A tenant at the two-family house we own is a descendant of Jesse BIRD who lived in Massachusetts sometime in the early 1800s (I wasn't taking notes at the time), and has paintings of him and his wife. She has some information on this line, if anybody is interested in it. My own BIRD ancestors start with Henry BIRD, who arrived in Westchester County, NY circa 1750 and settled in Rye. He was orphaned on the trip over from Holland, and he and one or more brothers (whom we have no record of) became indentured servants to pay for their trip. The family name originally was VOGEL (Dutch for Bird), but we believe he was of ENglish ancestry, and his family had moved to Holland during the religious troubles in England. -- Jeff Hecht, jhecht@world.std.com