Robert Baird (October 6, 1798 – March 15, 1863) was an American clergyman and author. He was born in
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, adjacent to Maryland and West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 128,804. Its county seat is Uniontown. The county wa ...
, near
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, and graduated at
Jefferson College in 1818 and at
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly o ...
in 1822. He taught at an academy at
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of wh ...
for five years while tutoring at the
College of New Jersey and preaching occasionally. (In 1824, he helped to create the
Chi Phi
Chi Phi () is considered by some as the oldest American men's college social fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The earliest of these organizations was fo ...
Society, a semi-religious, semi-literary organization, which ceased activity the following year when it merged with the Philadelphian Society.) In 1827 Baird became a New Jersey agent for the
American Bible Society
American Bible Society is a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engage ...
, distributing Bibles among the poor and laboring among destitute Presbyterian churches. His survey of educational deficiencies eventually led to the introduction of a system of public education in New Jersey.
In 1829 Baird became an agent for the
American Sunday School Union and traveled extensively for the society. In 1835 he went to Europe, where he remained eight years, devoting himself to the promotion of Protestant Christianity in southern Europe and subsequently to the advocacy of
temperance reform in northern Europe. On the formation of the Foreign Evangelical Society, since merged in the
American and Foreign Christian Union, he became its agent and corresponding secretary.
Baird's visit to Sweden in the mid-1830s inaugurated a new temperance movement there, and the
Svenska nykterhetssällskapet (Swedish Temperance Society) was founded in 1837. In 1840, he worked with temperance activists
Peter Wieselgren
Peter (Per) Wieselgren, born Jonasson (1 October 1800 – 10 October 1877) was a Lutheran priest, librarian, archivist, literary historian, and leader of the Swedish temperance movement who formed the first organised temperance society in Sweden ...
and
George Scott as well as
Läsare (Readers)
Lars Paul Esbjörn
Lars Paul Esbjörn (October 16, 1808 – July 2, 1870) was a Swedish-American Lutheran clergyman, academic and church leader. Esbjörn was a founder of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church and of Augustana College. He served as the first p ...
and
Carl Olof Rosenius in Sweden.
In 1842, while in Geneva, Baird wrote ''Religion in America'', first published in Glasgow, though he revised and expanded it through several printings in the United States, with the edition of 1856 being the most complete. Subsequently, the history was translated into French, German, Dutch, and Swedish. In this work of almost seven hundred pages, Baird argued that
revivalism was a positive feature of American religious experience.
In 1848, Baird was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
In 1846 Baird visited Europe to attend the world's temperance convention in Stockholm and the meeting of the evangelical alliance in London, and on his return he delivered a series of lectures on the "Continent of Europe." In 1862 he vindicated in London before large audiences the cause of the union against secession with vigorous eloquence. Among his other published works are a "View of the Valley of the Mississippi" (1832); "History of the Temperance Societies" (1836); "Visit to Northern Europe" (1841)" "Protestantism in Italy" (Boston, 1845); " Impressions and Experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849" (Philadelphia, 1850), revised, with a supplement, in 1855; "History of the Albigenses, Waldenses, and Vandois."
His works include:
* ''A History of Temperance Societies in the United States'' (1836)
* ''Religion in America'' (1842)
* ''Protestantism in Italy'' (1845)
* ''History of the
Albigenses
Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...
,
Waldenses, and
Vaud
Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms ...
ois''
Notes
References
*
Henry Martyn Baird
Henry Martyn Baird (January 17, 1832 – November 1906) was an American historian and educator. He is best known as a historian of the Huguenots.
Life
A son of Robert Baird (1798–1863), the Presbyterian preacher and author who worked both ...
, ''Life of the Rev. Robert Baird, D. D.'' (New York: A.D.F. Randolph, 1866)
*
Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography Appleton's or Appletons may refer to several publications published by D. Appleton & Company, New York, including:
*'' Appletons' Journal'' (1869–1881)
*''Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography
''Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biogr ...
, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887–1889), now in the public domain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Robert (clergyman)
American non-fiction writers
People from Fayette County, Pennsylvania
19th-century American historians
19th-century American male writers
American Protestant religious leaders
Washington & Jefferson College alumni
Christian writers
1798 births
1863 deaths
Princeton Theological Seminary alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
American male non-fiction writers
American temperance activists