Henry S. Baird
Henry S. Baird | |
|---|---|
 Baird in 1861 | |
| 7th Mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin | |
| In office April 1861 – April 1863 | |
| Preceded by | E. H. Ellis |
| Succeeded by | Burley Follett |
| 1st Attorney General of Wisconsin Territory | |
| In office December 1836 – December 1839 | |
| Appointed by | Henry Dodge |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Horatio N. Wells |
| 1st President of the Council of the Wisconsin Territory | |
| In office October 25, 1836 – November 6, 1837 | |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Arthur B. Ingraham |
| Member of the Council of the Wisconsin Territory for Brown County | |
| In office October 25, 1836 – November 6, 1837 | |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Dickinson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henry Samuel Baird Jr. May 16, 1800 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | April 30, 1875 (aged 74) Fontenoy, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery Green Bay, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse | |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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| Occupation | lawyer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  Michigan Territorial Militia |
| Years of service | 1832 |
| Rank | Quartermaster |
| Battles/wars | Black Hawk War |
Henry Samuel Baird Jr. (May 16, 1800 – April 30, 1875) was an Irish American immigrant, Wisconsin pioneer, lawyer, and politician. He was the first Attorney General of the Wisconsin Territory, appointed by territorial governor Henry Dodge. He is known as "Father of the Wisconsin Bar," and was said to be the first practicing lawyer in the Wisconsin Territory.[1]
Biography
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Baird moved with his family, at age five, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked in various law firms in Ohio and Pennsylvania—including the law firm of the future governor of Ohio Reuben Wood. Baird moved to Mackinac Island, in the Michigan Territory, in 1822, where he became a teacher. He moved to Green Bay in 1824, which, at the time, was also part of the Michigan Territory.
In Green Bay, Baird was admitted to the bar in a special ceremony in the courtroom of territorial judge James Duane Doty, and became the first practicing attorney in what would become the Wisconsin Territory. Baird was involved with Indian affairs, negotiating land transactions as a counsel for the Menominee and Ho-Chunk tribes in 1830, he volunteered as a quartermaster with the militia during the Black Hawk War in 1832, and was secretary to U.S. negotiator Henry Dodge at the Treaty of the Cedars in 1836, and was secretary to the council at Lake Poygan in 1848;[2] Baird also served in the Wisconsin Territorial Council, the upper house of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, and was the first president of the territorial council; he also served in the first Wisconsin Constitutional Convention of 1846. After Wisconsin statehood, he was the Whig Party nominee for Governor of Wisconsin in 1853, losing badly (this would be the last Wisconsin gubernatorial election in which there was a Whig candidate on the ballot). He served as mayor of Green Bay for two terms, in 1861 and 1862.[3]
Family and personal life
On August 12, 1824, Henry Baird married the 14-year-old Elizabeth Fisher, who had been his favorite student. Elizabeth was born in Prairie du Chien in southwest Wisconsin and had moved with her mother to Mackinac Island as a toddler. She was the child of a British fur trader and a French-Ottawa mother and spoke several languages. Baird brought his wife from Mackinac Island, by ship, to Green Bay. Elizabeth's skill at translation and her family connections to the American Indian communities made their home a hub for social life in the territory and contributed to her husband's political success. Elizabeth later wrote of her life in the territory in "Reminscences of Life in Territorial Wisconsin."[4] Henry and Elizabeth had four daughters, with two surviving to adulthood.
Henry's law office, the Baird Law Office, is a small Greek Revival building that he purchased in 1841. The building was moved and is preserved at Heritage Hill State Park.
Electoral history
Wisconsin Attorney General (1848)
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, May 8, 1848 | |||||
| Democratic | James S. Brown | 17,788 | 56.00% | ||
| Whig | Henry S. Baird | 13,975 | 44.00% | ||
| Plurality | 3,813 | 12.00% | |||
| Total votes | 31,763 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win (new seat) | |||||
Wisconsin Governor (1853)
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, November 8, 1853 | |||||
| Democratic | William A. Barstow | 30,405 | 54.60% | +5.24% | |
| Free Soil | Edward D. Holton | 21,886 | 39.31% | ||
| Whig | Henry S. Baird | 3,304 | 5.93% | −44.57% | |
| Scattering | 88 | 0.16% | |||
| Plurality | 8,519 | 15.30% | +14.15% | ||
| Total votes | 55,683 | 100.0% | +26.01% | ||
| Democratic gain from Whig | Swing | 49.82% | |||
References
- ^ "Cotton House-Baird Law Office". Historical Marker Society of America.
- ^ "Baird, Henry Samuel 1800 - 1875". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
- ^ Henry Samuel Baird-Mayors of Green Bay, Wisconsin Archived 2011-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Henry S. Baird (1800-1875), Elizabeth Baird (1810-1890)". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
- ^ "Wisconsin Official Canvass". Watertown Chronicle. Watertown, Wisconsin. June 21, 1848. p. 2. Retrieved August 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (2015). "Statistics: History" (PDF). In Pohlman, Julie (ed.). State of Wisconsin 2015-2016 Blue Book (Report). Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin. pp. 699–701. ISBN 978-0-9752820-7-6. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
Further reading
- Baird, Elizabeth Thérèse (1900). Reminiscences of life in territorial Wisconsin. Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved August 6, 2020 – via Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Collection.
External links
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| National | |
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