Barton-Pawnee-Rush County KS Archives Biographies.....Bird, Daniel Green 1849 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 16, 2005, 1:10 am

Author: Great Bend Tribune

DANIEL GREEN BIRD


[photo] Farm Home of Daniel Green Bird—"Bird View Farm".

THOSE who read this volume will be struck with the  nativity of the citizenship,
no doubt, and note that the southern states rarely have a representative. The
county's history has been forged by the sturdy German-American, and by men from
the middle, northern and western sections of the United States. Of course most
nations are represented, and most states; but the southern gentleman is
noticeable by his absence. He is either clannish and prefers to herd by himself,
has not forgotten the border ruffian days, or has harkened to the stories about
a cold and cyclonic Kansas. We are pleased, therefore, to record the success of
a native Virginian. A man hitherto unused to the rough life of the frontiersman.

  Daniel Greene Bird was born near Jacksonville, Floyd County, Virginia, January
19th, 1849, and at an early age removed to Raleigh County, West Virginia.
Returning to the Old Dominion he settled in Wythe County, twenty miles north
from Wythville. Shortly after his twenty-eighth birthday—on March 3rd, 1878— he
arrived in Barton County, Kansas, determined to make a home for himself and
posterity; or never to set foot on Virginia soil again. He selected a location
thirteen miles west from Great Bend and there purchased his first quarter of
land on payments from the Santa Fe Railway Company. Disastrous years followed
and he was forced to forfeit his holdings. Buying again from the same parties in
September, 1884, he contracted for three hundred and twenty acres, and paid
fifteen hundred and sixty dollars, in payments as before. This time he was
successful and paid out according to agreement; and at this date his home place
contains seven hundred and twenty acres Besides this he owns in the counties of
Barton, Pawnee and Rush five separate tracts of land amounting to eighteen
hundred and forty acres, or a total of twenty-five hundred and sixty acres.
These various tracts are all well improved and in a high state of cultivation.
They are stocked with the best farm implements procurable, and the buildings are
new, modern, and of a size to comfortably house his numerous tenants, store the
grain grown on the various farms, and stable the live stock bred and in service.

Mr. Bird is also a stockholder in the Citizens National Bank, Great Bend; Pawnee
Rock Elevator Co., and the Independent Harvester Co., Plana, Illinois.

  The home of Mr. Bird, thirteen miles northwest from Great Bend, is very
attractive in appearance and supplies all modern comforts. It is surrounded with
shade trees, grass plot and garden, and is all that a farmer's home should be.
The combination dairy and pantry, through which cold sparkling water always
flows, is the culmination of the dream of every housewife. Then there are barns,
grain elevators, feeding lots, sheds and a garage, all of proportions sufficient
to house the grain and care for the stock bred and in service on an immense farm.

  Mr. Bird inherited a love for domestic animals and has bred, bought, fed and
dealt in them for thirty years. At first he hoped that this branch of his
business would supplement the earnings of the farm and help over some of the
rough places, but latterly he has continued to handle them merely because he
prefers to have them on the place so that he can admire their beauty and satisfy
a fancy.

  Miss Martha Ellen Lee and Daniel Greene Bird were married June 25th, 1884 in
Barton County, and as a result nine children have been born. Three have passed
from them by death; a son of twelve years being killed by lightning, and one of
seventeen by drowning. Those living are: Anna May, Harry Clay, Elmer Joseph,
Daniel Dee, Mary Frances and Ruth Allen. Mrs. Bird was born August 12th, 1859,
in Knox County, Ohio, but is a member of and a close relation to the General
Robert E. Lee family of Virginia, whose mother was a Custus and a near relative
of Martha Washington.


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