Husband: Rowland BIRD
Birthdate: 27 Apr 1793
Birthplace: Massachusetts - [1,2]
Death date: 22 Sep 1840
Place of death: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan - [17,18]
Burial:
Father:
Mother:
Other Spouses:

Marriage date: 19 Feb 1814 [19,20,21,22]
Marriage place: Plainfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts

Wife: Lydia FORD
Birthdate: 22 Sep 1795
Birthplace: Plainfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts - [23,24]
Death date: 23 May 1846
Place of death: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan - [25]
Burial:
Father: Solomon FORD
Mother: Anne COOK
Other Spouses:

CHILDREN

Child No. 1: Lorinda BIRD
Sex: F
Birthdate: 7 Feb 1814
Birthplace:
Death date: 8 Apr 1840
Place of death: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Burial:
Marriage date: 1 Mar 1840
Marriage place: Hillsdale County, Michigan
Spouses' names: Leander CANDEE

Child No. 2: Salome BIRD
Sex: F
Birthdate: 15 Jun 1816
Birthplace: New York
Death date: 5 Sep 1855
Place of death: Whiteford, Monroe County, Michigan
Burial: Van Aucken Cemetery, Whiteford, Monroe County, Michigan
Marriage date: [1] 6 Oct 1834 [2] 17 Apr 1850
Marriage place: [1] Whiteford, Monroe County, Michigan [2] Whiteford, Monroe County, Michigan
Spouses' names: [1] Ira SAWYER [2] Isaac FOREMAN

Child No. 3: Almond BIRD
Sex: M
Birthdate: 9 Mar 1818
Birthplace: Palmyra, Ontario County, New York
Death date: BET 1873 AND 1880
Place of death: Winona County, Minnesota
Burial:
Marriage date: 1842
Marriage place:
Spouses' names: Julia Bassett AMBLER

Child No. 4: Allen BIRD
Sex: M
Birthdate: 26 Jun 1820
Birthplace: Palmyra, Ontario County, New York
Death date: 3 Mar 1839
Place of death: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Burial:
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouses' names:

Child No. 5: Priscilla BIRD
Sex: F
Birthdate: 6 Jun 1822
Birthplace: Palmyra, Ontario County, New York
Death date: Aft 2 Jun 1880
Place of death:
Burial:
Marriage date: 4 Apr 1843
Marriage place: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Spouses' names: Nelson DOTY

Child No. 6: Anna Marie BIRD
Sex: F
Birthdate: 10 Feb 1825
Birthplace:
Death date: BET 1836 AND 1840
Place of death: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Burial:
Marriage date: 1845
Marriage place:
Spouses' names:

Child No. 7: Eunice BIRD
Sex: F
Birthdate: 7 Apr 1828
Birthplace: Macedon, Wayne County, New York
Death date: 9 Apr 1840
Place of death: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Burial:
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouses' names:

Child No. 8: Horace BIRD
Sex: M
Birthdate: 1 Sep 1834
Birthplace: Michigan Territory
Death date: 18 Sep 1840
Place of death: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Burial:
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouses' names:
 
 
Documentation:
1. Horace Burbank Sawyer Bible, Family Info: Sawyer family, Present Owner: ?. Sawyer Family Bible - Presented to Horace B. Sawyer by Minnie E. Sawyer October 29, 1896.
2. Charles A. Flagg, An Index of Pioneers from Massachusetts to the West Especially the State of Michigan, Volume: R929.1 F57, The Salem Press, Massachusetts, 1915, indicates Rowland Bird, b. Mass in 1793 settled in New York and then Michigan.
3. 1820 Ontario County, New York - Roland Bird household, Record Type: Federal Census, Household: Roland Bird household, Record Info: Palmyra, pg 179, Film: M33_62, 1820.
Roland Bird
Males: 1<10, 1 16<18, 1 16<26, 1 26<45
Females: 2 <10, 1 26<45
4. 1830 Wayne County, New York - Rowland Bird household, Record Type: Federal Census, Household: Rowland Bird household, Record Info: Macedon, pg 101, Film: M19_117, 1830.
Rowland Bird
Males: 1 5<10, 1 10<15, 1 30<40
Females: 2 <5, 1 5<10, 1 10<15, 1 15<20, 1 30<40
5. Grant signers found in pre-1908 Michigan Cash & Homestead Entries on the Cadastral Survey Plat of Township 8 South, Range 2 West (roughly Ransom Twp. - Hillsdale County), Grant signers found in pre-1908 Michigan Cash & Homestead Entries on the Cadastral Survey Plat of Township 8 South, Range 2 West (roughly Ransom Twp. - Hillsdale County) These documents were signed between 1837 and 1839.
6. Hillsdale County Historical Society and Hillsdale County Bicentenial Commision, 150 Years Hills and Dales http://www.jowest.net/Research/RansomTwp.htm: Ransom Township, Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas, 1976, Chapter on Ranson Township indicates Priscilla Bird married Nelson Doty April 4, 1843 so she must have been alive during 1840 census.
7. 1840 Hillsdale County, MIchigan - Rowland Bird household, Record Type: Federal Census, Household: Rowland Bird household, 1840.
Rowland Bird
Males: 1 <5, 2 20<30, 1 40<50
Females: 1 10<15, 1 15<20, 1 40<50
8. 1834 Michigan Territory Statehood Petition List
9. Charles A. Flagg, Pioneers from Massachusetts, Index indicates Rowland Bird of Massachusetts settled in New York then in Michigan. Cites two books: The Bean Creek Valley. Incidents of its early settlement. (New York?) and History of Hillsdale County, Michigan.
10. Plainfield (Massachusetts) Births, marriages and intentions, deaths, 1785-1960, and indexes, 1785- 1960, Compiler Address: Town Clerk.
11. Osseo & Jefferson Township - MI Hillsdale County Community Center, Url:
http://www.hillsdalecounty.info/history0100.asp.
12. Historical Highlites of Ransom - MI Hillsdale County Community Center, URL:
http://www.hillsdalecounty.info/history0096.asp.
13. Historical Highlites of Ransom.
14. Historical Highlites of Ransom.
15. MI Hillsdale - Osseo & Jefferson Township.
16. NY Wayne - Townships - Macedon, Url:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywayne/index.html, PROFILE OF MACEDON, WAYNE COUNTY, NEW YORK From the 1824 Gazetteer of the State of New York, by Horatio Gates Spafford
17. Sawyer Bible.
18. Historical Highlites of Ransom.
19. Elizabeth (Cobb) Stewart, New England Historical and Genealogical Register: Descendants of Andrew Ford of Weymouth, Mass., Volume: 119 and 120, 1965-1966, Lydia Ford married in Plainsfield, 5 May 1814, Roland Bird of Cummington. They may have removed to Palmyra, N.Y., in 1820. No children are known. Based on Plainfield town records and Wayne County, N.Y. Deed, Book 4, p. 466-67.
20. Marriage Index: Massachusetts, 1633-1850, Rowland Bird found in: Marriage Index: Massachusetts, 1633-1850
Marriage date: Feb 19, 1814 in: Cummington, Hampshire Co., MA Gender: M This record can be found at: Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, Film # 0234538. Spouse name: Ford, Lydia
21. Plainford, MA Vital Records.
22. MA Marriage Index 1633-1850, Rowland Bird married Lydia Ford Feb 19, 1814 in Cummington, Hampshire Co., MA
23. Sawyer Bible.
24. Elizabeth (Cobb) Stewart, Ford Descendants (NEHGR).
25. Sawyer Bible.
26. Elizabeth (Cobb) Stewart, Ford Descendants (NEHGR), NEHGR article indicates the Lydia Ford who married Roland Bird was the daughter of Solomon Ford and Anne Cook. ... May 62 in Abington and died 7 Jan 1849 in Wayne County, N.Y. and was buried in Lock Berlin Cemetery.
27. Elizabeth (Cobb) Stewart, Ford Descendants (NEHGR), Indicates that Anne Cooks was born in Doughlas 20 May 1769, died in Wayne County 10 Aug 1857, buried beside he husband.

Notes:
Husband
Census[3]: 1820 Place: Palmyra, Ontario County, New York
Census[4]: 1830 Place: Macedon, Wayne County, New York
[5]: BET 1837 AND 1839 Place: Hillsdale County, Michigan
Census[6,7]: 1840 Place: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Census[8]: 1834 Place: Monroe County, Michigan Territory
[9]: Place:
Res[10]: 1814 Place: Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts
[11,12]: 8 Mar 1836 Place: Hillsdale County, Michigan
Res[13]: 9 Mar 1840 Place: Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Loc[14]: 2 Apr 1849 Place: Bird, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Res[15]: Apr 1837 Place: Jefferson, Hillsdale County, Michigan
Res[16]: 29 Jan 1823 Place: Macedon, Wayne County, New York

Notes for Almond
Residence: 6 Jan 1859 Winona County, Minnesota
Residence: BET MAY 1853 AND 30 JUL 1855 Winona County, Minnesota
Residence: 1867 Winona County, Minnesota
1850 Cambria Twp, Hillsdale County, Michigan
1860 Troy, Winona County, Minnesota
1870 Saratoga, Winona County, Minnesota

Notes for Priscilla
14 Jun 1860 Hillisdale, Hillsdale County, Michigan
1870 Ransom, Hillsdale County, Michigan
2 Jun 1880 Ransom, Hillsdale County, Michigan
29 Jul 1850 Rowland, Hillsdale County, Michigan

Other notes:
* Hillsdale Hist. History of Hillsdale County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches. Philadelphia, Everts & Abbott, 1879. 334 p. (L. C., Y. S.)
* With the opening of the Erie Canal, many families in New York State and other eastern states felt the time was right to seek land in Michigan. The years 1835-1850 brought almost a flood of new settlers into the southern portions Michigan.
* On March 8,1836 the first white settler arrived in the area, by the name of Rowland Bird. He brought along his wife and seven children and a man by the name of Leander Candee, a man of all work.
* On January 28, 1840 the Township was named "Roland" in honor of its first settler. On March 9th. 1848 the Township was renamed, Ransom due to the influence of "certain parties" living in the Township, Who these people were has been lost in time but the residents of the Township believed the pioneer of the Township should be honored so on April 2, 1849 the name was changed to "Bird Township". The final act which named the Town and Township, Ransom was adopted March 28, 1850.
* Residents of the Township believed the pioneer of the Township should be honored so on April 2, 1849 the name was changed to "Bird Township" from "Ranson". The final act which named the Town and Township, Ransom was adopted March 28, 1850.

Prepared by: Janis Parkison Rodriguez ivakota@smartneighborhoood.net