Baird Anchor Farm Chronology

In January of 1865 John Baird bought a half section (320 acres) of virgin prairie land (that is, original prairie that had never been plowed) that is now the Baird Anchor Farm and the South Farm. This was about three months before the end of the Civil War.

John Baird was born in 1809, near Pleasant Gap, Centre County, Pennsylvania. He had seven brothers and one sister. (Three of his brothers were killed in the Civil War; two fighting for the North and one for the South.) In his early twenties John had a lifelong injury to a foot from a fall from a horse. He had lived in central Pennsylvania all his life until he moved to the Prairie Home area in March of 1866 (at age 55) with his wife, Hannah, and three daughters, Henrietta 13, Ella 10 and Nancy 8.

The following is a brief chronology of some of the significant events:

1859 - John Baird’s sister, Eliza, and her husband, Gardner Thompson,

moved to Penn Township, Illinois, from Bellefonte, Pennsylvania,

and started farming about a mile southwest of Prairie Home. She

was the first Baird family member to move to central Illinois.

1860 - John Baird visited his sister and brother-in-law and was impressed

with the prospects for farming in this area.

1862 - John Baird’s brother, William II, bought land and moved to Penn

Township, Illinois, near to his sister.

1863 - Another brother, Robinson Baird, bought 160 acres surrounding

what later became the Prairie Home Church and Cemetery. He

had left Pennsylvania in the 1840s and had lived ten years in

northern Illinois, near Freeport, before moving to central Illinois.

1864 - In the spring John Baird made another trip to Illinois. He took an

option on some unbroken prairie land near his brothers and sister,

but would not make a purchase until his wife, Hannah, could see it

for herself.

1864 - In early summer Hannah visited the Prairie Home area and liked

what she saw.

In August John Baird bought an improved 160 acre farm in Moweaqua Township and 50 acres of timber land across the road south of the farm.

1865 - On January 2nd John Baird bought 320 acres of unbroken prairie,

the east half of section 35 in Penn Township. (This is the home farm and south farm.) The deed is dated January 17, 1865. He bought this land from John S. Hayward, who had bought it from the government in 1852. He paid $4,000 for the 320 acres, or $12.50 per acre.

On February 21 John Baird bought 40 acres (always referred to as “the lot”) in the center of section 11 in Pickaway Township. This is about three miles southwest of the Baird farm. There was a small house, other improvements and an orchard, on cultivated land. It was purchased from the Loy family, who were moving to Kansas. At the northeast corner of the lot was Friendship school, conveniently close for the Baird daughters. Church services were held at Friendship schoolhouse until the Prairie Home Church was built in 1968-69 on land donated by Robinson Baird.

1866 - John Baird held a farm sale at Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania on

March 14th. On March 23rd the family arrived in Moweaqua by

train. Robinson Baird took them by wagon--with an ox team--to

their new little home on “the lot.”

In September John Baird received a letter form Sam Showers of Tyrone, Pennsylvania saying that Showers accepted John’s offer to come as a tenant and break the prairie and would be there early next spring.

In December John gave D. A. Elder $875 to build a tenant house (on the south farm.)

1868 - The farmhouse on the home farm was built, apparently at a cost of

$1,807. In the fall the family moved from “the lot” into their new

home. At that time the house consisted of the two-story “front”

section and a single-story kitchen-dining room where the present

dining room is.

1869 - The “old barn” built. It was 20 x 30 feet.

1870 - Built a milk house.

1875 - Paid John Garman to build the wash house.

Sold the 40 acre “lot” to James Neil.

Hannah’s parents, William and Eliza Foresman, came from Penn-

sylvania to live with John and Hannah. A new room (the “store

room”) was added to the north side of house for them to live in.

In the fall John Baird’s nephew, John Harris Baird, (son of John’s brother, Samuel) moved from Pennsylvania to a farm his father had bought (but never lived on) two miles north of the Prairie Home Church. John Harris was a frequent visitor and became a favorite of the Baird daughters.

1881 - On March 21st John Garman bought 160 acres just north of the

Baird farm from David Merrill for $4,000, or $25 per acre. Mr.

Merrill had bought it from the Illinois Central Railroad in 1864 for

$2,500, which had received it in 1852 from the State of Illinois,

which had received it by act of the US Congress in 1850. (This is

the Garman farm portion of the current Baird farms.)

John Baird bought 80 acres (across the road east from the south

Farm) from Judge Wess for $2,500, or $31.25 per acre.

1883 - On April 3rd daughter Henrietta was married to her cousin, John

Harris Baird at a noon home wedding. The young couple started housekeeping at his house (owned by his father) three and a half miles to the northwest.

Two weeks later daughter Nancy married George McClelland.

1885 - On June 16 a son, DeForest, was born to John Harris and Henrietta.

1888 - John Baird died on April 23rd and was buried in Prairie Home

Cemetery.

In his will John Baird left the “home” farm to Henrietta, the south

farm to Ella and the farm north of the timber to Nancy-- with a

life interest in all to his wife Hannah.

On May 6th John Harris Baird and Henrietta moved to the home

farm, along with their three-year-old son, DeForest.

The farmhouse was remodeled and enlarged that summer. The

middle room upstairs was added, plus the kitchen and west

bedroom and back stairs. A screen porch along the south side was

also added.

1890 - Hannah Baird and daughter Ella moved to Decatur.

1891 - Ella Baird married Dr. Silas McClelland.

Grace Garman was born on the farm just north of the Baird farm

1910 - Hannah Baird died on January 9th and was buried in PH Cemetery.

1911 - The “new” barn was built. Also put in the bathroom (no running

water) and poured cement sidewalks.

1914 - The name Maple Row Farm was changed to Baird Anchor Farm

(Anchored to the “rocks”--Duroc hogs and Barred Rock chickens)

1916 - Henrietta Baird died on February 6th. Buried PH Cemetery.

John Harris and daughter Mary moved to Bethany.

On April 4th DeForest Baird married Grace Garman and took over

the Baird farm.

1917 - On February 17th John Harris Baird died of a stroke at home in

Bethany. He is buried in the Prairie Home Cemetery.

1918 - In October DeForest Baird almost died in the great flu epidemic.

1939 - Rural electrification arrives; electric lights turned on at the Baird

farm in January.

1946 - The Baird farmhouse was remodeled with a basement, a furnace

and running water in the bathroom and kitchen. The screen porch

was enclosed.

1951 - Harry A. Bennett became the tenant on the south farm and moved into the south farmhouse.

1957 - DeForest Baird died on March 2nd in a hospital in Decatur. He is

buried in the Prairie Home Cemetery.

On November 8 Grace Baird moved to 1476 W. Forest in Decatur.

1958 Harry A. Bennett moved into the farmhouse on the home farm and

started farming the Home, South and Garman farms.

1975 Harry Lee Bennett took over farming when his father retired.

2001 - Harry Lee retired and in 2002 his son Mark Bennett took over

farming the Baird farms.

John and Donald on tricycles, Roger holding Paul in wagon, Mother behind sign.

The Baird farmhouse in the early 1920s.

The mailbox sign DeForest Baird