ROBERT ERWIN BAIRD (1817-1875)
Robert Erwin Baird was born 15 May 1817, the 4th child of 8 children born to James Baird and Elizabeth Erwin, in Londonderry, Ulster, Ireland. His mother died sometime between 1826 and 1833 in Ireland, leaving four sons and four daughters.
In the year 1833 his father decided to emigrate to America with the hope of obtaining a more comfortable living for his family. His father James with his 8 children sailed from Port Tamlaght, Finlagen, Ireland to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They then settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Robert became a tailor by trade. When he was 23 years old Robert married Hannah Everhart McCullough on 23 July 1840 at West Goshen Township, Chester, Pennsylvania. Hannah was the daughter of John McCullough and Sarah Dunkins Rogers. Hannah and Robert had 5 children. Their first child, John, was born 2 May 1841 at West Whiteland, Chester, Pennsylvania.
Robert and Hannah were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in August 1842 by Elder Jesse Burns at an LDS conference held in Downington, Chester, Pennsylvania. Robert was ordained an Elder by Joseph A. Stratton on 14 March 1843. At an LDS conference held in West Goshen, Chester, Pennsylvania on 2 July 1843 he was appointed to preside as president over the Branch, which position he held for about two years. He was just 26 years old and had been a member of the LDS Church less than one year.
On 4 May 1844 Robert, Hannah and young son John moved to Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. Robert received his Patriarchal Blessing on 3 June 1844 under the hands of Hyrum Smith just weeks before Hyrum and Joseph Smith were martyred. On 8 October 1844 Robert was ordained a member of the 10th Quorum of Seventies at Nauvoo. Robert and Hannah received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple on 21 January 1846.
After the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith the constant persecution of the Saints became hard to endure and Robert and his family were driven out of Nauvoo with the other Saints in 1846. They went to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. During the severe winter of 1846-47 a second son, Joseph, was born 1 December 1846, but he only lived a few hours, dying the same day. He was buried at Winter Quarters.
Brigham Young was organizing a company to journey across the plains and chose a group of the most able men to send on ahead to break a trail for the rest of the Saints. Robert was one of those chosen. He asked Hannah to wait and he would come back for her.
On 14 April 1847 the Brigham Young Company started out from Winter Quarters, Nebraska. There were 148 in this first company. Robert was assigned to the 9th group of ten with Captain Howard Egan, also from Ireland. Having no ox team of his own, it is said Robert drove the team of Apostle Heber C. Kimball. The group he was with arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on Saturday, 24 July 1847, at 2:00 in the afternoon.
On 16 August 1847 Robert and an organized company set out with ox teams to return to Winter Quarters to get their families. On the way back he met Hannah and son John camped on the Sweetwater River. She had traded her flour for other supplies and started out alone before joining the Parley P. Pratt Company on 4 July 1847. Robert was very angry with her and told her about the dangers of Indians raiding and scalping, but she felt anything was better than the treatment they had been getting from the non-Mormons. They met with other Saints and traveled to Great Salt Lake City, arriving 19 September 1847.
That first winter in the Valley the Baird family lived on thistle roots and sego lily bulbs as the crops planted earlier had been trampled by the excited livestock arriving with all the church trains.
While living in Great Salt Lake City, two other children were born to Robert and Hannah: Ellen on 1 June 1848, and Robert on 27 December 1850. Robert went to work at his trade of tailor for the next four years making clothes for the Saints.
In the spring of 1851 Robert moved his family north to the Ogden area in Weber County, settling on 2nd Street west of Five Points. This area was called Bingham’s Fort (later known as Lynne). Here he took up farming. On 5 September 1854 their last child Hannah was born at Bingham’s Fort.
Robert became active in the community. On 17 March 1855 he was elected to the City Council of Ogden and re-elected 25 April 1857. Robert was appointed presiding elder of Bingham’s Fort, Lynne District. He also served as a home missionary. On 6 June 1857 he was ordained president of the 53rd Quorum of Seventies. He also served as Justice of the Peace for the Lynne Precinct, Weber County.
On 31 December 1855 an address on plural marriage written by Parley P. Pratt was read before the Utah Legislature and later published. On 2 October 1856 Robert took his first plural wife, Jane Hadley, the daughter of Richard D. Hadley and Mary Shooter. Jane and her brother James had left England and came to Utah 25 September 1855 with the Richard Ballantyne Company. Robert and Jane Hadley were married in the Endowment House in Great Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. They had 8 children all born at Lynne, Weber, Utah.
Jane’s parents and her sister, Mary Hadley, left England 28 March 1857 and arrived in Utah in September 1857. They stayed briefly with Robert and Jane. Jane’s first child, James, was born 25 April 1858. Her parents and brothers moved up north to Box Elder County and farmed.
When Johnston’s Army came to Utah in 1858, Robert was called to be a scout and went south to Utah County. He stood on guard day and night, which proved to be injurious to his health as he developed lung trouble. After six weeks he was able to return home.
Jane’s sister, Mary Hadley, became Robert’s third wife in the Endowment House in Great Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah on 12 August 1858, the year after she had arrived in Utah. Robert and Mary had 9 children, their first child, Mary Ann, being born 2 June 1859. All children were born at Lynne, Weber, Utah. Mary and Jane were having babies about the same time every year.
In the year 1863 Bingham’s Fort was organized as a Branch of the LDS Church with Robert E. Baird as president. Soon after this he and his two counselors changed the name officially from Bingham’s Fort to Lynne.
During the grasshopper plague of Utah in 1868 the Baird crops were destroyed. Robert, a tailor by trade, became a very discouraged farmer. That same year on 7 May 1868, the 20-month-old daughter of Robert and Jane who was named Hannah passed away.
In January 1874 Brigham Young launched the United Order movement in Utah and the plan was organized at a conference of the Church in May 1874. That same month a branch of the United Order was established at Lynne, Weber, Utah. It is unknown if the Baird family subscribed to it. This movement did not last long in Utah and was soon abolished.
Ogden City had its pioneer tinsmiths and Robert worked at this trade operating a shop on 25th Street between Lincoln and Grant Avenues. His advertising read: “Robert Baird, tin, brass, sheet iron, and copper smith.” James Thompson came to Ogden in 1875 and bought out Robert’s tinshop.
Robert and his three wives and families were active in the LDS Church. When Robert was president of the Lynne Branch of the LDS Church, Brigham Young stayed at the Baird home when he attended conferences in the Branch. Mary H. Baird was the first Relief Society president of the Lynne Ward.
Robert Erwin Baird passed away on Wednesday, 25 August 1875 at his home in Lynne, Weber, Utah, at the age of 58 years. As one of the original pioneers of 1847 to Utah he had seen the Ogden area grow from 110 families in 1854 to almost 6,000 people. He had served as a faithful member of the LDS Church and the community. He served many years as Ogden City Councilman and Justice of the Peace. In his lifetime he saw the coming of the telegraph line to Utah and the railroad coming to Ogden as the junction point of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad companies.
Robert was buried in the Ogden City Cemetery. Surviving him at the time of his death were all three of his wives and 20 of his 22 children--8 sons and 12 daughters.
Robert’s wife Hannah McCullough Baird died 8 August 1889 at the age of 77 years. His wife Mary Hadley Baird died 27 October 1908 at the age of 71. His wife Jane Hadley Baird passed away 27 December 1911 at the age of 76. They were all buried in the Ogden City Cemetery in the Robert E. Baird family plot.
Submitted by Brent J. Belnap