Baird, Oscar C., M. D.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Oscar C. Baird, M. D. Kansas is justly notable for the skill, learning and high character of the men who compose its medical fraternity and the profession here numbers among its members those whose scientific attainments are far beyond the ordinary. Among those well known during the past sixteen years is Dr. Oscar C. Baird, of Chanute, whose career is typical of modern advancement, his having been a broad field of medical service. Doctor Baird is a native of Van Buren County, Iowa, and was born December 29, 1871, his parents being Nathan and Lorinda (Jones) Baird.

Doctor Baird is of Scotch descent, his original American ancestor having emigrated from Scotland to America during the Colonial era and settled in Pennsylvania. In that state, in 1812, was born the Doctor's grandfather, Josiah Baird, who was a blacksmith by trade, migrated in young manhood to Noble County, Ohio, and later went to Iowa, where he became a pioneer of Van Buren County and there spent the remainder of his life at his trade. His death occurred in 1892, when he had reached the age of eighty years. Nathan Baird, father of Dr. Oscar C., was born in 1839, in Ohio, and was there reared to young manhood. He accompanied his parents on their western migration to Van Buren County, Iowa, and not long thereafter enlisted in the Iowa State Militia, with which he served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war. When his military duties were completed, he returned to the duties of private life, and for many years was engaged in agricultural pursuits, in which he won success through perseverance and hard labor. His death occurred in Van Buren County, in 1908. Mr. Baird was a republican in politics. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, lived his faith every day, served as elder for many years, and was strict in his interpretation of the church's rules. While he was stern and unbending in his belief, he never asked others to do what he himself would not, and his probity and integrity did much to influence others to better lives. Mr. Baird married Miss Lorinda Jones, who was born in 1839, in Ohio, and who still survives in her seventy-first year and lives on the old home place in Van Buren County, Iowa. To this union there were born children as follows: J. F., who is a general mechant and prominent business man of Odell, Illinois; L. C., who is a farmer of Florida and resides at Bairdsville, a town which is named in his honor; Howard, who is carrying on agricultural pursuits in Van Buren County, Iowa; Soth, who is also a well-known farmer of that community; Dr. Oscar C., of this notice; Dr. J., a graduate of the State University of Iowa, degree of Bachelor of Arts, and of the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, degree of Doctor of Medicine, and now a well-known medical practitioner of Coffeyville, Kansas; Flo, who is the wife of Harry Gleason, a prosperous jewelry merchant of Boston, Massachusetts; and J. N., a graduate of the State University of Iowa, degree of Bachelor of Arts, and of the law department of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, degree of Bachelor of Laws, and now a prominent practicing attorney of Kansas City, Missouri.

Oscar C. Baird received his public school education in Van Buren County, Iowa, and there grew up on his father's farm. Later he took his preparatory work at Keosanqan Academy, from which he was graduated in 1890, and attended the Nebraska State University. He next entered the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, and completed a full course, graduating with his medical degree in 1896, since which time he has taken post-graduate courses at the Chicago Policlinic and the New York Polyclinic. Doctor Baird began his professional career at Medoc, Missouri, where he remained in practice for four years, and in 1900 came to Chanute, which has since been his field of practice. He has built up an excellent clientele as a general practitioner in medicine and surgery and has rapidly risen to a foremost place among Neosho County's men of medicine. His offices are at No. 16 South Lincoln Avenue, where he has an extensive and valuable medical library and all instruments and appliances for the handling of the most difficult cases and the most delicate operations. Doctor Baird belongs to the Neosho County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Southeastern Kansas Medical Society. He has been honored on frequent occasions by his fellow-practitioners, having been president of the State Eclectic Medical Society several times, treasurer thereof for a number of terms, and president of the Chanute Lecture Course Association, a post which he occupies now and has for several years past. He is a member of the Kansas State Board of Health and is now city health officer of Chanute. In the early part of 1914, Doctor Baird took a trip with 200 other physicians through France, Germany, Switzerland, England, Belgium and Holland, visiting Austria and all the various provinces of Germany. This was a most interesting trip, and the Doctor was in Europe when the great European war broke out, June 13, 1914. When the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot and instantly killed, Doctor Baird attended the funeral, as he did also the golden wedding ceremonies of the Emperor Franeis Joseph. Doctor Baird is a republican, with progressive tendencies. He is the owner of his own home, at No. 201 Lincoln Avenue, a number of other dwellings at Chanute, and a business building at No. 14 South Lincoln Avenue. He is an active member of the Chanute Commercial Club, and is prominent in fraternal circles, belonging to Cedar Lodge No. 103, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Cedar Chapter No. 21, Royal Arch Masons; Chanute Camp No. 63, Woodmen of the World; and Chanute Lodge No. 96, Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a citizen whose worth is widely recognized not only on account of the good he has done in professional lines, but also because of the active co-operation which he has given to public affairs. He keeps well informed in regard to the new ideas advanced by the medical fraternity, keeps in touch with the progress that characterizes the profession, and is today a most capable and skilled physician, his large patronage being an indication of the confidence reposed in him by his fellow-townsmen.

Doctor Baird was married in 1896 at Omaha, Nebraska, by Dr. Frank Crane, now of Chicago, to Miss May Wilson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson, farming people who are now deceased. They have one child: Anna Opal, a sophomore at Northwestern University, who attended the Young Women's Christian Association conference at Geneva in 1916 as a delegate.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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