History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky, ed. by William Henry Perrin, O. L. Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1882. p. 804. [Bourbon County] [Ruddel's Mills Precinct] F. E. BAIRD, farmer, life insurance agent, &c.; P. O. Cynthiana. Among the pioneer farmers of Harrison County, was James Baird, a native of New Jersey, born Sept. 5, 1788, and when seven years old was brought to Kentucky, by an uncle, who placed him in the family of David Ellis, a Bourbon County farmer; with him he remained til [sic] he arrived at manhood. James then left the home of his adoption and came to Harrison County, where he married Nancy Blair, daughter of Samuel and Polly (Russell) Blair, who lived on Twin Creek, in this county. Soon after his marriage he bought and settled on a small farm on Raven Creek. His wife was born June 9, 1791, and died March 31, 1839. This union resulted in ten children, three sons and seven daughters; eight of the children are still living and are all married, and with one exception they all reside in their native county. They rank among the leading and most prominent families of their part of the county. James Baird's second marriage was to Mrs. Nancy Garnett, who survived him but a few years. He lived to see all his children married, after which he expressed himself as being then ready to die, having been spared long enough to see his large family all settled in life. He died Dec. 25, 1857, aged sixty-nine years. Perhaps there was no man in the county held in higher esteem or was more popular among his fellow men and neighbors. His whole career through life was characterized by honesty and undoubted veracity and integrity. Notwithstanding he was abundantly supplied with the necessaries of life, yet he never cherished any disposition to accumulate property or wealth, and consequently died, comparatively speaking, a poor man, leaving but little to hand down to his children, save the rich legacy of an untarnished name and an unimpeachable character. Samuel Baird, the eldest son of the above family, was born July 14, 1817. The early part of his life was spent upon his father's farm. Owing to the very poor educational facilities in his vicinity in those early times, he was obliged to commence his career in life with but a very limited store of knowledge. His learning, therefore, was necessarily confined to the plain rudimentary branches, and the study of these could only be pursued in the spare time snatched from the more pressing duties of the farm. When twenty-one years of age, with no capital whatever, save a strong constitution and a willing mind, he determined to venture upon his own resources and endeavor to make a living for himself. His first effort was to purchase a small tract of land, all in woods, on one of the tributaries of Twin Creek, and by his own labor the same was developed. >From time to time he has added to his original purchase, till [sic] he now owns about 200 acres comfortably improved, and some surplus otherwise invested. Through the early part of his life, he was very industrious, hard-working man, and what possessions he now enjoys are the true reward of industry and economy. Samuel Baird has been thrice married. His first union was with Emmaline, daughter of Francis and Sarah (Hutchinson) Edwards of Harrison County. This marriage occurred on Oct. 28, 1838. She was born Feb. 17, 1821, and died Sept. 18, 1848. His second marriage was on June 12, 1849, to Eleanor Edwards, sister to his first wife; she was born on Oct. 12, 1818, and died June 1, 1865. His third marriage was to Leah Conrad, who was born in 1824, and is a daughter of Benjamin Conrad, a native of Virginia, and one of the early settlers of Harrison County. Samuel Baird has five living children. By the first wife there are two sons, James T. and Francis E.; by the second wife there are two sons, Samuel P., and Russell B., and one daughter, Sallie Ellis. Francis E., who is the subject of this sketch, was born in Harrison County, Oct. 16, 1846. His boyhood days were spent about the homestead, working on the farm and attending the district schools, where he acquired a good practical knowledge of such branches as are usually taught in our common schools. When about nineteen years of age his father sent him to the Wesleyan College at Millersburg, Bourbon County, where he finished his education. He left school without any means, and at once began teaching for a livelihood, a profession he followed about three years, during which time he ranked among the leading and most popular teachers in Harrison and Bourbon Counties. His last school was a ten month's term at Kiser's Station, 4 miles north of Paris, on the K.C.R.R. Discovering that the confinement to which a teacher is necessarily subjected, was seriously affecting his health, he heeded the counsel of a medical friend, in whose ability and judgment he had implicit confidence, and at once quit the school room to embark in some branch of business that would admit of more freedom and recreation, if not prove more remunerative. For some time after this, our subject, engaged in various kinds of traveling business; and in the spring of 1872, bought a small store in Ruddel's Mills, Bourbon County, where he engaged in merchandising. On Oct. 10th, 1872, he was married to Miss Maggie F. Howard, only daughter of Eli Howard, a prominent farmer of Bourbon County. Maggie F. was born Jan. 25, 1856. The spring following his marriage, Francis E. sold out his store and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In the fall of 1876, he bought a little place of 124 acres on the Colville Pike, in Bourbon County, known as the Alex. Patton farm, and moved to the same in March, 1877. After devoting his entire attention to farming here for two years, he was induced to engage in the life insurance business in which he was very successful. In 1880, he was promoted to the position of State Agent for one of his companies, and was given exclusive control of Tennessee, where he succeeded in establishing the merits of his company upon such a basis as to attract the attention of all similar instructions trying to operate in that State. In the spring of 1881, he bought what was known as the Dr. Bright place, located on the same pike and less than a mile of his other place, where he immediately moved and continued farming in connection with his other business. In the fall of 1881, when a corps of historical writers were inducted to undertake the publication of a history of several counties of the famous blue grass region of Kentucky, our subject was recommended to the managers of the enterprise as a man every way suitable and competent for the various and difficult duties connected with a work of that character. In this new field of labor he began with the same zeal and energy that has characterized his successful career thus far in life, and today it is universally conceded by his co-laborers, that he ranks among the most careful and efficient writers belonging to the force. He has been prominently connected with the Masonic Order since he was old enough to become a member; has filled all its offices; has been Master of his lodge, and its honored delegate to the Grand Lodge for six or seven consecutive years, and is thoroughly conversant with the esoteric work and masonic jurisprudence. He and his estimable wife are connected with the M. E. Church South, and in politics he is a Democrat. In his marriage, Mr. Baird realizes that he has been extremely fortunate, having obtained for a life companion a lady of most exemplar character, pleasing address, and rare good judgment, and one, withal, of whom it may be truly said, she knows her every duty and how best to fulfill it. Baird Russell Ellis Blair Garnett Hutchinson Edwards Conrad Howard = Harrison-KY VA http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/bourbon/baird.fe.txt