William Bird started from humble beginnings as an indentured servant and a woodcutter for an ironmaster. Through hard work he became an ironmaster in his own right, owning large tracts of land and building a gristmill, three refinery forges and a cold blast charcoal furnace in his lifetime. He was instrumental in establishing Berks Co., Pa. He owned two plantations, one at the mouth of the Monocacy Creek in Amity Township and one at the mouth of Hay Creek at what is now Birdsboro, Pa. At his death he was one of the richest men in the county and left his children an iron production and distribution system that would be enhanced and expanded by his son, Mark, who developed his father’s land for the Hopewell Furnace tract. (88pp. color illus. index. Friends of Hopewell Furnace, 2020.)