Henry Samuel Baird Jr. (May 16, 1800 – April 30, 1875) was an Irish American immigrant,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

pioneer, lawyer, and politician. He was the first Attorney General of the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...

, appointed by territorial governor

Henry Dodge Moses Henry Dodge (October 12, 1782 – June 19, 1867) was a Democratic member to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son, Augustus C. Dodge, served a ...

. He is known as "Father of the Wisconsin Bar," and was said to be the first practicing lawyer in the Wisconsin Territory.

Biography

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, Baird moved with his family, at age five, to

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. He worked in various law firms in Ohio and Pennsylvania—including the law firm of the future governor of Ohio Reuben Wood. Baird moved to Mackinac Island, in the Michigan Territory, in 1822, where he became a teacher. He moved to Green Bay in 1824, which, at the time, was also part of the Michigan Territory. In Green Bay, Baird was admitted to the bar in a special ceremony in the courtroom of territorial judge

James Duane Doty James Duane Doty (November 5, 1799 – June 13, 1865) was a land speculator and politician in the United States who played an important role in the development of Wisconsin and Utah Territory. Early life and legal career A descendant of ''Mayflo ...

, and became the first practicing attorney in what would become the Wisconsin Territory. Baird was involved with Indian affairs, negotiating land transactions as a counsel for the

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

and Ho-Chunk tribes in 1830, he volunteered as a quartermaster with the militia during the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the " British Band", cros ...

in 1832, and was secretary to U.S. negotiator

at the

Treaty of the Cedars The Treaty of the Cedars was concluded on the Fox River, west of what is today the village of Little Chute, Wisconsin, on September 3, 1836. Under the treaty, the Menominee Indian nation ceded to the United States about of land for $700,000. The ...

in 1836, and was secretary to the council at Lake Poygan in 1848; Baird also served in the Wisconsin Territorial Council, the upper house of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, and was the first president of the territorial council; he also served in the first Wisconsin Constitutional Convention of 1846. After Wisconsin statehood, he was the Whig Party nominee for Governor of Wisconsin in

1853 Events January–March * January 6 – Florida Governor Thomas Brown signs legislation that provides public support for the new East Florida Seminary, leading to the establishment of the University of Florida. * January 8 – Taiping R ...

, losing badly (this would be the last Wisconsin gubernatorial election in which there was a Whig candidate on the ballot). He served as mayor of Green Bay for two terms, in 1861 and 1862.Henry Samuel Baird-Mayors of Green Bay, Wisconsin

Family and personal life

On August 12, 1824, Henry Baird married the 14-year-old Elizabeth Fisher, who had been his favorite student. Elizabeth was born in

Prairie du Chien Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821. Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...

in southwest Wisconsin and had moved with her mother to Mackinac Island as a toddler. She was the child of a British fur trader and a French- Ottawa mother and spoke several languages. Baird brought his wife from Mackinac Island, by ship, to Green Bay. Elizabeth's skill at translation and her family connections to the American Indian communities made their home a hub for social life in the territory and contributed to her husband's political success. Elizabeth later wrote of her life in the territory in "''Reminscences of Life in Territorial Wisconsin''." Henry and Elizabeth had four daughters, with two surviving to adulthood. Henry's law office, the

Baird Law Office The Baird Law Office in Green Bay, Wisconsin was built in the 1830s in Greek Revival style, which was then popular as one of America's first architectural styles that explicitly rejected British practices. The small one-story building measures ju ...

, is a small

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

building that he purchased in 1841. The building was moved and is preserved at

Heritage Hill State Park Heritage Hill State Historical Park, is a 56-acre open-air museum located in Allouez, Wisconsin near Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the United States. A Wisconsin state park, the site is operated by a non-profit organization called the Heritage Hill Co ...

Electoral history

Wisconsin Attorney General (1848)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, May 8, 1848

Wisconsin Governor (1853)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 8, 1853

References

External links

* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Henry S. Lawyers from Pittsburgh Members of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature Wisconsin Attorneys General Mayors of Green Bay, Wisconsin 1800 births 1875 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) 19th-century American politicians Wisconsin Whigs 19th-century American lawyers