Descendants of Lewis Baird
Second Generation
2. Joseph Baird (Lewis ) was born in 1775 in Wilkes Co NC. He died in 1800 in Salisbury, Rowan Co NC.
Notes for JOSEPH BAIRD:
There is no evidence to suggest that Joseph was related to John the 1666 line. What we know about Joseph is pretty meager. From census evidence, we have deduced a time frame for birth year (if he told the truth). From his great grandson, we have a tradition that he was Irish. From records we know he was a surveyor, who worked for Stockley Donelson, Andrew Jackson's brother-in-law. At one point, Joseph obtain extensive land grants for himself in Grainger Co TN, which he lost by tax foreclosure.
(Note from Joe Payne - There are some believe the following:
Joseph Baird b. 12-25-1768 off of William Baird b.1713. Virginia J. Smith was said to have gotten this from Joseph Baird b.1768 Bible.)
He married Hannah Lay in Wilkesboro, Wilkes Co NC in 1794. We do not know with any certitude who were Hannah's parents. She was not a daughter of the two Lay families in Wilkesboro but may have been a niece or cousin. From traditions associated with Lewis Millard, we are told that he was not born in Wilkes County but elsewhere. This suggests to me that Hannah may have gone back to the area of her parents for her 'confinement' esp. if Joseph were 'on the road' engaged in surveying. In the 1790 census, there were other Lay families in this area.
Lewis Millard is not named for any Baird individual that I have been able to find in NC. There is a Lewis Baird in Rowan County, but he was a German immigrant who had angelcized his name. We can account for his family and Joseph is not a part of it. (1. see below) There are also Millard families but no Lewis Millard in the 1790 census as I recall. Once Joseph relocates to the Whitley Co
Whitley Co. KY/Campbell Co TN area, we lose even the documentary trail. A tradition has it that he 'died', Hannah returned to NC for a period, and then either married and returned or returned to marry.She married Jesse Lay and had at least three children with him. However, no documentation of their marriage is known. The first documentation that suggests they were married is a church membership record from around 1809. The lack of any stories handed down about Joseph has caused me to wonder just what transpired. It is as if a curtain were drawn across his life. We do know that the individuals with whom he worked as a surveyor were deeply implicated in the North Carolina Land Office scandal. I have drawn a speculative scenario elsewhere that he deserted his family when the hot breath of the law was felt.
His wife's revenge was to expunge all memory of him even with Joseph's three young sons.
We had another story that he returned to North Carolina and died as a result of a fire in an inn. However, we haven't seen any basis for this story. In any event, he is a puzzlement and has defied efforts to ferret him out since at least 1948. Gene (ernest.fricks
1. CAROLINA CRADLE
p. 165 - a John Lewis BEARD (Johann Ludwig BARTH) arrived from Rotterdam abaord the ship "Patience" in 1749. He was a butcher, and six years later he was in Salisbury (NC), where he acquired
four lots in the east square "containing 576 sq poles, including the spring, still house, and dwelling house where Jacob Frank now lives. Beard was a butcher by trade and may have operated a
shop in the township. He was an unusually energetic man and, unlike most of his fellow Germans, assumed an active role in the affairs of the town. He was naturalized in July, 1755.
(Rowan Court Minutes, I, 21) Also Rowan Deeds, II, 156 (his trade). Rumple, "Rowan County," p. 67 (his participation in affairs of the town).
Ibid, p. 174 - In 1746, four dollars Pennsylvania money was equivalent in value to three dollars of Virginia currency - a fact which may have encouraged many entering the valley of Virginia from the north to move on to North Carolina. Land in NC was also less expensive. Before 1713, the price of land in Pennsylvania was 2 pounds per hundred acres and 1s quit-rent.
In 1713, the price was raised to 10 pounds and in 1732 15 pounds. Also in 1732, the quit-rent was increased from 2s to 4s2d sterling. On the basis of the price established in 1732, a farm of 50 acres would cost 7 pounds 10s. in Pa. In Granville District of NC, land was selling in 1753 at the rate of 5s per hundred acres regardless of the acreage.
The original Scotch-Irish immigrants to the middle colonies settled generally toward the Maryland line, where no lands could honestly be sold until the border dispute was settled with Maryland. The valley of Virginia was congested which was another cause of emigration to NC.
Barb Petty bpettyAdditional Info: First Baird to settle in Campbell County from which all Campbell County Baird's descended. Five grandsons in Civil War With Union.
Son, Miller Baird captured by Confedates and died in Prison camp in Richmond, Va. Details of lineage in Vol III of CampbellCounty TN,USA, Library of Congress Cataloging in Publications Data: 92-075665 Miller McDonald mcdonald@campbellcounty.com
Joseph married Hannah Lay, daughter of William M. Lay and Martha Duncan, on 27 Nov 1794 in Wilkes Co NC. Hannah was born in 1775 in Va. She died in 1862 in Whitley Co KY.
Notes for HANNAH LAY:
After Joseph's death, she brought her three children to KY, near Jellico, TN.
?? Line 19828: (New PAF RIN=907)
1 NOTE Barb Petty bpetty@freenet.vcu.edu Speculates that she married Jesse Lay and
had at least three other children.Regarding Hannah being a Gibson:
The Hannah-Lay-Gibson-Baird-Lay name is pure speculationl! No documentation whatsoever. Betty Baird and I have been looking for Joseph and Hannah for about 35-40 years now. We had the theory that Hannah was born a Lay and was raised by her step-father, Gibson, and had used the name. Fran and I were brainstorming last night and discussing the heirs of Mary Gibson. The list has Hannah Lay as first, and brothers(?)James and John as # 7 and 9. Further census reports show their birth dates as before 1765. If Hannah was elder by 5 children it should put her birthdate at about 1755-60. If this was the one who married Jesse it would put her starting her second family at around age 50-55. Not impossible but improbable. So...........we decided that the dates were incompatible with Joseph and Jesse. She could have married Jesse, Sr. and the other Hannah married Jesse, Jr. What do you people on the line think of this idea? Too far out?
You did have one piece of information I hadn 't heard before and that was the date and place of Hannah's and Jesse's marriage. Thank you for that. Keep posting!
Bev - Cyberbay77
Joseph and Hannah had the following children:
+ 3 M i Lewis Millard Baird was born on 22 Aug 1795 and died in May 1864. + 4 M ii William Andrew Baird Rev. was born on 11 Jan 1797 and died on 23 Jul 1869. + 5 M iii Joseph Baird was born in 1798 and died in 1869.
