Allen line: James Bird 1631-1708

 I think it's a good thing that I write these posts, because I challenge myself (rather too frequently, it seems) to double check what I think I know, as I'm writing.  Sometimes I am confident that I have the correct information, sometimes I learn that I have the wrong information, and sometimes I end up with many more question marks than I started with.  

James Bird is one ancestor who seems to have several errors in his family tree.  For one thing, many people say he was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1631.  That seems unlikely because Hartford wasn't formed until 1635-36, and because his father, Thomas Bird, is thought to have not come to the colony until 1639.  James is believed to be the son of Thomas and his unknown first wife. We don't know where in England (presumably) he was born, but we can believe that James spent most if not all of his boyhood in Hartford.  He had at least a brother and a sister, and they probably kept each other company while learning the skills they would need in later life.  

James married Lydia Steele March 31, 1657.  She is almost always listed as the mother of our connection, but she died in 1659 and our Rebecca was born in 1670.  (So posts I've written about the Steele family should be ignored as far as being in our ancestry!)  James's second wife was named Rebecca but that is all that is known of her.  She probably came from the Hartford area, but that is all that is currently known.  

We know that James was a freeman in 1657 and specifically a freeman of Farmington in 1669. (I've found two dates for the formation of Farmington, one in 1645 and one in 1660.  The 1660 date is reported with a comment that James was an early settler and proprietor of Farmington. This may or may not be correct.)  

James had 7 children, and it's thought that their mother was Rebecca, although birth dates are lacking in some instances and it's possible that one or two of the children were Lydia's.  We don't know a lot about James's life but we can guess that he was involved in the militia, and was eligible to be called out in one or more of the battles of King Philip's War in 1675-76.  We have one story that indicates he may have not always been even-tempered.  Apparently there was either a political or a church dispute in 1673, and James was so upset during a meeting that he stomped out of the building and went, or said he went, to Waterbury, which is about 25 miles from Farmington.  If so, he didn't stay there long because he is on record in the Congregational Church of Farmington in 1679 and 1681. If this was a church dispute, it may have been over infant baptism. 

James died in 1708 in Farmington (not Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts.  That was an entirely different James Bird, but their marriage and death records are sometimes conflated.)  Although he was about 77 years old, it seems that he died without a will.  Rebecca must have died earlier, because I saw no mention of her in the settlement papers.  The sons and sons in law of James got together and agreed on a distribution of the assets, with son Thomas getting the land and the others getting various farm animals and personal property.  This was apparently agreed to without a family fight, which speaks well of the family that James and Rebecca had raised.  

I'd like to learn more about James, of course. Most particularly I would like to know who his wife was, and of course I'd like to know more about his occupation (if any beyond farming) and his military service.  But I'm glad to know this much, and I'm glad to see the humanity of this man who had strong feelings about what went on in his church or/and community.  

The line of descent is:

James Bird-Rebecca

Rebecca Bird-Samuel Lamb

Samuel Lamb-Martha Stebbins

Eunice Lamb-Martin Root

Martin Root-Ruth Noble

Ruth Root-Samuel Falley

Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants