Murdered while watching a duel.
Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate
Thomas Bird (57845341)
Suggested edit: Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate.
His biological Mother, Lucinda Brooks, had gone on before him. Thomas had served as a Private in the Seventh Regiment in Florida and his school friends remembered him as “…one of the most lovable young fellows in our class.” The family story passed down says that his Father, Captain Daniel Bird was so beavered at the loss he was compelled to move away permanently to his property in the territory of Spanish Florida, where his descendants remain today.
His tombstone in the Edgefield Village Cemetery reads thus: “He was a gentle and affectionate spirit and in every respect such a son as made glad the heart of his father and inspired the brightest anticipations in the moment of promise int eh pride of youth. He was summoned to meet his God. Oh! When memory reviles the peculiar circumstances under which the sorrowful event was produced what anguish rends the bosom of his bereaved parents. On what is this life but a breath, a shadow. Beyond the blight of time. Beyond the reign of death there surely is some blessed time where life is not a breath and life’s affections transient fire whose spirits fly upwards and expire. Blessed be God to that dim hope would lead us to believe he has gone and exchanged a world of sorrow for an eternity of happiness. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. A bereaved father makes this offering to the memory of a much loved son.”
Contributor: Karyn B (50199589)
Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate
Thomas Bird (57845341)
Suggested edit: Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate.
His biological Mother, Lucinda Brooks, had gone on before him. Thomas had served as a Private in the Seventh Regiment in Florida and his school friends remembered him as “…one of the most lovable young fellows in our class.” The family story passed down says that his Father, Captain Daniel Bird was so beavered at the loss he was compelled to move away permanently to his property in the territory of Spanish Florida, where his descendants remain today.
His tombstone in the Edgefield Village Cemetery reads thus: “He was a gentle and affectionate spirit and in every respect such a son as made glad the heart of his father and inspired the brightest anticipations in the moment of promise int eh pride of youth. He was summoned to meet his God. Oh! When memory reviles the peculiar circumstances under which the sorrowful event was produced what anguish rends the bosom of his bereaved parents. On what is this life but a breath, a shadow. Beyond the blight of time. Beyond the reign of death there surely is some blessed time where life is not a breath and life’s affections transient fire whose spirits fly upwards and expire. Blessed be God to that dim hope would lead us to believe he has gone and exchanged a world of sorrow for an eternity of happiness. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. A bereaved father makes this offering to the memory of a much loved son.”
Contributor: Karyn B (50199589)
Murdered while watching a duel.
Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate
Thomas Bird (57845341)
Suggested edit: Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate.
His biological Mother, Lucinda Brooks, had gone on before him. Thomas had served as a Private in the Seventh Regiment in Florida and his school friends remembered him as “…one of the most lovable young fellows in our class.” The family story passed down says that his Father, Captain Daniel Bird was so beavered at the loss he was compelled to move away permanently to his property in the territory of Spanish Florida, where his descendants remain today.
His tombstone in the Edgefield Village Cemetery reads thus: “He was a gentle and affectionate spirit and in every respect such a son as made glad the heart of his father and inspired the brightest anticipations in the moment of promise int eh pride of youth. He was summoned to meet his God. Oh! When memory reviles the peculiar circumstances under which the sorrowful event was produced what anguish rends the bosom of his bereaved parents. On what is this life but a breath, a shadow. Beyond the blight of time. Beyond the reign of death there surely is some blessed time where life is not a breath and life’s affections transient fire whose spirits fly upwards and expire. Blessed be God to that dim hope would lead us to believe he has gone and exchanged a world of sorrow for an eternity of happiness. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. A bereaved father makes this offering to the memory of a much loved son.”
Contributor: Karyn B (50199589)
Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate
Thomas Bird (57845341)
Suggested edit: Thomas Butler Bird was murdered at the Edgefield Courthouse just shy of age 22 in case of family honor. Born November 8, 1818 and dying on November 1, 1840.
The conflict began with a political disagreement over the gubernatorial candidates between Louis T. Wigfall and Whitfield Brooks, the latter being Thomas’s Uncle. Wigfall challenged Brooks to a duel. Brooks declined due to age and poor health. Wigfall wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and posted a noticed on the courthouse calling Brooks a scoundrel and a coward. Brook’s son Preston was unable to reach the courthouse to defend his Father in time. Thomas was determined to remove the sign and approached the courthouse. Wigfall warned Thomas to stay out of the quarrel. Brave young Thomas ignored Wigfall and moved to remove the sign – Wigfall fired and killed Thomas.
Preston then challenged Wigfall to a duel on Stallings Island. Both men were wounded in that duel leading to Preston’s use of a cane -which he was famous for beating Senator Sumner on the Senate floor in Washington in 1856. Wigfall fled to Texas and serve in the United States Senate.
His biological Mother, Lucinda Brooks, had gone on before him. Thomas had served as a Private in the Seventh Regiment in Florida and his school friends remembered him as “…one of the most lovable young fellows in our class.” The family story passed down says that his Father, Captain Daniel Bird was so beavered at the loss he was compelled to move away permanently to his property in the territory of Spanish Florida, where his descendants remain today.
His tombstone in the Edgefield Village Cemetery reads thus: “He was a gentle and affectionate spirit and in every respect such a son as made glad the heart of his father and inspired the brightest anticipations in the moment of promise int eh pride of youth. He was summoned to meet his God. Oh! When memory reviles the peculiar circumstances under which the sorrowful event was produced what anguish rends the bosom of his bereaved parents. On what is this life but a breath, a shadow. Beyond the blight of time. Beyond the reign of death there surely is some blessed time where life is not a breath and life’s affections transient fire whose spirits fly upwards and expire. Blessed be God to that dim hope would lead us to believe he has gone and exchanged a world of sorrow for an eternity of happiness. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. A bereaved father makes this offering to the memory of a much loved son.”
Contributor: Karyn B (50199589)
Family Members
Advertisement
Advertisement
