“George Birdwell” was listed on the Kent Co, Delaware tax levy in 1726. Thus far, this is the earliest record I’ve found him on. The combination of tax lists and his estate papers indicate that he remained in Kent County until his death in 1750. It is unknown when George Birdwell first arrived in Kent Co, Delaware. He was not listed in their court records from 1680 to 1705, nor was he listed on a 1693 tax list shown on the web. Since their tax records before 1726 were not microfilmed he could have arrived anytime between 1705 and 1726. Note the so called “Scots-Irish” immigration (which included Englishmen) began in earnest in about 1717. It is possible he could have been one of these immigrants. The Kent Co, Delaware Deed Index has just one listing for Birdwell: Deed Book K, page 140. In this 1732 deed “George Birdwell” gave a horse named Jenny to “John Vicory, My son in law”. The deed shows George Birdwell signed his name with a mark. It was shown as a “B” lying on its side. We can speculate on George’s age if he had a married daughter in 1732. At minimum we might suspect George was born by at least 1695. Note that it is possible that he was born well before 1695. For now, I will arbitrarily use the date “pre 1700” for this George Birdwell’s year of birth. It is not known how George Birdwell was related to the Alexander Birdwell listed in Kent Co, Delaware in 1730. Nor is it known which was the elder of the two. George does appear on earlier records there (1726, 1727, and 1729 tax lists) but rather than confirming him as the eldest, this might just indicate that he had arrived in Kent County first. One tidbit which might be a clue is that in 1729 “George Birdwell” was paid 6 pounds by the county for “Druming”. Then in 1733, “George Bidwell Drummer” was paid 6 pounds by the county. I would guess he was being paid as the drummer for the local militia. Is it possible that he had been a drummer in the English army ? Do English military records extend back to the period 1700 to 1725 ? By chance have one of you ever looked into that sort of thing ? On January 7, 1750 “John Vicary” was appointed as the administrator of the estate of “George Burdwell”. Because of the old calendar used at that time, this would be considered 1-7-1751 now. So George Birdwell / Burdwell of Delaware apparently died late in the year 1750. The Delaware State Archives have two pages for his estate; the paper naming the administrator, and an inventory of his rather modest estate. This inventory was signed by Joseph Campbell and Daniel Finney. Unfortunately George’s estate papers did not name any of his family members. There is a little more of the nitty gritty details if anyone cares for them yet this is the gist of what I have on George Birdwell (pre 1700). However, there are a couple of other things I should point out about a possible connection to our family. On the surface “Delaware” may seem an unlikely place of origin for our Augusta Co, Virginia Birdwell family. Yet until 1776, what we now know as Delaware was still considered part of Pennsylvania. The bulk of the settlers in Augusta Co, Virginia either came from or through Pennsylvania before reaching the Virginia frontier. So a “Delaware” origin might be appropriate after all. Also note that at least one prominent person did just that. The Rev. John Craig (first Presbyterian Minister in Augusta Co, VA) reportedly landed in New Castle county in 1734 (next to Kent Co.), then married in “Pennsylvania” in 1740 before moving on to Augusta County. Along a similar vein I note that besides our BIRDWELL name, the Kent Co, Delaware tax lists show several of the same names found in Augusta Co, Virginia records. Some of the names which jumped out at me were; BREADY, CAMPBELL, CRAIG, FINNEY, FINNLY, PATTEN, RUSSELL, and WALLACE. We see that many of the Augusta Co, Virginia families had followed one another when they left there in the late 1700’s. Might some of the same families also followed one another from Kent Co, Delaware to Virginia in the early 1700’s ? This may all just be a great coincidence. As you can see there is NO PROOF of a connection yet. But in a nutshell, the reason I think we should get excited about this is we finally have: 1. Confirmed the Birdwell name in America in the early 1700’s. 2. Found a man with the same name as our ancestor (George). 3. Found one or two men old enough to be our George’s father (Alex born before 1710 & George before 1700) 4. Found these prospects in an appropriate area. 5. Know at least one (& possibly several) Augusta Co, Virginia settlers came out of Delaware. Once again I’ll state that I’ve found NO Proof that this George Birdwell / Burdwell (pre 1700-1750), or Alexander Birdwell (pre 1710), was related to our George Birdwell / Burdwell (c1720-1781). However I have to suspect that they were related, and that this is our most promising lead for the origins of our Birdwell family. I would welcome all of your questions or comments. I would also especially welcome your help in looking into Delaware records for these “new” Birdwells. If anyone wants to chase this lead, or wants photocopies of this material on George Birdwell (pre 1700) just let me know. Weldon J. Birdwell PO Box 10 Billings, MT 59103