The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: VA
Qualifying Service: Colonel / Patriotic Service
Author: Gary Lee Coburn
Abraham Bird was born in Pennsylvania around 1731 and was a baby when he moved to Virginia with his family. The Bird family lived on Smith’s Creek, Virginia just north of Harrisonburg. In 1760, he married Rachel Ziegler in Smith’s Creek, which at that time was in Augusta County but is today Shenandoah County.
On March 1, 1773, Abraham bought 550 acres on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River at the confluence of Jumping Run, a part of which was the "Red Banks" estate, from George and Magdalene Ruddell. Red Banks today is a ghost town in Shenandoah County near Edinburg, Virginia. In 2009, part of his original house was still standing. Abraham lived a life of service to his country and the state of Virginia. He was an Ensign in the Augusta County Virginia militia in 1759, and later was a Captain in the same unit from 1762 to 1771. He was elected to the House of Burgesses and attended the session of 1774. For a number of years, he served as a member of the House of Delegates in Virginia.
In 1774, he was in Woodstock, Dunmore County, Virginia when the Freeholders and inhabitants of that county picked a committee of citizens, including Abraham, who were instructed to pursue implementation of what was referred to as the Woodstock Resolutions in response to an Act of Parliament which ultimately resulted in the Boston Tea Party.
Abraham was a member of the Virginia Conventions of 1775 and 1776 and was at the convention which met in Williamsburg on May 6, 1776. At this meeting, the Virginia delegates were instructed to propose independence. He served many terms representing Shenandoah in the Virginia House of Delegates. Abraham also was a Justice for many years, as well as Sheriff, County Lieutenant, and Colonel of Militia, during the Revolution. The records show that he held various offices of military command during the
Revolutionary War and served as Colonel of the military forces in Shenandoah County. The term Colonel may have been an honorary title, but that is the way that he was referred to in his biography included in the History of the Shenandoah County.
Abraham remained in Shenandoah County until 1803, when he sold his estate and moved to Fayette County, Kentucky where he died in 1820.
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Additional Information:
Residence: Dunmore / VA and / Shenandoah / VA
Find-a-Grave and Will lists children as Magdalene, Margaret "Peggy", Marcus, Abraham, Mark, George, Elizabeth, Mary, and Catherine