William Martyn Baird was an American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

missionary who founded

Soongsil University Soongsil University (SSU) is the first modern university in Korea, dating its history back to 1897. It was founded under the Christian missionary William M. Baird. The campus is located in 369 Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Histo ...

in Korea. Baird was born in Indiana on June 16, 1862. He was educated at

Hanover College Hanover College is a private college in Hanover, Indiana, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Founded in 1827 by Reverend John Finley Crowe, it is Indiana's oldest private college. The Hanover athletic teams participate in the H ...

(Bachelor's degree in 1885, PhD in 1903, and Doctor of Divinity in 1913) and

McCormick Theological Seminary McCormick Theological Seminary is a private Presbyterian seminary in Chicago, Illinois. It shares a campus with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, bordering the campus of the University of Chicago. A letter of intent was signed on May 5 ...

(graduated 1888). Baird sailed to Korea to do missionary work, arriving in 1891, less than two months after marrying Annie Laurie Adams (December 18, 1890). His first missionizing was in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

in September of the same year.Yi Ja-young, "Founder of SSU, William M. Baird," ''The Soongsil Times XXIX'' (137):2021, p. 20 Beginning with a "Sarangbang" class in

Pyeongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population ...

in 1897, Baird's efforts grew into the Soongsil School in 1900 and eventually into an institution of higher education, graduating its first students in 1908.Yi Ja-young, "Founder of SSU, William M. Baird," ''The Soongsil Times XXIX'' (137):2021, p. 21 He died in 1931. Baird Hall on the Soongsil campus is named after him, and there is a bronze bust of him there as well.

Archival collections

The

Presbyterian Historical Society The Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) is the oldest continuous denominational historical society in the United States.Smylie, James H. 1996. ''A Brief History of the Presbyterians.'' Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press. Its mission is to col ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

has a collection of Dr. William Baird'
diaries and correspondence
that document, among other events, his early years as a missionary in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and the death of his first wife, Annie Laurie Baird, in 1916. The Society also holds a collection of th
Baird Family papers
which consists of correspondence and photographs of Dr. Baird, his brother Richard, and his wife Anna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, William M. 1862 births University and college founders 1931 deaths Hanover College alumni McCormick Theological Seminary alumni American Presbyterian missionaries American expatriates in Korea Presbyterian missionaries in Korea Missionary educators