| From History of Dane County, Wisconsin, publ. by Western
Historical Company, Chicago, 1880, page 521 AUGUSTUS A. BIRD. Mr. BIRD was born on the 1st day of April 1802, in the State of Vermont. His mother was a daughter of Dr. BURGOYNE, who was a nephew of Gen. BURGOYNE, of the British army. When three years of age, Mr. BIRD's father, with his family, moved from Vermont, and settled in Madison County, N.Y. In April 1824, he was married, in the town of Westmoreland, N.Y., to Miss Charity LE CLAR, who was a daughter of Louis LE CLAR, a Frenchman. In 1826, Mr. BIRD moved with his family to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he remained over two years, and then moved back to Madison Co., N.Y. In 1836, he located at Milwaukee, and there engaged energetically in the business of building. He was appointed one of the three Commissioners for the erection of the Territorial capitol at Madison, and was the active and efficient man of the board. On the 1st day of June, 1837, BIRD, at the head of about forty workmen, and a train of four wagons located with provisions, tools and other articles essential in commencing a new settlement, started for "The Four Lakes," the present site of Madison. There was then no road, and the party were obliged to make one for themselves. By the aid of an old map and compass, by perseverance and energy, BIRD and his party were enabled to pursue their route, chopping their way through the forests, building long corduroy roads over swamps and fording or bridging streams. In 1851 and 1856, he was chosen to represent the Madison District in the Legislature, and served the city as one of its earliest Mayors, and became well known to all early prominent men of the Territory and State. In the prime of life, he was a man of much energy, and was well fitted, by his hardihood of character, for a pioneer. He passed through many hardships and privations. On the 25th of February, 1870, he died very suddenly at the residence of his son-in-law, John STARKWEATHER, in Green Bay, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He was apparently in good health, and had, less than an hour before, walked home from town, and was sitting at the table, when his head suddenly dropped forward and he was dead. |
Last Update Monday, 07-May-2018 17:23:36 CDT
 |
WIGenWeb State Coordinator:
Tina Vickery WIGenWeb Assistante State Coordinator: Marcia Ann Kuehl Copyright 2010 by the WIGenWeb Team. All rights reserved. Copyright of submitted items belongs to those responsible for their authorship or creation unless otherwise assigned. |
 |