Bird, Martin

Biography

Martin Bird (sometimes spelled Byrd) was born into slavery in the middle of the U.S. Civil War to an enslaved mother in northcentral Mississippi. By the time he turned two, the Civil War ended and the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery, making Martin free. However, economic freedom in rural Mississippi for formerly enslaved people like his mother was elusive and likely for Martin too. Surviving documents indicate that Martin likely never left Pontotoc County, the same county where at age 23 he met Latter-day Saint missionaries and embraced their message.

Martin was born in 1863 to Luiza Byrd in the northern portion of Pontotoc County, which in 1870 was carved off and became Union County, Mississippi.[1] Census records do not offer any clues as to the identify of Martin’s father [2] although at his baptism Martin suggested his father was a man named “Doctor Stacks.”[3] No one by that name has thus far been identified in surviving records, an indication that his father may have died by the time Martin was born or by the time the 1870 census was taken, or that the cruelties of slavery separated the family.

Whatever the possibilities for Martin’s father, his mother Luiza was enslaved to Nazareth (Nazry) and Camilla Byrd when Martin was born.[4] Following the abolition of slavery in 1865, Luiza continued to work in the Byrd home where she lived with her four children in 1870. The census taker that year listed Luiza as a house keeper along with her children—Marth, Fade, Martin, and Lettie— who all lived in the same house with the seven members of the white Byrd family. Martin’s older sisters, Marth and Fade, at ages sixteen and ten respectively, were already working as farm laborers while Martin, age eight, and his younger sister Lettie who was four, were described as “at home.”[5] Martin no doubt joined his sisters as a farm laborer by the time he was ten, likely on the same farm where his mother had been enslaved.

By the time he was eighteen years old, Martin’s mother had passed away leaving him an orphan. Public records indicate a shift in the way Martin spelled his last name, from “Byrd,” the name of his mother’s former enslavers, to “Bird,” the name he used in the 1880 Mississippi census and on his LDS baptismal record. It was a slight shift in spelling but also likely an indication of his independence.

At age twenty-three, while still living in Pontotoc County, Martin converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no indication as to what attracted Martin to the LDS message, but two missionaries, both from rural Utah, introduced him to the faith. Frederick R. Lyman from Oak City in Millard County, Utah, baptized Martin on May 12, 1886. On the same day Joseph B. Dalley from Summit, in Iron County, Utah, confirmed him a member of his new faith.[6] Surviving sources do not offer any clues into Martin’s further involvement with the church and in fact his baptismal record is the last known document to mention Martin by name.

By: Corinne Bird

Research Assistance: Leslikae Thomas

Primary Sources:

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Southern States Mission. Mississippi Conference. CR 375 8, box 4256, folder 1, images 23-24. Church History Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Southern States Mission. Mississippi District general minutes, 1842-1953. LR 3286 11, vol. 1, 1842-1886. Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mississippi state. 1880 Census. Enumeration of males and females under 21. Pontotoc County, Mississippi.

United States. 1860 Census. Slave Schedules. Mississippi, Pontotoc County.

United States. 1870 Census. Mississippi, Pontotoc County, Township 7.

[1]Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Southern States Mission, Mississippi District general minutes, 1842-1953, LR 3286 11, vol. 1, 1842-1886, 136-139, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. See also, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Southern States Mission, Mississippi Conference, CR 375 8, box 4256, folder 1, images 23-24, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[2]United States, 1870 Census, Mississippi, Pontotoc County, Township 7.

[3]Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Southern States Mission, Mississippi District general minutes, 1842-1953, LR 3286 11, vol. 1, 1842-1886, p. 136-139, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[4] United States, 1860 Census, Slave Schedules, Mississippi, Pontotoc County. 

[5] United States, 1870 Census, Mississippi, Pontotoc County, Township 7.

[6] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Southern States Mission, Mississippi District general minutes, 1842-1953, LR 3286 11, vol. 1, 1842-1886, p. 136-139, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Documents

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