[1] Born in Thetford, Vermont, he moved with his family to Madison County, New York, and, in 1824, married Charity LeClair.
In 1826, he moved with his family to Ann Arbor, Michigan Territory, but returned to Madison County in 1830.
[1][2] In 1836, Bird moved to the Wisconsin Territory, settled in Milwaukee, and engaged in a construction business.
The Governor of Wisconsin Territory Henry Dodge appointed Bird to a three-man commission to plan the new territorial capitol, and, in June 1837, Bird set out with about forty workmen from Milwaukee to the site of the new capitol in Madison, cutting a road from Milwaukee to Madison in the process.
He died suddenly in Green Bay, Wisconsin, while visiting his daughter Marian and her husband, John Starkweather.