Clark, Robert Carlton, Ph.D. "History of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Vol. 2.
Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1927. p. 200.
 
WILLIAM H. BYRD, M. D.

     Dr. William H. Byrd, the dean of Salem's medical fraternity, has acquired
the knowledge and skill which result from constant study and years of practical
experience and is a worthy representative of old and honored families of the
state. He was born October 31, 1854, in Marion county, and is the oldest of the
eight children of Lorenzo A. and Martha (Savage) Byrd. The others are : J. C.,
who is engaged in the hardware business in Spokane, Washington; Mrs. Cordelia
Hager, a widow, who lives in Salem ; L. A., also of this city; Virginia, who
resides in Portland, Oregon ; Bertha, who is the wife of Judge McMahon, of
Salem; Edgar F., whose home is in Spokane ; and Roy, a prominent physician of
Salem. The father was born in Arkansas and the mother is a native of Missouri.
They were married January 1, 1854, and Mrs. Byrd has reached the advanced age of
ninety-one years. In the fall of 1846 Lorenzo A. Byrd started for Oregon,
crossing the plains in a covered wagon drawn by ox teams, and settled on a
donation claim in the Waldo Hills district. Later he was the owner of a ranch
near Fairfield in Marion county and his demise occurred when he was eighty-four
years of age. He aided in planting the seeds of civilization in this region and
was a fine type of the early pioneer. The Waldo Hills homestead was purchased by
Mrs. Byrd's father, Dr. John Savage, who came to Oregon in 1850. He was a well
known physician and also a prosperous agriculturist.
     Dr. William H. Byrd attended the public schools of Marion county and his
medical reading was directed by physicians of Salem. He pursued his studies in
San Francisco and completed his course in Willamette University, from which he
was graduated in 1881 with the M. D. degree. For forty-six years he has followed
his profession in Salem, and an extensive practice is indicative of the
confidence reposed in his ability. He is thorough and painstaking in diagnosis,
closely studying the cases intrusted to his care, and his efforts have been
beneficially resultant.
     In 1882 Dr. Byrd was married to Miss Teresa Holderness, of Salem, who
passed away in 1886. She was the mother of one child, Winnifred, who attended
Willamette University, afterward completing a course in the Boston Conservatory
of Music, and is now prominent in musical circles of New York city. In 1890 Dr.
Byrd married Miss Margaret Macrum, of Forest Grove, Oregon, and her demise
occurred in September, 1913. Two sons were born to them. Clarence, the elder, is
a resident of Salem and has a family of two children. Donald, a prominent
dentist of Portland, Oregon, is also married and has one child. Dr. Byrd's third
union was with Miss Inez Adele Cramer, to whom he was married June 15, 1918. She
was born in Michigan and engaged in teaching at Salem.
     Dr. Byrd is a democrat and has been school director. He belongs to the
Chamber of Commerce and lends the weight of his support to those projects which
are destined to prove of benefit to his community and state. Along fraternal
lines he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and has
filled all the chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a Knight
Templar Mason and Shriner and has taken the thirty-second degree of the Scottish
rite. Dr. Byrd is a member of the Marion County Medical Society, the Oregon
State Medical Society, of which he has been president, and the American Medical
Association. He maintains the dignity and honor of his profession and his
unfailing courtesy, unselfish nature and fidelity to duty have established him
high in public esteem.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in September 2010 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.