Baird, James Madison, M. D. — The city of Columbus has as one of its able and successful representatives of the medical profession Dr. Baird, who has been established here in general practice since 1898. He was born on a farm in Daviess county, Ky., Sept. 6, 1869, and is a son of James and Lucinda (Murphey) Baird, both of whom passed their entire lives in that county, where the father was a prosperous farmer, his death there occurring in 1879, at the age of forty-four years. His wife long survived him, and was summoned to the life eternal in 1900, aged fifty-five years. Doctor Baird secured his earlier educational training in the schools of his native county and supplemented this by a course in the Northern Indiana normal school at Valparaiso, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1890. (Taking the degree of Bachelor of Science). In 1892 he was graduated in the Kentucky school of medicine at Louisville, and in the following year he was graduated in the Eclectic medical institute, of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1898 he was graduated in the Homoeopathic medical college, of St. Louis, Mo., so that it may be seen that his fortification for the work of his profession is especially excellent, through the diversity and completeness of his technical training. In the meanwhile he had been engaged in the practice of his profession in his native county, for a period of four years. In 1896, he located in Eureka, Ind., where he followed the work of his profession until the autumn of 1898, when he moved to Columbus, Ga., where he succeeded to the practice of the late Dr. E. B. Schley, His success was pronounced from the start and today he controls a large and representative practice, being recognized as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this city. He is a member of the American medical association, Georgia state medical association and the Muscogee county medical society. He is affiliated with the lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic fraternity, as well as the Mystic Shrine, and is a member also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife are valued members of the First Baptist church, in which he is a deacon, and in politics he gives his allegiance to the Democratic party. On Nov. 22, 1899, Dr. Baird was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Mason, of Rockport, Ind., and they have one son, James Mason Baird, who was born March 31, 1903.

Source: Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, Edited By Ex-Governor Allen D. Candler and General Clement A. Evans, State Historical Association, Atlanta, 1906