Bill and my fellow Bird researchers: I posted the following last year. It includes a will of a John Bird in Rowan Co NC, with son Valentine. My experience is that those fellows didn't really pay close attention to the NC/VA state line. My Choates, while seemingly based in Franklin and Henry Counties VA (and yes there are Valentine Choates, too, and they are with the Birds from Pittsylvania to Robertson Co TN) dipped down to NC and then went over to SW VA counties as well. So..for what it is worth her are the wills Janet Hunter (John Bird & Nancy Couts>Henry Bird & Lucinda Choate>Caselia Bird & Wm Michael Marsh>Lucy Bell Marsh & Charles Sexton, my grandparents) CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 126) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 12:58:49 EDT From: <Janmim@aol.com> To: BIRD-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <7aee7309.24e84bc9@aol.com> Subject: [BIRD-L] Wills, John & Thomas Bird, d. ca 1805 Rowan Co NC Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fellow Bird Researchers: While researching another line in Rowan Co, I stumbled across two wills for Birds in Rowan Co. (below). I am one of at least three people on this list that are trying to sort out who the ancestors of the Thomas T. Byrd, John Byrd and other Byrds who ended up in Robertson Co TN late 1700s. We are also tracing Choate/Byrd connections Pittsylvania,Henry,Franklin, Augusta, Russell,Washington Cos VA, as well as Eastern TN. FYI, the family I was looking into was Chambers who ended up in Greene Co TN, where there are Byrds and Choates next door in Washington Co, among other counties there abouts. In the will of John Byrd the name Valendine stuck out because of Valentine Choate connections with these Byrds in VA and TN. Though not of the Birds in these wills, the name LARKIN Byrd in a recent post also stuck out because my ggg grandfather Powhatan Choate, b. 1804 Robertson Co TN (probably) named one of his sons Larkin. In Dade Co Missouri, one of his other sons and one of his daughters married Byrds, including a HENRY Bird, children of John Byrd and Nancy Couts of Robertson/Sumner cos....So I find the information below interesting. I am curious if any of you know who these Birds in the wills are. The first one is short, but the second one is an abstract said to take up three pages in a will book. The entire will might be able to make a connection between the two Birds or other families. I did not have time to follow up in any other Rowan County abstract books, etc. My best and I hope this helps someone out there in any event. Janet Hunter Will of Thomas Bird, Rowan County, North Carolina Will Book C, p. 325 Date of Probate not available In the name of God Amen: I Thomas Bird of Rowan County and State of N. Carolina being sick but thanks be to God of sound and perfect mind and memory, do constitute this my last will & test: Imprimus, it is my will and desire that all my just debts be paid, as spedely as may be consisting with the state of my affairs. I will and bequeath unto my beloved wive ANN BIRD, all my personal estate, real I have none -- during her life or widowhood & at her death or intermarriage it is my will & desire, that it should all be sold & equally divided between my four youngest children va my son Hansel my daughter JAN, REBECCA, & SUSANNAH. I also will and bequeath unto my son WILLIAM five shillings and my daughter ELIZABETH five shillings & to my daughter MARY five shillings, & lastly I now constitute my beloved wife Ann Bird my executor of this my last will & test: In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 9th day of January 1803. John Plobley Thomas Bird (Seal) Peter Lenes Will of JOHN Bird, Rowan County, North Carolina Will Book F, pp. 8, 9, 10 (most wills in this book probated late 1790s, early 1800s) Will probated in ???? Testator: JOHN Bird Place: State of N. Carolina in the County of Rowan Date: 6th day of March AD 180?? Beneficiaries: wife, SUSANNA; son HENRY Bird - underage, son VALENDINE Bird; son, JACOB Bird; son MICHAEL Bird; daughter MARY; daughter, ELIZABETH, son JOHN Bird; daughter MILLIA; daughter, ROANNA; daughter CHRISTINA; daughter, LATFIA (sp?) Executors: Frederick Miller, wife SUSANNA Witnesses: James Gardiner; George Benniger ______________________________ ------------------------------