Biographies : United States  A - C

Please Note: Some of these biographical sketches have been compiled from secondary sources and may not be complete or totally accurate; it is therefore subject to update or correction. Also some have been shortened to accommodate space consult the original references given for a complete resource.

Baird, Absolom 1824 - 1905 [ Major General, United States Army ]

Grandson of a surgeon in Revolutionary Army, and the great-grandson of a Lieutenant in the French and Indian Wars, he was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1824. Graduated from Washington College and in 1849 from the United States Military Academy, ranking 9th in a class of 43. Assigned to the Artillery, he campaigned against the Seminoles in Florida, instructed for 6 years at West Point and did a tour of duty on the Texas frontier. He Transferred from line to staff duty at the outbreak of the Civil War and was present at First Manassas as adjutant of Tyler's Division. In the Spring of 1862, he took part in the Peninsular Campaign as Inspector General and Chief-of-Staff of the IV (Keyes's) Corps. Appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers, April 28 1862, his subsequent Civil War career was in the Western theater.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor on April 22, 1896 for voluntarily leading a detached brigade in an assault on the enemy's works at Jonesboro, Georgia, on September 1, 1864. At the time of the assault he was serving as a Brigadier General of Untied States Volunteers.
At end of the war he was brevet Major General in both the Volunteers and the Regular Army, and was mustered from the Volunteer service in 1866, reverting to his regular rank of Major, Assistant Inspector General.
He Served at various times as Inspector General of many military departments and, 1885, was appointed Inspector General of the United States Army, first with the rank of Colonel and, in same year, with that of Brigadier General. He retired in 1888 and died near Relay, Maryland, June 14, 1905. He is buried in Section 1, Grave 55, with his wife, Cornelia Wyntue Smith, who was born at Oxford, New York, May 31, 1828 and who died in Washington, D.C. on May 16, 1883.

Baird, Alfred 1829- [ Carpenter - Farmer ]

Alfred Baird, a resident of Big Dry Creek, Fresno County, California, was born in Ohio, November 16, 1829. The Buckeye State continued to be the scene of his childhood and youth until he reached the age of eighteen years. He then went to Iowa and settled on the frontier of that State, where he engaged in carpentering. For twelve years he pursued this occupation with varying success. The year 1859 found him en route to California, making the trip with ox teams and horses and taking with him his wife and two children. Three years previous to this time he was married to Miss Lydia K. Beard, a native of Indiana, who, with her parents, settled on the Iowa frontier about the time Mr. Baird took his abode there.
The journey across the plains consumed the entire summer and proved an uneventful one. Arrived in California, Mr. Baird tarried a short time at a point near Visalia and finally settled down on King's river, Fresno County; here he has lived since the fall of 1859. The remarkable changes that have taken place, the rapid development of the soil, and the birth and growth of Fresno have all been witnessed by him. His early reminiscences of life in the San Joaquin valley are interesting in the extreme.

The year of his arrival here found him engaged in gardening on King's river, and prosperity attended him for two years, when the flood came and he lost his whole place. He then procured some sheep on shares and also engaged in the cattle business, which he continued with excellent success for eighteen years. Mr. Baird ascribed his success to his sheep investment and to the fact that his stock had the entire public domain to run over. he sold out his sheep interests in 1878, but still holds his ranch property, consisting of 8,000 acres of land, scattered through Tulare as well as Fresno County. He resides at Big Dry Creek, twenty miles east of Fresno, on what is known as Poverty ranch, the ranch being so named on account of a weed growing in abundance near his place called poverty weed. In his agricultural pursuits Mr. Baird has also met with eminent success.
His family of four children consists of Benjamin M., a resident of Visalia; Alice, now Mrs. Dr. Reid of Tulare; L. E. Baird, living in Oregon; and Florence G., now Mrs. R. E. Keeler.
A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California," Lewis Pub, Chicago, Illinois

Baird, Archie Markland. 1857- [ Boilermaker - Manufacturer ]

Mr. Baird was born at Kilmarnock, near Glasgow, Scotland, in 1857, and is a son of William Baird and Janet Markland, and a grandson of Archibald Baird, also a native of that place. Archibald Baird had a family of twelve sons and one daughter, all of the sons learned the blacksmith trade from their father, and some of them later came to the United States and became officials in the mechanical departments of several railroads.
The children of Archibald Baird were: Andrew I., David, John, William, Thomas, Hugh, James, Elisha, Robert, Adam, Joseph and Andrew II, and one daughter, Jean. Of these, Andrew I died in young manhood; David came to America in 1857, took employment with the New York & New Haven Railroad at Hartford, Connecticut, and was foreman of the blacksmith shops for forty-five years; John was employed by the same railroad company; Thomas remained in Scotland and became a prominent manufacturer of cotton spindles; and Andrew II became general foreman of the Illinois Central Railroad shops and served that company for forty-five years.

William Baird, the father of Archie M. Baird, was born in 1810, and when a young man married Janet Markland, of Stewton, Scotland. They had five children born to them: Janey, Belle, Sarah, Jessie and Archie, of whom the two latter survive, Jessie now being the wife of James Thompson, who was for thirty years master mechanic of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.
Archie Baird was eight years old when brought to the United States, the family settling at Chicago, Illinois, where the youth attended school until he was fourteen. His father, apprenticed him to become a pattern-maker, but a little later the youth decided to become a boilermaker and sheet iron worker and followed that trade for about six years. He was then offered a position at the Green Point Navy Yard, then Vincennes, Indiana, by the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. Then for four years he worked with the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad. In 1882 Mr. Baird went to the Wabash Railroad to take charge of the office of superintendent of the boiler shops, then accepted the position of assistant to J. W. Williams, who had been made superintendent of the Union Iron and Steel Mills, at Chicago.
In 1886 he worked for Wisconsin Central & Northern Pacific, at Waukesha, where he held the position of general foreman boilermaker for four years, and then, in 1890, became general foreman of the shop, with Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, this position he held during a period of sixteen years. In 1906 Mr. Baird took the position of safety boiler inspector of the whole Santa Fe system, he then returned to his old position as general foreman boilermaker of the Santa Fe system, with headquarters at Topeka, and a little later was made assistant superintendent of the locomotive shops at Topeka, a capacity in which he acted until 1915. In that year he embarked in the manufacture of a full line of pneumatic labor-saving devices, and the business has grown to such an extent that its products now fill a fifty-page catalogue.
Mr. Baird was united in marriage, in 1877, with Miss Mary J. Lyons, of Chicago, Illinois, a daughter of Patrick Lyons of that city. Of the seven children born to them, the following are living: Mamie, who is the wife of I. S. Sheets, Sadie, who is the wife of Fred J. Partridge, and Mildred, a stenographer in the office of State Labor Commissioner McBride, and living at home with her parents. Mamie is a graduate of Saint Xavier College, Chicago; and Mildred and Sadie are graduates of Saint Mary's Academy, at Leavenworth, Kansas. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and a Knight Templar and Shriner and has filled most of the chairs, and is also a member of organizations of railroad men. His family belongs to the Catholic Church, while Mr. Baird favors Presbyterian doctrines. A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

Baird, Bedent

Bedent Baird descended from the Immigrant John Baird of Aberdeenshire, Scotland who came to Monmouth County, New Jersey after landing at Staten Island on December 18, 1683. John's second wife and mother of his children was Mary Harmon, daughter of Cutliff Harmon. Three generations later Bedent and his brother Zebulon established themselves in Buncombe County, bringing the first wagon up Saluda Mt., and following the early road roughly laid out by David McCarson and others. This road in essence is now Highway 25 to Asheville. Bedent and his brother joined with Daniel Reynolds in buying land and selling lots which helped the little town of Morristown (later, Asheville) to get started, and also with his brother operated the first store, and worked in town affairs.
Bedent married Jane Welch, daughter of William and Mary Ann (Thompson) Welch, and they had four children: Elijah, born 1769; William born 1772; Elisha, born 1774; and Jane Eliza, born 1779. Jane Eliza Baird married Montraville Weaver and they lived in Weaverville. Old Buncombe County Heritage Vol. I" article no 217, p. 142

Note: Two Baird Families. On the 20th of April, 1795, John Burton sold to Zebulon and Bedent Baird all his lots in Asheville.
In 1819 Bedent Baird represented Ashe county in the House of Commons. He was not the Bedent who had bought the lots from John Burton. It is certain that another Bedent Baird lived at Valle Crucis in what is now Ashe county, and his descendants constitute a large and influential family in that county at this time, just as the Bairds of Buncombe do in that county. But these two families seem never to have heard of the existence of the other till the 28th of January, 1858, when Bedent E. Baird wrote to Adolphus E. Baird at Lapland, now Marshall, in answer to Baird's note of enquiry, which he had penciled on the margin of a newspaper. In that note he had claimed Bedent as a relative and stated that he resided at Lapland; but he failed to sign his name or state the county in which Lapland was situated. A. E. Baird received the letter promptly, but seems never to have answered it. In it Bedent gave a full family history; and the letter was published in full in the Asheville Gazette News on February 20, 1912. This letter was read and preserved by the numerous Bairds in Buncombe but no one seems to be able to trace the exact relationship between the Buncombe and the Watauga Bairds. That they are the same family no one who knows them can doubt, as they look, and, in many things, act alike, besides having the same given names in many cases.

Baird, Dr. Benjamin F. 1836-aft 1887 [ Medical Practioner ]

A physician of Fayette County, born in the county April 27, 1836, and is a son of Capt. Charles and Nancy Robards Baird, both natives of Robertson County, Tenn., and of Scotch-Irish descent coming from the house of Stuarts. The father was born in 1796 and died in Fayette County in 1871. The mother was born in 1814 and died in 1867. The parents married in Robertson county. In 1832 they moved to Fayette County and settled, twelve miles south of Somerville, where they spent the rest of their lives. His father engaged in agricultural pursuits all of his life. For a number of years he was a captain in the State militia. He was cultivated man and taught school for seven years; he was a kind, upright man, a loyal Democrat and with his wife a member of the Primitive Baptist Church.
Dr. B.F. Baird was the fourth of eight children; after receiving a good education in the fall of 1854 he took his first course of lectures at the Memphis Medical College, then returned home and practiced a year, and then returned to the college and graduated in the spring of 1856, and located in Fayette County near his old home, where he built up a large practice and was regarded as one of the leading physicians of the county. In 1859 he went to Arkansas and located in Dallas county near Tulip where he practice medicine for three years, then moved his family back to Fayette County and he entered the Confederate Army as surgeon of the Fifteenth Tennessee Regiment of Cavalry and served until the war closed.
In 1865 he resumed his practice in Fayette County. In October, 1878, he moved to Hickory Valley, a little town in Hardeman County, and continued the practice of medicine until 1885, when he returned to the Fifteenth District in Fayette County where he now lives Dr. Baird is a successful and eminent physician; he owns 350 acres of land in Fayette and Hardeman Counties. Dr. Baird has been married twice, first to Julia Mitchell, born in North Carolina in 1840 and died in Fayette County September 25, 1876; they were married November 27, 1859, and January 10, 1877, he married Julia Eubank, born in Hardeman County November 13, 1860. Eight sons were born to the first marriages - three are dead - and two sons and a daughter were born to the second marriage; the two sons died. Goodspeed's History of Tennessee - Fayette County Biographies 1887

Baird, Charles 1841- aft 1894 [Farmer ]

Son of Milton Baird and Lydia Bruce, both deceased, was born Feb. 14, 1841, in Michigan and settled in LaGrange county, Ind., April 10, 1853. Nov. 13, 1867, he was married in this county to Alice M. Bartlett, who was born in Springfield, Ind., a daughter of Elisha and Rebecca (Hamilton) Bartlett, both living, (1894). They have had four children, Carrie A., Riley, Ulillie F. and Laura E.
Comrade Baird enlisted at the age of 21 years, as a private Nov. 17, 1861, in Co. H, 44th Ind. V.I., 2c Brig., 4th A.C. August, 1863, he was in hospital at Tuscumbia, Tenn.; one week on account of a sunstroke. Dec. 31, 1863, he was honorably discharged at Chattanooga, Tenn., and re-enlisted the following day in old command; he was detailed at Brig. Hd. Qtrs., as teamster; also took part in the battles of Fort Donelson, Ft. Henry and Shiloh; he was granted an honorable discharge Sept. 14, 1865, at Nashville, Tenn., and now has a pension. Comrade Baird received his education in this county; he has been J. of P. and is holding that office at the present time; was supervisor two years; is a charter member of Charles Tyler Post, 141, in which he S.V.C; he is a farmer and may be addressed at Wolcottville, Ind.
Presidents, Soldiers, Statesmen; H.H. Hardesty, Pub, N Y, Toledo, Chicago, 1894

Baird, Dr Charles Washington 1828- aft 1884 [ Minister of Religion and Author ]

He was the second son of the Rev. Robert Baird, D.D., born in Princeton, New Jersey, August 28th, 1828. He was graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1848, and at the Union Theological Seminary in the same city, in 1852. From 1852 to 1854 he was Chaplain to the American Embassy in Rome, Italy. Since 1861 he has been pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Rye, Westchester county, New York.
In 1876 the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by his alma mater. Dr. Baird's extensive reading, ripe scholarship, and graceful rhetoric, make him an instructive and attractive preacher. Aside from his pulpit labors he has accomplished much valuable literary work, as the following list of his publications will show: "Eutaxia or the Presbyterian Liturgies," 1855. A revised edition, under the title "A Chapter on Liturgies," was published in London, in 1856, by the Rev. Thomas Binney. "A Book of Public Prayer," compiled from the Authorized Formularies of the Presbyterian Church, as prepared by Calvin, Knox, Bucer and others, 1857. Dr. Charles W. Shields, in "Liturgia Expurgata", refers to these books as "the two learned and valuable works of the Rev. Charles W. Baird, to who belongs the credit of a first investigator and collector of the Presbyterian Liturgies." "Chronicles of a Border Town: the History of Rye, N.Y., 1660-1870" 1871. "History of Bedford Church, New York," 1882. Several minor publications might be added to this list. Dr. Baird has also published translations of "Malan on Romaism" and of Merle d'Aubigne's "Discourses and Essays." He is now in preparation of "A History of the Huguenot Emigration to America." [1884].
Enclyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, Alfred Nevin, Presbyterian Encyclopedia Pub Co., 1884.