up to and including the thirty second degree.

In April, 1897, Mr. BIRD married Ida H. HOWELL, born in Chester, daughter of George W. and Mary (HORTON) HOWELL, both natives of Chester township. Mr. HOWELL was engaged in business as a butcher during the major portion of his active career and he is now living in retirement at Chester. He and his wife are the parents of five children as follows:

William;
Ida H.,
Mrs. BIRD, as already noted;
Emma, wife of Alva BREESE;
Margaret and
Fannie, popular and successful teachers in the public schools of Morris county.

Mr. and Mrs. BIRD have two daughters:

Mary Ethel and
Mabel Lorraine,

who have completed the curriculum of the common schools of Chester and who are now attending high school at Succasunna. The BIRD family are members of the Chester Congregational Church.

Transcribed by E.J.Carlson.