Sullivan County PA Archives Biographies.....BIRD, Oliver H. 1846 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 10, 2007, 11:46 pm Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899) OLIVER H. BIRD. - The subject of this sketch is a prominent member of a family which has long been influential and well known in the history of Sullivan county. More than a century ago, or in 1793, his great-grandfather, Powell Bird, and family emigrated from their ancestral home in Norfolk, England, to America. He crossed the ocean with John Warner and a Mr. Molyneux. For two years he lived in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and then came to Forks township, Sullivan county, to property which was then in the wilderness, and which for more than a hundred years has now been in possession of the family. To each of the three emigrants, Messrs. Bird, Warren and Molyneux, Joseph Priestly had presented a deed for fifty acres as an inducement to bring cultivation and civilization to the wild surroundings. In England Powell Bird had married Lydia Hannant, and the young wife and her babes made with him the long pilgrimage to the new home. The first white child born in Forks township was a daughter of Powell and Lydia Bird, Rebecca, who married Edward Molyneux. The emigrants lived to a good old age and died on the wilderness home and were buried on the farm. George Bird, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Norfolk, England, in 1789, and was three years of age when, in 1793, home ties were broken and a start made for the fertile fastnesses of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Sullivan county and here married Sally King, who was a native of England. Their children were Phoebe, born November 23, 1813, widow of John Fawcett, of Elkland township; Powell, born January 16, 1815, married Sarah P. Molyneux, and died March 8, 1896; Mary, born November 8, 1816, widow of Thomas Norton, of Forks township; Thomas, born August 1, 1818, died October 8, 1819; Esther, born April 29, 1820, married Richard Biddell, and died October 15, 1894; Lydia, born March 3, 1822, widow of Joseph Fawcett, of Elkland township; Charles, father of our subject, born June 21, 1821, died October 15, 1897; William born July 2, 1826, died February 20, 1828; George C., born February 15, 1829, married Harriet Kaye; Ann, born August 10, 1832, died March 21, 1879; and John K., the youngest, born November 25, 1837, married Caroline Yonkin, and is now a prominent farmer of Forks township, and the owner of the old Bird homestead. Caroline Yonkin was the daughter of Peter Yonkin, a prominent farmer of Sullivan county. George Bird remained a farmer through life and died July 14, 1872, aged eighty-three years; his wife died September 3, 1867, aged seventy-nine years. The remains of both were interred in the Bird family burying-ground, on the old homestead in Forks township. Charles Bird, father of our subject, was a life-long resident of Forks township, and, like his ancestors, devoted his attention to the tilling of the soil. At the age of twenty-one he moved to the farm now worked by his son Oliver H., and here remained through life. He was married to Harriet Molyneux, of Sullivan county, daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Rogers) Molyneux, and a descendant of the Mr. Molyneux who emigrated from Norfolk, England, to America with Powell Bird in 1793. To Charles and Harriet Bird were born five children: Oliver H., subject of this sketch; Ruth, who married George Reinbolt, a farmer of Forks township; William, a farmer of Forks township; and Angeline and Adeline, twins. The former married Louis McCarty and is deceased; Adeline is the wife of James Farrell, of Forks township. Charles Bird was a man of considerable prominence. In politics he was a Republican and he was called by his fellow citizens to hold many local offices of trust and responsibility. He died October 15, 1897, aged seventy-two years. His widow, who was born January 12, 1825, still survives and resides with our subject. Oliver H. was born on the farm he now cultivates, March 24, 1846. His boyhood and youth were spent here, and through the earlier years of his manhood he continued to till the acres, remaining on the old farm until 1883, when he settled upon a tract of fifty acres in the rough wilderness, which by his unremitting energies he cleared and reduced to a high state of cultivation. Upon the death of his father, in 1897, he returned to the old homestead to care for the aged mother. Our subject was married December 6, 1872, at Millview, Sullivan county, to Miss Catherine Hunsinger, who was born in Forks township, May 18, 1851, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Probst) Hunsinger. There were born to them six children: Samuel J., who married Viola A. Clark and is a farmer of Forks township; Clara M., wife of James Dristol, a farmer of Forks township; Jennie L., wife of Tilman J. Clark, a farmer of Forks township; Ralph, Mary S., and Angeline, deceased. Oliver H. Bird is a member of the Methodist Protestant church and in politics is an earnest Republican. He is not an office-seeker, but at times has been elected to local offices, having filled the offices of assessor and school director. Few men can claim a family residence in Sullivan county, so long continued. The record of these four generations has been one of honest toil, blameless conduct, and intelligent view of the relations of life, a public-spirited interest in the welfare of the community, - in brief, a typical presentation of that high American citizenship which constitutes the heart and brain of the country. He is honored and esteemed by his fellow men, and is held to be one of the prominent substantial men of Sullivan county. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Sullivan County Pennsylvania by Thomas J. Ingham Compendium of Biography The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago: 1899 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 6.3 Kb