A few years ago, after studying the genealogical charts my mother had worked on with her BYRD family lines, I pointed out to her that our Byrd forefathers were goldsmiths and bankers, and back in those days (1600-1700s), those were customarily Jewish vocations by papal and royal decrees and that BYRD is an English version of BAIRD, a Jewish surname. I convinced her that our Great-Great-Grandparents were most likely crypto-Jews who professed publicly to be Christians, however they were not known to be devout church-goers.
Well…it seems I’m not the only one who has theorized this, and they allude to crypto-Muslims (which might explain the crescent moon within the coat of arms) within the Byrd family as well. Here’s the article:
