I sure wish that I did know where he originated. The name James Burd in PA is like Olson in Minnesota. I started my search before I joined Ancestry by going through about a thousand pages on Google. As you know there is a famous Revolutionary War hero James Burd in Pennsylvania. That was about all that I could find there. I don't know if my James Burd was ducking the law or what but there just isn't anything in the family history except His birth year and that he was from Pennsylvania I spent all day today going through about every possible census report for both Burd and Bird. There is a bunch of James Burds out there. My only hope is that someone has some family history or just family stories about old uncle James Burd going to Ohio and marrying a Reichert girl from LLycoming and moving out west.
Thanks for the come back on my message
Dave Gruger .