Carmine Sevier Bird (Rev. C. S. Byrd in some records) was born in 1844 in Macon County, North Carolina, the 14th child of Clark Bird and Mary Curtis.

He was living with his family in Macon County in 1850 (Tennessee Valley) and 1860 (Burningtown Township).

He entered military service in 1863 and served in Company B, 39th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry as a hospital steward. He was captured in 1865 at Spanish Fort, Alabama and held at Ship Island, Mississippi and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Carmine and Mary "Mollie" Piercy married in Yancey County, North Carolina in 1884.

Carmine had entered religious service on trial in 1877 to the Methodist Holston Conference, and he entered Methodist itineracy in 1886. He and Mollie were living in Titusville, Florida in 1891 when he was conducting services at the Methodist Church.

Carmine retired in 1892 due to ill health, and he and Mollie moved to south Florida. They established a homestead on a 160-acre tract and built a home on the site which became the Biltmore County Club in Coral Gables. The trail he blazed to the house to haul building materials and supplies became known as Bird Road. Carmine and Mollie were the 9th family to homestead in Coral Gables.

Carmine claimed the SW ¼ of 18-54-41 8 Aug 1891. Carmine died in 1893 at the age of 49, and his widow, Mary, filed for final commutation of the land 26 Oct 1897 and patented it 7 Jun 1897. That quarter section is bounded by Bird Road on the south, 57th Avenue on the west, Anastasia/San Rafael Avenues on the north and Granada Blvd. on the east.

Carmine was reburied in 1899 in Miami City Cemetery.

References:

• Dade County, Florida, plat book B, page 16.

• 29 Dec 1884 Yancey County, North Carolina, marriage bond.

• 8 Feb 1894 Hamilton County, Florida, probate.

• 2024 Research by Jeff Blakley: https://hsdade.com/ .

• 2024 FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KJMX-SDD .

• 2024 Bird descendants: https://willbraffitt.org/roots/BirdDescendants.txt .