BAIRD, Edmund B. (1837-1902)

BAIRD

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/1/2021 at 22:22:48

Edmund Bramhall Baird
(November 6, 1837 – February 23, 1902)

Hon. E. B. Baird, one of the prominent citizens of Ida County, Iowa, was born in Onondaga County, New York, November 6, 1837. His father, Andrew W. Baird, was born in Schoharie County, New York, son of Andrew Baird, a native of Scotland. His mother, whose maiden name was Harriet Bramhall, was born in Onondaga County, New York, daughter of Edmund Bramhall, a descendant of English ancestry. She died when the subject of our sketch was four years old, leaving two children E., B. and Charles. The latter is now a resident of Syracuse, New York. After her death the father married her sister, Jane Bramhall, and they had one child, Willard. The father died in Onondaga County, New York, at the age of seventy-five years. He was a farmer and blacksmith by occupation, in politics a Democrat, and in religion a Baptist.
E. B. Baird was reared on a farm and received his education in the common schools and in the Monroe Collegiate Institute in Onondaga County, New York. In 1872 he came to Iowa, and in Maple Township, Ida County, bought 160 acres of wild land located one mile and a half north of Battle Creek, which he has improved and on which he has since resided. He also owns 240 acres near Sioux City and 160 acres in Wheeler County, Nebraska. On his home farm he has a nice frame residence, surrounded with lawn and grove; barn, 36 x 40 feet, with 20-foot posts, having a capacity for fifty tons of hay; crib, 30 x 48 feet; and has good fences and an abundant supply of water.
Mr. Baird was married at the age of thirty, in Schoharie County, New York, to Harriet Conover, daughter of Isaac Talmage. Their only child, Edmund C., of Seattle, Washington, is engaged in the land, loan and brokerage business. Mr. Baird married his present wife in 1877. She was formerly Matilda Preston and is a daughter of John Preston. She received her birth and education in Scotland, of which country her father was also a native. They have three children: Andrew E., John Preston, and Mabel Laura. Politically, Mr. Baird is a Democrat and is one of the “wheel horses” of his party. In 1874 he was elected to the Twenty-fourth General Assembly and was served with credit and honor, both to himself and his constituents. He has also served as Justice of the Peace, as Township Trustee and as a member of the School Board. He is connected with the Maple Valley Savings Bank, of which he is vice-president and a director. A member of the Farmers’ Alliance and deeply interested in the in the growth and development of Ida County, he is regarded as one of the most substantial men in this part of the country.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.357