My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM J. BAIRD. On a well-developed farm in Pleasant Township, Clark County, this highly respected gentleman carries on the work of general farming in a manner which reflects credit upon his skill and judgment and furnishes him with an excellent income. His estate comprises one hundred and sixty-five acres and has been his home since 1859. Mr. Baird is a native of this county having been born a mile east of Harmony, March 27, 1826. His boyhood and youth were passed in the manner usual to farmers’ sons, his time being divided between attendance at the common schools, the farm labors in which his strength would allow him to assist, and the recreations to be found in the country.

On March 10, 1857, Mr. Baird was united in marriage with Mary Hayward, a lady of many estimable traits of character. She was born at Harper’s Ferry, Va., being a daughter of David and Margaret (Kane) Hayward, who came to Ohio in 1833 and settled two miles east of Springfield. Mr. Hayward was a blacksmith. The marriage resulted in the birth of three children: Oscar, Margaret and Lewis R. The daughter is now the wife of George Everhart. The devoted wife and mother was called from time to eternity in September 1864. After having remained a widower until February 19,1 867, Mr. Baird contracted a second matrimonial alliance being united with Miss Nancy Kimble. This lady is a daughter of Giles and Eveline (Turner) Kimble and was born in Harmony Township. Her father is a farmer. She is a woman whose worth is acknowledged by all who know her and in whom the heart of husband and children may rejoice. She has borne our subject five children: Lizzie, Milton J., Nellie A., Eva A., and Laura E.

Mr. Baird has been an active Republican for many years, he has served as Township Trustee and in 1889 was elected to that oflice unsolicited. For fifteen years he has been a member of the School Board in which he has materially advanced the cause of education. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church while his wife is identified with the Methodist Episcopal denomination.

The ancestry of our subject is an honorable one, the family being originally of Scotland, whence members of it removed to Ireland and thence came to America. Going back to the third generation prior to our subject we find William Baird, who left to his children over five thousand acres of land in Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, he was intimately associated in the business with a Mr. Breckenridge who was one of the first men to settle in the Blue Grass State. The next in the direct line was another William Baird, who was born near Hagerstown, Md., March 16, 1762, and who, during the latter part of the Revolutionary War, served as a guard about nine months. He married Dorothy Cammerrer, a native of Maryland and of Dutch ancestry. After having lived for some time in Westmoreland County, Pa., in the spring of 1794 they journeyed to Kentucky on a flatboat, settling at Flemingsburg, whence in 1808 they removed to Ohio on horseback. Settlement was made on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Harmony Township, Clark County, the acreage being afterward increased to five hundred and fifty. There Mrs. Baird died in 1824, her husband surviving until March 10, 1836. She was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their family consisted of the following sons and daughters: Hester, who married John Smith; Susannah, the wife of Joshua Tatman, of Flemingsburg, Ky., who died childless; Elizabeth, Mary Ann,wife of John Hodge; Peter C., John, who died in Kosciusko County, Ind., and William D.

Peter C. Baird was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pa., September 16, 1792, and grew to maturity in Ohio, where he resided from his fifteenth year until he had passed the age of four-score, dying November 2, 1873. He was a successful farmer, accumulating a nice fortune. After his marriage he settled on one hundred and fifty-two acres on the National Pike east of Harmony, where he resided until his death. He was an old line Whig and afterward a sturdy Republican. He married Frances Wilson, who was born near King’s Mountain, N. C., and who belonged to a highly respectable family. Her father, John Wilson, was a Justice of the Peace twenty-seven years; he was a strict Presbyterian and was highly thought of by all to whom his character was known. He married Hannah Baird, also of North Carolina whence they came to Ohio, spending the later years of their life in Fayette County. The fathers of both took part in the celebrated battle at King’s Mountain.

This worthy couple were the parents of six sons and six daughters, the subject of this biographical notice being the first-born. All of the sons and four daughters lived beyond their childhood. John was accidentally killed in sliding from a straw stack; Willis is living in Dade County, Mo.; Lewis, who served in Company K, Thirty-first Ohio Infantry, is now living in Jessamine County, Ky.; Robert J., who belonged to Company I, One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Infantry, was killed in the battle of the Wilderness; Samuel died when eighteen years old; Clarissa is the wife of John Mills, of Green Township; Caroline lives on the old homestead; Susan lives with her; Mary A. is now deceased.