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As a business man he has supplied enterprise, hope and enthusiasm to many substantial institutions, and his work and influence deserve such estimate as can be given at this time of his life, which finds him still in the high tide of his activities and only a little past middle age. The fine integrity and success which have marked his individual career must be ascribed in part to his excellent heritage. Mr. Bird was born at Rockport, Missouri, November 22, 1864. His parents were Dr. J. Y. and Sarah (STIVERS) Bird. It is only proper that some considerable space be devoted to the career of his father, who for many years was one of the best known and most loved practitioners of medicine and a citizen in Atchison County, Missouri. Second in a family of twelve children and a son of Jacob Bird, Dr. J. Y. Bird was born in Virginia, May 31, 1818, and when still a child the family moved to Hardin County, Kentucky, where Doctor Bird grew up among pioneer conditions and received the advantages of subscription schools. He began the study of medicine in 1840, his preceptor being one of the physicians of his home locality in Kentucky, and in 1842 he removed to Andrew County, Missouri, and completed his reading under a physician of Savannah. In 1842 he began to practice at Oregon in Holt County, Missouri, and in 1847 removed to Atchison County, locating at Linden, then the county seat. In the meantime Doctor Bird had enrolled his name among the volunteers for the war with Mexico, and later, during the years 1850-51 he was in the far West in the California gold fields. Doctor Bird removed to Rockport is 1856, and ten years later bought a fine farm a mile south of that city, and that was his home until his death on December 4, 1886. He was a progressive farmer and managed his estate in addition to looking after the interests of a large private practice. He was a lover of mankind , rich and poor alike receiving his earnest attention, and at his death it was said his books showed several thousand dollars of uncollected accounts, testifying to his zeal for service and not for material reward. In his practice he displayed a generous amount of common sense and good judgment, seldom made a mistake in diagnosis, and without pretension to abnormal skill on his own part though as a matter of fact he was one of the best equipped physicians of his time in Northwest Missouri, he particularly despised all quackery in the profession. It is recalled as a characteristic of the man that when the state law for registration of physicians went into effect Doctor Bird affixed to his personal signature the words "chimney corner physician." He possessed few of the negative virtues, but was always positive in action and opinion, earnest and conscientious in performance of duty, generous to a fault, and charitable to all. He also stood high in the estimate of his community. From 1855 to 1860 and again from 1883 to 1885 he served as treasurer of Atchison County. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was buried with the honor of that order. While doing so much of the community and so justly meriting the love and admiration of a host of people, Doctor Bird was above all devoted to his family and home. On October 29, 1849, he married Mrs. Sarah (STIVERS) BAIRD. She was born in Adams County, Ohio, and by her first marriage had a daughter named Emelissi, who died at the age of twenty-seven. Mrs. Doctor Bird died February 1915, at the old home in Rockport. She was born in March 1823. Doctor Bird and wife by their marriage had six children, four sons and two daughters: Albertine, the wife of Judge M. B. NICHOLSON of Council Grove, Kansas; Dr. R. E.; Josephine, who died in 1880, was married in 1879 to S. L. MOREHEAD, a newspaper man; E. O., now living at Rockport, Missouri; George, of Rockport, and John L., who is the youngest. The oldest son, Dr. R. E. Bird, was an Indian trader among the Osages in the early days, had previously, from 1881 to 1884, practiced as government physician among the Kaw Indians, and gave up his practice to trade with the Osages. It was owing to his presence among the tribe that his younger brother, John L. Bird, came to Indian Territory. Dr. R. E. Bird was a trader at Pawhuska from 1884 to 1898, and has since lived at Rockport. John L. Bird, since he was eighteen years of age, has lived in the Osage country of Indian Territory and Oklahoma. His early years were spent on his father's farm near Rockport, Missouri, and while there he gained a common school education. In May, 1883, he found a position as clerk in the trader's store among the Kaw Indians, and left that position January 1, 1885, to come to Pawhuska. Pawhuska at that time had in the way of business improvements only the government agency and two small stores. In the past thirty years Mr. Bird has witnessed practically every improvement and change in this city and surrounding country His own work and business enterprises have entered into much of this change and he is justly spoken of as one of the leading citizens. In the spring of 1888 Mr. Bird went to Grayhorse and opened a store for his brother and partner and was manager of that establishment until 1895. He then engaged in business with his father-in-law, John N. FLORER, under the firm name of Florer & Bird, general merchants. They were in business together for twelve years, and up to 1906 also operated a large cattle ranch. In 1906, Mr. Bird established the Fairfax National Bank at Fairfax, of which he became president. At the coming of statehood, in 1907, Mr. Bird was elected the first sheriff of Osage County, and held that office for little more than two years, until 1909, when he resigned. He still retained while sheriff the vice presidency of the bank in Fairfax, and on leaving office he bought with other associates the City National Bank of Pawhuska. He has since been vice president of this institution, and has given most of his time to its management. He is also vice president of the Fairfax National Bank. In politics Mr. Bird is a democrat, and is particularly interested in all civic movements affecting his home county. In Masonry he is affiliated with the Lodge and with the Scottish Rite degree, and also with the Mystic Shrine, and belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. During the early years of his residence in the Osage country Mr. Bird found his principal diversion in hunting and fishing. Business among the Indians was conducted on somewhat leisurely principles, and in the afternoon, as there were seldom any customers at the stored, he shut up his shop and either went out with his rod or his gun. There were no game laws to interfere, and he has killed almost every variety of the large and smaller game in and around Pawhuska. He has shot wild turkeys on land now covered with the buildings and streets of Pawhuska. Mr. Bird has a fluent command of the Osage language, speaking it better even than some members of the tribe, and also has a knowledge of the tongues of the Kaws, Poncas and Omahas sufficient for business purposes. Since he was eighteen years of age he has been dealing with the Osages, and many of his customers at the bank are still members of this tribe. He thus has an experience which enables him to speak with authority concerning many features of Indian business honesty. He has freely extended credit to the Indians, and on that account has never lost a single dollar. Mr. Bird says his Indians always pay it they can, though their wants are many, in fact the are much like children, and the white man has to use judgment in not allowing his Indian customers to take more than they can probably pay for, although they never fail to recognize their obligations of debt. In 1891 Mr. Bird married Miss Maude FLORER. She was born at Lawrence, Kansas, in 1870, and has lived in the Osage country since 1872. Her father was the late Col. John N. Florer, whose life and career are sketched on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Bird are the parents of two children: Jack F. is now a student at the State University in the third year of his commercial and science course. The younger son, Robert Emmett, is still attending school at Pawhuska. Typed for OKGenWeb by: Vickie Neill Taylor, December 30, 1998.