Every time I look at a picture of my great-grandfather Charles Orastus Bird I can see my dad's face reflected in it. It's remarkable how much Dad looked like his grandpa. Even though I don't remember meeting my Great-grandpa Bird, we must have been introduced to each other at a family gathering before he passed away when I was 2 years old.
Charles "Charlie" O. Bird joined the world on 13 Oct 1874 in Pierceton, Indiana as the fifth of six children born to Albert Arbuckle Bird and Sarah Ann Norris. Brothers Clarence (1868-1925), Luther (1870-1870), James (1872-1872), and sister Mary (1873-1952) preceded him and brother Stephen (1876-1959) followed him in the family birth order. The first Census Charlie appeared in was in 1880 when his family lived in Monroe Township, Kosciusko County. He was recorded as being 6 years old and attending school.
In March of 1885 when Charlie was 10 his mother died of typhoid fever. I wish I knew if the Bird family stayed together in the years after Sarah's death, but most of the 1890 Federal Census records were destroyed by fire. Did his father Albert manage to keep the house and farm going with the help of 16-year old Clarence, 11-year old Mary, 10-year old Charlie, and 8-year old Stephen? Were the younger three sent to live with relatives or did they share the responsibilities with Albert and stay together? There are so many questions that I'll probably never have answers for.
On 13 Nov 1898 Charlie married Grace Ann Hess in Milford, Indiana when he was 24 and Grace was 18. Two days earlier Frank Merrick, Charlie's brother-in-law (married to Mary Bird), swore an oath saying that the young couple was of lawful age to be married without parental consent. Interestingly, the county official wrote in a note anyway that Grace's father was consenting to the marriage.
Nine months and twelve days later on 25 Aug 1899 my grandma Eva Mae Bird was born. By the following summer when the 1900 Census was taken the family of three had moved 144 miles north and east to the village of Britton in Lenawee County, Michigan. They were living in the same home with Stephen and Elsie Bird and both men were working as saw mill laborers. Charlie's sister Mary, her husband Frank Merrick, daughter Theodora, and Charlie's father Albert had also moved nearby. Frank was a foreman at the sawmill and 59-year old Albert was working as a laborer there.
Life as a saw mill laborer must not have been agreeable. A year and a half later, Charlie and Grace had moved back to the town of Milford in Kosciusko County and had become parents again when Ethel Elluria was born in late 1901. Ethel was followed by Thelma Alberta in 1904, Buenola Bernice in 1906, and Dorothy Lucille in 1908. In the 1910 Census the family of seven was living in a rented home on Fourth Street in Milford. Charlie's occupation had changed to painter. As a painter, his trade would have included preparing walls and other surfaces with fillers such as putty and plaster to repair cracks before applying new paint. He would have mixed paints, varnishes, and sealants and carefully applied them for a lasting finish. Besides paint, wall paper was popular so he would have known how to measure and hang the paper over prepared walls. When he wasn't painting indoors Charlie hand-painted billboards and advertisements on the sides of barns along the highway.
Buenola Ethel Thelma Eva Dorothy
In 1914 the first son, Errie Franklin, was born. But sadly, Errie only lived for two days. In 1916 Grace gave birth for the last time when son Albert Henry was born, named after both Grace's father Henry Hess and Charlie's father Albert Arbuckle Bird.
In 1917 at the start of World War I, Congress passed the Selective Service Act authorizing President Wilson to draft men into military service. All men between the ages of 18 and 45 were required to register for the draft. Men were called to register in three waves; the oldest, born from 1886-1900, were called last. With a birth date in 1874, Charlie was required to register but was never called into service. The registration recorded him as short and of medium build.
Somehow the Bird family wasn't recorded in the 1920 Census for Milford but in 1930 55-year old Charlie and 50-year old Grace were living on Higbee Street in a home that they owned. Their 22-year old daughter Dorothy "Babe", 13-year old son Albert "Hank", and 8-year old granddaughter Ruby Sewers lived with them. Under the column for Charlie's occupation, it said decorator. The family didn't own a radio and their home was valued at $1800. Five doors away their oldest daughter Eva, now Mrs. Cleon Scott, lived with her husband and three sons.
In the 1940 Census the Birds were still living on Higbee Street. At sixty-five, Charlie was still working as a painter/ wall paper hanger. He had worked just 14 weeks during the previous year, with an income of $450. His highest grade completed was 6th grade, elementary school. Only 23-year old Hank still lived at home with his parents. Family lore is that Charlie enjoyed spending time in a local tavern more than he did working as a painter.
In 1950 75-year old Charlie was still working as an interior decorator/painter. He had worked 30 hours in the week before the census enumerator came knocking. The family home was now at 202 Henry Street in Milford.
On 2 Jun 1954 Charlie suffered a serious heart attack. One day later he died in the Elkhart General Hospital, just four months shy of his 80th birthday. He was buried in the Milford Cemetery where he waited for nine years until Grace joined him.
Ethel Babe Buenola Thelma
Hank Eva
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