lawyer, politician, b. Dublin, Ireland. He migrated to Pittsburgh with his family about 1805, and studied law in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In 1822 he went to Mackinac Island, Michigan Territory, where he taught school and, in 1823, was admitted to the bar. He moved to Green Bay and, at a special term of Judge Doty's (q.v.) court held on Oct. 4, 1824, was admitted to practice before the territorial court, the first professional lawyer to practice in what is now Wisconsin. Prominent in Indian affairs, he was a counsel for the Winnebago and Menominee tribes during negotiations for sale of their land in 1830, a secretary to Henry Dodge (q.v.) during the signing of the Treaty at the Cedars (1836), and a secretary at the council held at Lake Poygan (1848). A Whig, he was elected to the territorial council in 1836 and served as president during its first session. He was attorney general for the territory (1836-1839), and in 1846 was a delegate to the Wisconsin constitutional convention, and in 1853 the Whig nominee for governor. In 1861-1862 he was mayor of Green Bay. Baird retired from active practice in 1865. The Wisconsin Historical Society possesses manuscripts of Henry Baird; view more information about them online.  

Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 7 (1876), 9 (1882), 14 (1898), 15 (1900); P. M. Reed, Bench and Bar of Wis. (Milwaukee, 1882); H. S. Baird Papers; Madison Wis. State journal, Feb. 17, 1876; Green Bay Daily State Gazette, Nov. 11, 1890; WPA MS.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Henry and Elizabeth Baird Papers  for details.

View Baird's recollections at Wisconsin Historical Collections.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]