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Rosaline Burgin Bird, born February 18, 1860, was the daughter of Robert Hoard Burgin and Catherine "Kate" Burgin. Robert was the son of Major Ben and Kate was the daughter of James and Leah Burgin.
Rosaline "Rosey" married Samuel Asbury Bird, February 11, 1881 in McDowell County, North Carolina and like her sister Flora, Rosey got the "Texas Fever". Sister Flora and husband Sherman were part of the 1888 "Texas Train" organized by Joe Ben Burgin, who was working for the railroad at the time.
Rosey and Sam decided to make the trip in their covered wagon along with their four children, Arthur, Erastus, Carroll and Hattie. After a long and troublesome journey, they arrived in Texas on January 6, 1895 and buried five-year old Hattie on January 15th.
They first settled in the Grove Hill Community of Leonard, Texas where her sister Flora Burgin Smith lived (Fannin County). Three years later, they moved to Callahan County, Texas where they lived for a year. They then moved to Eastland County for three years, then to Hale Center Texas, all in their little "prairie schooner". In those days, the trip from Eastland to Hale Center in a covered wagon took at least three weeks.
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About 1907, they moved in the same covered wagon to Knolles, New Mexico. There they lived on Public Domain where Rosey made a home for her family in a dugout. Two years later, they moved back to Hale Center in the same wagon.
This was the last significant move that we are aware of at this time. Fifty years later, while parked in the yard near their house in Hale Center, that old covered wagon was damaged by fire when Rosey's house burned.
Sam died December 1, 1940, Rosey lived on to the ripe old age of ninety-six and died June 7, 1956. Both she and Sam are buried in the Center Plains Cemetery near their home. The people of Hale Center always regarded Rosey as a true pioneer.
Source: Peggy Silvers, Echoes In The Mist (The Burgin Family 1677 - 1989)
A PRESS Printing Company 1989
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