William Byrd I
| William Byrd I | |
|---|---|
| Born |
William Bird 1652 Shadwell, London, England |
| Died | 4 December 1704 Westover, Charles City County, Virginia, British America |
| Spouse(s) | Mary (Horsmanden) Filmer |
| Children | William Byrd II, Mary (Byrd) Duke, Susan (Byrd) Brayne, Ursula (Byrd) Beverley |
| Parent(s) | John Bird, Grace Stegge |
William Byrd I (1652 – 4 December 1704) was a native of Shadwell, London, England. His father, John Bird (c. 1620-1677) was a London goldsmith with ancestral roots in Cheshire, England. Byrd was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1677.
On the invitation of his maternal uncle, Thomas Stegge, Jr., in March 1669, William Bird/Byrd immigrated to Virginia. In Virginia, the spelling Byrd became standard. On October 27, 1673, he was granted 1,200 acres (5 km2) on the James River. Byrd became a well-connected fur trader in the Richmond, Virginia area. Some of Byrd's landholdings became (after his death) part of the site of modern-day Richmond, Virginia. About 1673, he married a 21-year-old widow named Mary (née Horsmanden) Filmer, a native of Lenham, England. Mary's father had spent time in Virginia as a Cavalier fleeing Cromwell, and her former husband Samuel Filmer (third son of Tory author Robert Filmer) descended from the sister of Samuel Argall, governor of Virginia. William Byrd I and his wife would become the parents of William Byrd II and three daughters.
Their daughter, Ursula, at age 16, married Robert Beverley, Jr., Major Robert Beverley's son. They had one child William Beverley (1698–1756), and Ursula died in 1698, within a year of her marriage. Colonel William Beverley married Richard Bland's daughter, Elizabeth Bland. They had four children. Their son, Robert married Maria Carter on February 3, 1763. Her parents were Landon Carter and Maria Byrd.
In 1676, Byrd was a sympathizer of Nathaniel Bacon in Bacon's Rebellion, and took an active part in the rebellion, first by helping persuade Bacon to take unlawful command of a militia and lead it against the Indians. He also rode with Bacon after the rebellion began and was involved in the sack of Warner Hall, confiscating goods amounting to £845, or the equivalent of what 40 slaves or servants would produce in a year. (Rice, 2012, p. 98.) He later allied himself with the Governor and became a prominent citizen.
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