Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Baird, Thomas 
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Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

THOMAS BAIRD

   Forty years have wrought their marvelous transformations in city and on farms
since time ceased and eternity began for Thomas Baird, an Englishman by birth
and lineage, but an American in his keen desire to grasp opportunity and in his
pre-eminent characteristics of enterprise and optimism. Comparatively brief, as
we count time, was the period of his sojourn near the western coast of our
country and brief also was the duration of his residence in America,
nevertheless he was able to lay the foundation of a permanent prosperity which,
although death prevented his own consummation thereof, aided his children in
their personal efforts to accumulate a competency. When he crossed the ocean to
the new world he was young and strong, but without means or friends, and the
early years of his association with our country represented a constant endeavor
on his part to earn a livelihood. For some time he made his home in Richmond,
Mo., and followed the trade of a millwright, in which he was not only
experienced, but also unusually capable. Early in manhood he had married Miss
Mary A. Hutchinson and they crossed the plains in 1859, making the tedious
journey with wagons and oxen after the fashion of the day. During the spring of
1862 he settled on a ranch one mile east of Woodland and here he died in 1871,
his wife having died two years before.

    The family of Thomas Baird consisted of five children, but the daughters,
Annie and Elizabeth, died at an early age. The sons survive, Thomas L., James D.
and Joseph E., who under the firm title of Baird Bros., carry on extensive
operations as grain-raisers. They own and cultivate the old homestead, which now
comprises four hundred acres. In addition they own and manage seven hundred
acres in the vicinity of Knights Landing. Through their, large undertakings they
have risen to, a place among the leading grain-raisers of Yolo county and in
their specialties of barley and wheat they have few rivals. Their annual sales
aggregate from ten thousand to twelve thousand sacks of grain and they are also
extensive raisers of alfalfa, having one hundred acres from which they cut four
crops each season.

    A noteworthy fact in relation to their cultivation of the old homestead is
that, although it has been under the plow constantly for the past forty years,
ever since the father established his home there in 1871, the crops are still
large and the soil apparently is as rich as when its first furrow was turned,
which is accounted for by rotation of crops. The brothers own a traction engine
and a combined harvester and are thus amply qualified to manage their grain from
the time of seeding until the last load has gone to the market. Modern machinery
greatly facilitates the work and lessens the number of hired hands needed, so
that large areas are cultivated with comparatively little assistance from other
men. Horses, mules and hogs are raised at the old homestead and some fine
specimens of equine perfection have been sold to buyers who will accept only the
best. While less interested in stock-raising than in grain and alfalfa-farming,
the brothers have been equally successful in both and they have accumulated
large holdings through their exercise of sagacious judgment and intelligent
industry. The eldest of the brothers has long been a stockholder in the Bank of
Yolo at Woodland and for some years he has officiated as a member of its board
of directors, besides being identified with other movements for the civic
prosperity. On East Main street he has a pleasant home, surrounded by evidences
of refinement and culture, and representing his own accumulations during the
period of his business activity.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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