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Note: WAS BAPTIZED BY: B.T. Blainhard WILLIAM ARTHUR BIRD Written by Manila Bird Brown "William Arthur Bird was born in Springville, Utah, October 13, 1876, the tenth child in a family of 13, born to Walter and Arabella Hailey Bird. His parents were among the pioneer families in Springville coming from England. He attended school in a small one-room school house learning the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. At an early age he began working to keep himself. He lived with a sister, Tamer Ann Sumsion, and her husband, James H. Sumsion and did chores for board and room and a little spending money. He married Mary Amelia (May) Bryan October 13, 1897 and twelve years later the marriage was solemnized in the Manti Temple. Five children were also sealed to them at that time. Their early life was a hard struggle. He built a two room house at a location known as Sage Creek on the Southeast limits of Springville. Then he worked on the railroad driving a team to lay track or he would help get ties out of the canyon. Later he followed farming; renting land until he saved enough to buy a few acres of his own in the west fields. Mrs. Bird's parents, John and Emma Bryan, left them several acres near the creek east of what is now Brookside subdivision and he farmed that until he was forced to retire because of ill health. He always loved horses and seemed to enjoy caring for them and keeping them in fine shape. He could also draw well and often drew sketches of horses. It was told that when he was a youth his talent for drawing was so good that at one time he was offered the chance to go to Europe with John Hafen, another beginning artist from Springville to study art. He was unable to take the opportunity. When the family became too large for the two-roomed house, he moved his family into his father's old home which has one more room. This was after his parents had passed away. They gradually enlarged the home, Arthur doing most of the work with the help of his wife. This home still holds many happy memories as well as sad experiences for the family. It was a happy occasion when electric lights were placed in each room and the children had better light to study by. It had been hard to carry a lamp from one room to another. The installation of hot and cold water in the kitchen and in the big bathtub in the newly made bathroom will ever be remembered. It was quite an innovation to sprinkle the lawn with a hose rather than irrigate it. Arthur as head of the family, worked hard all day and many of his evenings were spent half-soleing shoes for the children. He was considered rather strict with his family. He insisted on everyone being on time and honesty was one of his many virtues. When a child was told to be home by 10 o'clock and they weren't, he got on an old work horse and went after them. He was happy when fall came and he had a pit full of potatoes, carrots, and apples; two pigs butchered and cured; many sacks of flour in the granary; the cellar full of bottled fruit; and the coal shed full of coal and wood. Two or three cows were milked daily and there was always plenty of milk and cream and butter. The extra milk was sold to buy such staples as sugar, honey, and cereal. Before the water was piped into the house, drinking water was drawn from a deep well under a bowery of grapevines and it was one of the pass times of the older children to shine a mirror down in the bottom of the well to see the frogs swimming around. One Christmas will always be especially remembered by the older children. It was very cold and the snow was deep. There had been little money to buy gifts, but come Christmas Eve, Arthur thought it would not be Christmas without a tree, so he dressed in clothing as warm as he had and walked several miles to the mountains, cut a small cedar tree and carried it home on his back. It was not against the law at the time to cut cedars and it was a most beautiful Christmas tree trimmed with red berries from the rose bushes, a string of popcorn, bits of colored paper and three or four oranges. Arthur served in the old folks committee with his wife for over 30 years, helping to prepare dinners and transporting the older people with a horse and buggy and later by car. He was also on the Black Hawk committee for many years helping to prepare programs and taking the Black Hawk veterans to the encampments in various towns. Arthur was ordained an elder in the church October 10, 1909, while a member of the First Ward. Later on December 27, 1931, he was ordained a High Priest. In his later years, when farming seemed a harder job, he became interested in the poultry business when his health failed. He was very ill for some nine months and his wife cared for the chickens and other work about the place. He passed away Christmas morning December 25, 1943 of cancer at the age 67 years. He had 11 sons and daughters (nine who lived to maturity) and 22 grandchildren at the time of his death. His life had been comparatively short, but through hard work and good management on his part and that of his wife, he had attained many of the comforts of life from a very meager beginning. His family will always remember him for his keen sense of humor, his honesty at all times and his efforts in trying to make life easier for each one of them." *COPY IN FILE
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