William Bird (1835 - 1892)

Born 1835 in Northwest Territories, Canada

Ancestors

Died 14 Jul 1892 at about age 57 in Edmonton, Edmonton Metropolitan Region, Alberta, Canada

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Biography

William Bird was a Canadian First Peoples and member of the Metis Nation.

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William was born in 1835. He is the son of Jimmy Jock Bird and Sally Bulls Heart.

William Bird Jr., grew up in the fur trade, becoming a trapper for the company. Nevertheless, he looked beyond the walls of Edmonton House to the region’s agricultural potential.

In 1870 two settlers, David Daigneault and William Bird, staked out farms on the river flats. The Daigneault farm was west of Mill Creek Ravine and Bird’s farm east of the same creek. Bird built the area’s first flour mill on Stony Creek in 1871 using a water wheel as a source of power. For lack of consistent creek water down a revine (now called Scona Hill) he closed down the mill in 1874.

Edmonton remembers the mill it every time we use Stony Creek’s modern name – Mill Creek.

William returned to farming and had some 20 head of milk cattle. After his first wife died, he married Margaret who had been the family helper.

In May 1892 Williams father Jemmy Jock and brother Thomas visited on their way from Egg Lake Metis settlement enroute to Fort MacLeod.

William passed away after a brief illness on a Thursday at 2 PM, and buried the following day.

Quality Sources

Other Sources

University of Calgary, Warren Sinclair Metis collection* https://glenbow.ucalgary.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/m-8736-34.pdf

City of Edmonton historic reflection * https://historicedmonton.ca/edhs-special/william-bird-and-mill-creek-the-northern-alberta-pioneers-descendants-association/

City of Edmonton archives * https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/edmonton-bridges.aspx

Interview with Flora Bird Calder, daughter of William Bird of the Hudson's Bay Company https://albertaonrecord.ca/iw-edm-47

Page 9 of this 2003 document reflects on Williams contribution to Edmonton development* https://webdocs.edmonton.ca/infraplan/plans_in_effect/Cloverdale_ARP_Consolidation.pdf

Edmonton Journal, April 5, 1963, page 4 (may require library subscription) https://www.proquest.com/hnpedmontonjournal/docview/2397088753/2A25BBF05EF74049PQ/1?accountid=46585

Edmonton Journal, July 22, 1994, page 4 (may require library subscription) https://www.proquest.com/hnpedmontonjournal/docview/2401808485/2A25BBF05EF74049PQ/6?accountid=46585

The Edmonton Bulletin, July 18, 1892, Page 1, death announcement http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/newspapers/EDB/1892/07/18/1/Ar00102.html?query=newspapers%7Cwilliam+bird%7C%28pubyear%3A1892%29+AND+%28publication%3AEDB%29%7Cscore

The Edmonton Bulletin, May 16, 1892, Page 6 his father visits http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/newspapers/EDB/1892/05/16/6/Ar00602.html?query=newspapers%7Cwilliam+bird%7C%28pubyear%3A1892%29+AND+%28publication%3AEDB%29%7Cscore