Re: Thomas Bird of CT - possible ancestry
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In reply to:
Re: Thomas Bird of CT - possible ancestry
Steven Bird 8/21/01
Steve,
Thanks for the info.You seem to have really good research.I have seen alot of clams, especially on the web that cannot be supported.I have seen info that the earliest use of the name was in Chesire before 1100 and was of Anglo Saxon origin.I still need to follow up on that.All of the earliest Birds I have found so far are around Broxton and the surrounding areas (Bulkeley, Malpas, Bickerton to name a few which are also names of families that the Bird guys married into).Then in the 1200s and 1300s they show up to the east and then after that south toward London.In the 1400s the name shows up in Scotland then in Ireland in the 1500s.Hard to say if it is all one family or not but the migration patterns can be cleary established.Most researchers claim they came with the Normans but I have found no proof of that except the fact that the name Hugh or Hugo is French,There were several kings in France named Hugh before William the Conqueror's time.That is not much to base an origin on, the anglos could have picked up the name after the Normans came in.I have seen some lists of the major nobles who came with William in 1066, none can yet be connected to the Birds. I have some history that Wiliam took Chester in 1070 and made his nephew Hugh the wolf earl of Chester.Then in the 1086 when the doomsday book of landowners was written I can find no one in there that can be connected to Birds.But after the Doomsday Book William started to fortify the Welsh border and rebuild what had been destroyed in 1070.Sometime in the 1100s the Bird family acquired an estate in Broxton.The first person I have seen named Bird was Hughe Le Brid supposedly born 1065.He is said to be a youger son.I have seen his father listed as Charlton le Brid or Hugh of Charlton born 1022. Le Brid seems to be the oldest spelling followed by le Bird and then all the other varations derived from there.There is alot of stuff out there but hard to verify some of it.So in the meantime until we can prove something one theory is as good as the next.Phil Burd