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The Late John C. Bird

The Late John C. Bird image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
June
Year
1887
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

John C. Bird, whose untimely death was noticed in last week!8 paper, was bom in Mansfied, Warren county, New York, in 1822. In 1833, his parents, Furman and Mary Ann Bird, with their family of nine children, moved to Ann Arbor, and purchased the farm row owned by the family of the deceased. The father died in ] 839, at the age of 65, the mother in 1856, aged 72 years. The children were Betsey, Sloan, Samuel, David D., Mary, Edward, John, Joseph and Susanna. All, except the latter, married and set t led in eouthern Michigan. Only one of the family, David D., of Unadilla, now survives, aped 73. All the family were Chriatians, and valued members of the Presbyterian church. David D., howevers, afterward united with the Baptist church. John C. united with the church here in 1836. and ít has ever since found him ready to lend a helpmg hand. In 1844 he married Miss Jane Slatford. They eoon removed to Unadilla, but after six years returned to the old home, where they have since resided. Four children were given to them, three of whom, with the wife, are left to mourn the loss of a kind father and husband. John Bird was not inclined to speculstion, but in 1860, in company with Judge Lawrence, he started the then novel enterprise of growing peaohes for market. They met with succes?, and this section has since become famous for growing peaches as well as other fruits. Politically, he was brought up a democrat, but principie was above party and he cast his first vote for J. C. Birney, the abohtion candidate. He joined the republican party at lts organization, with which he has since been connected. He has been justice of me peace uunng ine past J.0 years, and member of the town board much of that time. But he was not so much of a politician as he was a Christian man, and with many of the best minds of the present, he had come to believe that the great curse that threatens the life of the nation could only be banished by prohibition. As he expressed it : " It is only a question of time." His last ballot, like his first, was cast on tbat line. The great need of the hour is more such men - men with honest convictions that cannot be moved from the right - and when one dies he is greatly missed. He will be missed by his fellow citizens. He will be greatly missed by the church, and atill more by the family whose home atmosphere has been rendered so pleasant by his presence in the years gone by.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Register