Bird, Ira W.

Born: 1819-03-17 Oneida County, New York

Died: 1899-XX-XX Wisconsin

Flourished: Jefferson, Wisconsin

Ira W. Bird was an attorney, law enforcement officer, city government official, and state legislator. After receiving his education in the public schools of Oneida County, New York, Bird moved from his native state to the Wisconsin Territory, settling on a claim in Milwaukee in 1836. He worked as a clerk in a store until 1838, when he moved to Madison to help construct the territorial capitol building. In 1841, he won election as register of deeds for Dane County, a position he held for three years, and later served one term as sheriff of the county. He read law, received admission to the Wisconsin bar, and opened a law practice in Madison in 1847. In 1849, Bird represented Madison and Dane County in the Wisconsin State Assembly. A year later, he moved from Wisconsin to California. While in California, he served as city attorney of San Diego, and in the winter of 1852, he was the assistant engrossing clerk for the California Senate. Bird returned to Madison in the summer of 1852, and in December, he married Antoinette Ruby Brayton, with whom he had two children. In 1854, Bird and his wife moved to Jefferson, Wisconsin, where he opened a law practice. In addition to his law practice, Bird held numerous positions in the village, town, and county of Jefferson, including village president, village treasurer, town constable, town clerk, clerk of the circuit court, justice of the peace, and county judge. Antoinette Bird died early in the Bird's marriage, and in 1864, Ira married Emily Mary Howes, with whom he had four children. After the Civil War, Bird served a term as mayor of Jefferson. He spent his latter years tending a stock farm near Jefferson.

J. D. Beck, comp., The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Madison, WI: Democratic Printing, 1909), 902; The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical, 1879), 471, 474, 638; Parker McCobb Reed, The Bench and Bar of Wisconsin (Milwaukee: P. M. Reed, 1882), 395-96; Gravestone, Greenwood Cemetery, Jefferson, WI.