I represent William Aird, a Scotsman who was living in Pensacola in its earliest days as I was elected to represent Pensacola in the Commons House of Assembly for the first General Assembly in fall of 1766. I was a carpenter who did quite a bit of work for the Royal government in the Town of Pensacola; I and James Aird (who is likely a kinsman but his exact relationship to me is not yet known) worked on the town jail and laid a floor for the Market House. I enslaved at least five people, who learned my trade. I built “a commodious house,” probably on my 314-acre grant on Emmanuel Point. in which the Second General Assembly met in December 1767. In 1768 I was granted town lot number 22, east of the fort, on Albemarle Street between the fort and York Street (now Zaragoza between Alcaniz and Florida Blanca). This lot I sold fairly quickly. With a trade in great demand in a colony made of wooden buildings, I ended up being a productive and prosperous member of Pensacola society.
Sources: 12, 39, 6, 75, 116