Let’s begin with Robert & William’s father, George Washington Baird. Though I am still connecting the dots for his early life, it’s easily picked up in the middle with his military records. He enlisted into the Union Army 20 Aug 1862, spent 2 years of service as a Private in the Illinois 94th Volunteer Infantry, Company K and mustered out 17 Jun 1865 in Galveston, TX. He returned to his home in McLean County Illinois and 19 Dec 1965, married Susan Russell McClure. Beginning their lives right there in Bloomington, they had 2 children, Lucy Mildred and William Edward.

The Baird’s left their home in Illinois and in 1869 purchased 132 acres of land in Scotland County Missouri. It was here that their 3rd child was born, Mary Edith. By 1870 they had sold their Missouri land and struck out for Kansas.

George had taken advantage of both the 1862 Homestead Act and the 1873 Timber-Culture Act, a supplement to the Homestead Act. This legislation allowed homesteaders an additional 160 acres of land to the 160 allotted for the Homestead Act if they planted trees on one fourth of their land and maintained it for at least 10 years.