W. D. BIRD, Sec. 2; P. 0. Madison; born Feb. 2, 1821, in Madison Co., N. Y.; son of Zenas and Tabitha Bird; his mother’s father was a nephew of, and a soldier under Gen. Burgoyne. Mr. Bird, with his mother, two brothers and a sister, left New York for the West in the fall of 1836, and came with team, reaching Milwaukee in December, 1836; spent the winter there, and made his first visit to Dane Co. in April, 1837. The present site of Madison was then in a state of nature. In July 1837, he made a second trip, and at once began work on the capitol building. He afterward worked as engineer in a steam saw-mill, and, in 1839, bought and settled upon an 80 on Sec. 35, town of Madison, and was the first settler south of the settlement. Has resided in Madison and Fitchburg Townships since this time as a farmer. Mr. Bird is a Democrat; was formerly one of the County Supervisors; was Chairman of the town of Madison one term; Chairman of Fitchburg several terms, and has held various minor positions; is now Treasurer. He married, on the old “Seventy-Six,” or Dr. Jacob’s farm, in January, 1843, Miss Lucetta Chillson, born in Ft. Edward, N. Y., but a resident of Windsor Co., Vt., from her 6th year to 1841, when her people settled in Dane Co. Mr. and Mrs. Bird have five children—Horatio, De Moncay, Henry Clay, Helen and Mary, all born in Dane Co. Mr. B. served two years and twenty-two days in the 1st W. V. H. A., and was honorably discharged on account of disability in September, 1864.

History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1880, Page 1253