The first Bird to settle in Smithfield, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, was Michael Bird (1769-1851), who came from Boston by way of Rutland, Vermont, in 1801. His eldest son was John Bird (1793-ca.1875), who probably married Mary Miller Harknes (1791-1878). They in turn had an eldest son named Lark Bird, who married Nancy Niles (1828-1914) in 1858.

Five generations of the Bird and Niles families are well represented in this collection. Hannah Minor Niles (1802-1902), whose parents were named Samuel and Nancy Avery Minor, is the oldest member of either family to appear in this collection. Hannah was born in Colerain, Massachusetts in 1802, and her parents moved to Halifax, Vermont in 1810. Hannah hopped between Colerain and Halifax, and taught school for several years. She married Samuel Niles in 1827, and by the time they moved to Smithfield ten years later, they had a number of children, including some adopted ones, in tow. Several families had already moved from Halifax to Smithfield, including Scotts, Woods, Bullocks, and Califfs. Hannah gave birth to ten children, and she provided a home for seven more over the course of her life. Samuel and Hannah moved to Burlingame, Kansas in 1869, where they lived until their deaths in 1891 and 1902, respectively.

Nancy Niles (1828-1914), was one of Hannah and Samuel's children born in Halifax. Like her mother, she taught school as a young woman and was interested in the "temperance question." Her marriage to Lark Bird did not halt her public life. Having only two children also made it easier for her to become involved in the reform organizations springing up. She joined the W.C.T.U. in 1882, and helped form the local and county chapters, serving as president of both for many years. Nancy gave hundreds of public addresses over the course of her lifetime. She spoke at Sunday School Conventions, Missionary meetings, and temperance meetings. As a leader of the W.C.T.U. at the local and county level, Nancy was often called upon to speak both within her community and outside of Bradford County. She wrote three small books, all in the last part of her life. At the request of the Sunday schools in Smithfield, Nancy wrote a history of Sunday School work in the town in 1901. Three years later, she published a historical sketch of the Bird family, and in 1910, came out with a History of the Baptist Church of East Smithfield, at the request of pastor Rev. W. S. Percy.

Lark and Nancy's son George Bird courted and finally married Francis "Frankie" Rowe (b.1863) in the autumn of 1883. George was a farmer, like his relatives, and served the community as County Commissioner for some years. By 1907 he was operating a general store in addition to working on the family farm. Lark and Nancy's other son, Jesse, married Frankie Drew around 1890, and was a manufacturer of "Padlock" overalls, shirts, and pants in the early 1900s.

George and Frankie had two children, Richard L. and Helen. Helen went to school in West Chester from 1912 to 1913. Richard married Carrie Ballentine in 1910. They had a son named George Owen Bird (b.1915), who represents the fifth generation in this collection. He attended Pennsylvania State and served as a technical sergeant in World War II.

Collections of family papers often include a wide variety of correspondents spanning many years. Within the Bird Papers, however, there are three sets of correspondence and one set of papers that are discrete enough to warrant separate descriptions. The papers of Bradford County W.C.T.U. leader Nancy Niles Bird, her son George N. Bird and Frankie Rowe's courtship letters, their daughter Helen Bird's letters home while a student at the West Chester Normal School, and Helen's nephew George Owen Bird's papers -- which include the letters he received while at Pennsylvania State College, and documents relating to his military service in WWII -- have all been described in some detail, and links to those descriptions appear below. This collection also includes genealogical materials, the more scattered papers of the earliest generations, and some 20th century materials from a large number of correspondents, all of which have been briefly described. The box listing below will link to more extensive decriptions of the various sets of papers within this collection.

Box listing

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Box	Contents
Box 1	Genealogical materials. Information on Bird, Niles, Harris, Hillberry, Miner, Gerould, Phelps, Califf, Avery, Plumb, Crittenden, Kingsley, Wood, Scott, and Randall families, in Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. Early Bird Family Papers. 2 short journals, a bound volume, and 7 letters, most written by women. 1821-1871
Boxes 2 & 3	Nancy Niles Bird Papers. Speeches and other papers of a woman active in the W.C.T.U. and the Baptist Sunday School. 1850-1910
Box 4	George Niles Bird and Frankie Rowe Papers. Primarily courtship letters between George and Frankie. 1878-1894 (Bulk dates, 1878-1883)
Box 5	Helen Bird Papers. Helen's letters home while a student at West Chester Normal School. 1912-1913
Box 6	Miscellaneous 20th century Bird Family Papers. Later letters addressed to Nancy Bird and her daughter-in-law, Frankie Rowe Bird, primarily from family members. There is also a partially filled in diary kept by Carrie Ballentine Bird in 1921. 1888-1928 (Bulk dates, 1904-1928)
Box 7	George Owen Bird Papers. Letters to George from family and friends, most sent while he was an architecture student at Penn State. 1934-1947

Provenance:

Acquired, 1991.

M-2711
cat. 6/98 rko

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