Great-Grandfather

Wiley Virgil Bird was the son of John William Bird and M. Canzada "Cannie" Pierce. He was born in Walker County, Georgia, and soon there after, moved west with his family, living in Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee.

In 1902, he came to Madison County, again with his family, who were enroute back to their native Georgia. His mother had died in Arkansas; and in June of that year, his father was murdered in a well dispute. He was then left in the care of his grandparents (George Marshall and Martha S. Clark Bird), who settled in the Big Cove Community in 1904.

Wiley married Willie Ann Josephine "Josie" Hunter, daughter of Alton Elmor & Rachel Elisabeth Bass Hunter, on November 11, 1911, in Madison County, Alabama. To this union was born ten children - Walter Lee, Isaac Daniel, Edna Rocine (Young), Thomas Ozro, Leonard Nolen, Opal Estell (Stone), Virgil Odel, James Willard, Rachel Louise (Knight), and Lester Glenn.

Wiley joined the Free Holiness movement in the mid-1910's; and he and his brother purchased the first building used for a Free Holiness Church in Big Cove. The building once sat at the Neal's Chapel Cemetery site; but was sold off after the church became defunct. Wiley and Eunice purchased the building, which was at the time situated at the Vann Hillside School, for $75; and the building was then moved to the present day site of the Big Cove Free Holiness Church, in the 1920's.

Wiley owned two farms in Big Cove. One, which was situated on present day Byrd Drive, was purchased from Wiley's estate by his son, Thomas. The other, situated at the corner of present day Old Big Cove Road and Walter Bird Drive, was purchased by Wiley's oldest son, Walter. It was in this home, which Wiley built, that Wiley and Josie raised most of their children, and is also where Wiley died in 1947, from what some believed to be stomach cancer.

For more information, please see "The George Marshall Bird Family", by Shannon D. Byrd.