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engaged to marry John Roberts. He
went back to England from America and
was not heard of again. Before leaving
he gave his property in America to "his
espoused wife Anne Vicars." He left the
property in the hands of John Wakeman,
to be given to her if he did not return.
She married, August 4, 1656, John Thomp-
son (see Thompson II).
(The Bird Line).
Arms—Argent, on a chevron engrailed gules
between three lions rampant sable as many fleurs-
de-lis or.
Names of animals have in all ages and
among nearly all nations been applied as
sobriquets to individuals and these, in
modern times, have acquired the force of
surnames and thus been handed down
hereditarily. Bird, a nickname, is from
the Middle English bird or brid, perhaps
given to the original bearer because of his
singing propensities.
The Bird family in England is very an-
cient and widely distributed. They are
or have been numerous in the counties
of Chester, Cumberland, Derby, Essex,
Hereford, Oxford, Shropshire, Warwick,
Yorke. The ancestry of the Birds of Pen-
rith, County Cumberland, is traced to
the year 1295. Father William Bird, a
Benedictine monk, was a candidate for
the degree of Bachelor of Divinity at Oxford
in 1504. Wood thinks his church was
at Bath, and that he died there May 22,
1525. His arms are curiously carved in
stone in this old church. There have
been many famous men of this surname
in every generation of England since the
earliest records. David le Brid was of
County Oxford in 1273. John le Brid was
of the same county in that year. Stefan
Brid was of County Suffolk in 1273. Geof-
frey Byrd was of County Salop in 1273.
Henry le Brid was of County Somerset, i
Edward III (1327).
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
47
The Bird pedigree is found in an old
pedigree in vellum in the custody of Mr.
James Bird, of Brogham. Henry Bird, of
County Cumberland, England, married
Joan Beauchamp, daughter of Thomas
Beauchamp, of Little Croglin, County
Cumberland. Their son, William Bird, of
Little Croglin, County Cumberland, mar-
ried Joan Tindall, daughter and co-heir
of John Tindall, of Northumberland
County. Their son, William Bird, of
Pireth, County Cumberland, was living
in 1295. He married Emma Gospatrick,
daughter of Gospatrick, Knight of Cum-
berland. Their son, Adam Bird, of Pireth,
married Joane Threlkeld, daughter of
William Threlkeld, of Yanworth, County
Westmoreland. Their son, William Bird,
of Pireth, married the daughter of Thomas
Martindale, and had a son, Roger Bird, of
Pireth. He married Jane Crakenthorpe,
daughter of John Crakenthorpe, of New
Bigging, County Westmoreland. They
had three children, James, John and Hugh.
The Birds of Worcester derive from the
old family of Cumberland. They bear arms
similar to the arms of the Birds of County
Cumberland. Henry Bird, of Bradforton,
near Evesham, County Worcester, was
originally of the Bird family of Lincoln-
shire. He married and was the father of
William Bird, born early in the sixteenth
century, who married Mary Rutter. From
him descend the Birds of Gloucester and
the family that continued in Worcester.
Among the collateral branches of the
Bird family are the Birds of Gloucester-
shire, England, who descend from the
Cumberland family. William Bird, of
Bradford, County Worcester, married
Mary Rutter, the daughter of Michael
Rutter. Their son, William Bird, of Evesham,
County Worcester, married Anne
Cox, daughter of Robert Cox, of Castle-
ton, County Worcester. Their son, Peter