Richard Bird

Richard Bird was born in October of 1820 in Southport, New York, just north of the Pennsylvania border. He was the eleventh child of Benjamin Freeman Bird and Meribah Reeves Bird. His older siblings were Phineas, Charles, Samuel, James, Kelsey, Polly, and Amanda Ann. Three more siblings had died very young. His younger brother, William, was born three years later. In 1832, a traveling missionary asked the Birds for room and board. During the course of his stay, he gave them a Book of Mormon. After reading the book, they were convinced of the truthfulness of the doctrines of the Restoration, but the elder moved on before they were baptized. Meribah was quite ill by this time and had become bed-ridden. A widowed relative, Margaret Crane Dailey, came to help. Sadly, Meribah died the next winter. Benjamin still had 4 children at home. The two youngest, Richard and William, were 12 and 9. Benjamin married Margaret two months after his wife’s death. He wrote a letter to the Church and missionaries came to baptize Benjamin and Margaret in June 1834. Phineas, Charles, James, and their families were also baptized over the course of the next year or so. Richard, however, was not baptized at this time. Richard’s oldest brother, Phineas, was first to move his family to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1835 to gather with the Saints. Phineas helped build the Kirtland temple and was present for the dedication in April 1836. In 1837, Benjamin, Margaret, and the unmarried children at home, along with three married sons and their families, all traveled to Kirtland, Ohio. Charles and James and their families stayed in Kirtland. Richard, now nearly 18, traveled with his father’s family, staying briefly in Kirtland and continuing with Phineas's family to Missouri. They arrived in 1838. The Birds endured all the persecutions heaped on the Latter-day Saints there. They were driven from Daviess County to Caldwell County, suffered terribly from cold and hunger, and fled to Quincy, Illinois, in spring of 1839. In 1840, Richard’s father purchased a lot on Main Street in Nauvoo. He dug a cellar and built a two-room cabin above it. Richard’s brothers, Phineas and Charles owned lots nearby. The Bird family became well acquainted with Joseph Smith and his family. Other neighbors included Hyrum Smith, Wilford Woodruff, and Heber C. Kimball. Charles later became one of Joseph Smith’s personal guards. In Nauvoo, construction was of utmost importance, with the temple being top priority. Though still not officially a member, Richard was assigned to go to Wisconsin. There he assisted members in mining lead and working to bring lumber and other building materials down the Mississippi River to Nauvoo for the construction of homes, businesses, and the temple. By 1843, Phineas had joined Richard in the Wisconsin Pineries. Lyman Wight, recently called as an apostle, was sent to oversee the group. In 1844, persecution was again on the rise. Joseph Smith began looking for a new home for the Saints outside of the US. The Republic of Texas was one possibility. With new urgency to complete the temple, Joseph Smith directed all the lumber from the pineries to go toward building the temple. Meanwhile, those laboring in Wisconsin endured a very difficult winter. In March of 1844, pinery workers sent a letter to Joseph Smith asking for permission to wind up the efforts in Wisconsin and move to Texas. By spring of 1844, most of the pinery workers had returned to Nauvoo, Richard Bird likely among them. In June of 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed and a week after their deaths, about 160,000 feet of pine, which had been floated down the river, arrived in Nauvoo. The pace of temple construction increased, all apostles returned to Nauvoo, and the question of Joseph Smith’s successor loomed large. Richard’s father Benjamin and his brother Charles decided to follow Brigham Young. Another brother, Phineas, was determined to follow Lyman Wight, who insisted on relocating to Texas. Meanwhile, Richard’s stepmother, Margaret, had no interest in going west and returned to New York, taking the youngest children with her. At 23 years old, Richard still had not yet been baptized. He had a big choice to make and a lot of options open to him. Luckily, this is when Emeline Crandall entered his life. She was living in La Harpe, Illinois, at the time with her parents, David and Margaret Crandall. After a two-month courtship, Richard and Emeline were married on March 7, 1845. Six months later, Richard was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at La Harpe by his younger brother, William. Richard wrote that they “spent the winter in Nauvoo, and in the spring of 1846 after having our wheat stacks and our houses and goods burned by a ruthless mob, was expelled from Nauvoo together with the Latter-day Saints, to seek an asylum in the wilderness mist the Indians and in July landed in Pottawattamie, Iowa, and there underwent many trying scenes.” Their firstborn, a daughter named Amanda Fedelia, was born in Nauvoo in March of 1946, but only lived a few weeks. In July of 1846, Richard’s younger brother William enlisted in the Mormon Battalion. Arriving in Iowa, Richard and Emeline lived in Kanesville which later became known as Council Bluffs. Because several of the Bird families were weavers by trade, they were asked to remain at Kanesville to help outfit Saints. Many had been driven out of their homes without a chance to procure adequate supplies for the grueling journey across the plains. The Bird family set up a woolen mill similar to the one that they had operated in Nauvoo, and assisted thousands of Saints who were camped in Iowa, and nearby Winter Quarters, Nebraska, as they prepared for the difficult trek. Two children were born to Richard and Emeline in Kanesville: Richard Leroy in 1848 and William Martin in 1849. In 1850, the Bird families were released from their duties and invited to come west. Richard and Emeline traveled in the Aaron Johnson Company, along with many of the Crandall family, including Laura Crandall, Emeline’s younger sister. Laura had recently married Aaron Johnson’s son, Willis Kelsey Johnson, and was expecting her first baby. They set out in the first week of June, 1850. Richard’s father, Benjamin, and his brother, Charles, were in the Milo Andrus Company, which left just five days previous. The two companies traveled together, with Wilford Woodruff’s company a few days behind them. Only a week or so into the journey, 17 people died from an outbreak of cholera, among them Willis Kelsey Johnson, Laura’s husband. Laura unpacked her wedding dress from the wagon and made a shroud to bury her husband in. She saved some fabric to make clothes for the baby she was expecting. She also had to overcome her fear of horses so she could drive the wagon. There was no choice but to bury the dead and move on. Emeline stayed close to her sister for the rest of the journey, consoling her as best she could. Of the journey across the plains, Richard later said it was “a long and dreary journey of three months, passing through everything that mortals could endure.” They arrived in Salt Lake City September 1850 and were among the 8 wagons assigned to settle in Springville. Laura Johnson stayed in Salt Lake City until her baby was born. After a few weeks, she went to Springville to live with Emeline and Richard. In 1851, Emeline gave birth to a daughter, Emeline Adelaide Bird. The first settlers in Springville built a fort with log houses along the inside of wall. The following spring, Richard Bird and John Deal did the first plowing in that area. Throughout the pioneering of Springville, Richard was always in the front line, ready to put his shoulder to the wheel and move the work along. In 1852, Richard and Emeline were sealed for time and eternity in the Endowment House and Laura Johnson was sealed to her deceased husband. In 1853, Richard was called to help build the town of Fillmore in Millard County. He willingly served for one year, then returned to Springville. More children joined the family: Vernon David in 1853, Charles Monroe in 1856, Margaret Luella in 1857, Luanna Maria in 1861, Amasa Crandall in 1863, and Arus Lavell in 1870. Emeline Adelaide died in 1857 at age 5. In March of 1855, Richard married Laura as his second wife. Her son, Willis, was a welcomed member of the family. Five sons were born to Richard and Laura: Spicer Wells in 1856, Roswell Darius in 1859, Delbert Wallace in 1861, Milton James in 1864, and Orval Taylor in 1867. The youngest two died as infants. Richard had two wonderful, faithful wives who loved each other dearly. He was kind and thoughtful, working hard to provide for both families without showing favoritism. He made their shoes. The boys helped him raise sheep and the girls spun the wool to make clothing. The family made their own brooms, candles, and furniture. In 1868, Richard was called on a mission to Southern Utah to assist with a new settlement. Laura and her boys went with him. Richard spent summers in Springville helping Emeline. But difficulties mounted and by 1871, they all moved back to Springville. In 1873, Richard was called on another mission, this time to the Eastern States. He spent two years sharing the Gospel with relatives near his birthplace and gathering genealogical information. He returned to Utah in 1875. Richard was kind but firm. His daughter, Luella, said he “never scolded nor whipped, but we always obeyed him.” His son, Charles, said the boys all felt a duty to give their father a full day’s work. His granddaughter, Eva, remembered how kind he was to children, gathering them all around him, letting them take turns on his lap, and never tiring of them. He often gave them joy rides in a wagon pulled by two of his favorite horses, Pat and Bird. Richard died in February of 1895 in Springville. He was buried in the cemetery there near his father.