BIRDS in Australia

[Kassa Bird]

Hi! I'm Kassa Bird, a fifth-generation Bird living in Byron Bay NSW. All we know of the first Bird is that he was William Bird, migrated from Cornwall in about 1850, and married Isobel Dunn, believed to be Scottish. We have no other details: we have wondered if he was poor, illiterate or orphaned as there is almost no information to trace (parishes, dates etc)
Any leads would be fantastic - thanks and regards, kassa x

[MarkJ]

Hi - and welcome to B-G :)
Right, I had a quick nose for William and came up with two possibles in the 1841 census -

The first was residing in Falmouth Town Gaol!
HO107/154 book4 folio 41 page 1
William Bird, 35, Prisoner and boatman, in county

The second is in Truro, St Mary
HO107/148 book8 folio 45 page 16
William Bird, 25, commercial traveller, not in county

Do you have any idea of the date of birth of your William - perhaps from a death record or similar? It would help to decide which of these two is likely to be your William - assuming of course that the William you are after was in Cornwall in 1841 and registered on the census!

Mark

[birdlip]

Hi Kassa,

I think this may be your William and his family.

Ship: SIBELLA, origin 12th Dec 1851 Plymouth, arrival 17th March 1852 Adelaide

BIRD Benjamin
BIRD Hannah
BIRD William
BIRD Sarah (Died at sea 22/12/1851)

Poor Sarah! There are other Williams listed, but not in the right date range. Also, if they'd come from Cornwall, they'd be far more likely to embark at Plymouth in the West Country, than London, for example.

continued...

[birdlip]

There are no other details, but I'm working on the assumption that the parents would be listed first, so William and Sarah are likely to be children.

Bird is actually not a very common name in the West country, which is always good, not so many to search through! On freebmd, there is this marriage;

Sep 1842 BIRD Benjamin Clifton 11 314

Clifton is in Bristol, and one of the possible spouse names is Hannah Urch. Then on freebmd births, there are these;

Sep 1844 BIRD Sarah Jane Plympton St M 9 419
Jun 1851 BIRD William Camelford 9 58

I'm not saying these are definitely yours, but perhaps someone with a sub (mines run out) can look them up for you in 1851?

regards birdlip

[ShirleyB]

Hi, the only William Bird from Cornwall I could find was a lodger in the 1851 census, will keep looking. I am doing a Bird research on my husbands side. Our surname is also Bird,but I have not got very far back on that side of the family yet. Good luck

[bwarnerok]

One William Bird (1804-1884) from Glamorgan in Cardiff moved to London and started up a prosperous Iron business. He married Sarah Buck in 1828.His sons were (in order of birth) James, William, Matthew, Edward, Arthur, George , Daughters were Margaret, Sarah, catherine & Ellen.

Some notes I have made are, "My guess is that William Bird was the brother of Edward Bird who had his own Iron biz back in Cardiff. Edward and his son Edward filed bankruptcy abt 1843. There is a William Bird in Cardiff that could've been family, but he was a bookseller and Mayor."

Some of the sons of this William Bird stayed with the family business, others I've not totally tracked. But grandsons of William Bird have popped up in Canada and the US. It is quite possible that others ended up in Australia. I've emailed a descendant in Canada to see if he knows of any Birds who went to Australia.

Betsy

[ChristineR]

Hi! I'm Kassa Bird, a fifth-generation Bird living in Byron Bay NSW. All we know of the first Bird is that he was William Bird, migrated from Cornwall in about 1850, and married Isobel Dunn, believed to be Scottish. We have no other details: we have wondered if he was poor, illiterate or orphaned as there is almost no information to trace (parishes, dates etc)
Any leads would be fantastic - thanks and regards, kassa x

Where and when did this marriage between William and Isobel take place?

ChristineR

[Bo Peep]

Falmouth
William Thomas James BIRD son of William & Sarah, 03rd. August, 1834. Father - Seaman.