Background
He was a son of Robert Baird (1798–1863), a Presbyterian preacher and author who worked both in the United States and in Europe for the cause of temperance, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 17, 1832.
He was a son of Robert Baird (1798–1863), a Presbyterian preacher and author who worked both in the United States and in Europe for the cause of temperance, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 17, 1832.
He spent eight years of his early youth with his father in Paris and Geneva, and in 1850 graduated at New York University.
He then lived for two years in Italy and Greece, was a student in the Union Theological Seminary in New York City from 1853 to 1855, and in 1856 graduated at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a tutor for four years in the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and from 1859 until his death was professor of Greek language and literature in New York University.
Married Susan Elizabeth Baldwin, August 15, 1860.