Baird, Edson Emmet

Edson E. Baird, born near Decorah, Iowa, on July 23, 1857, was a prominent viticulturist who experienced diverse adventures before settling in Fresno County. The son of Warren Baird and Martha Scoby, he was raised on an Iowa farm after his father died in service during the Civil War. At age eighteen, he began traveling and working on various farms, eventually moving to Texas with his brother Justin H. Baird to homestead land and hunt buffalo. He later relocated to New Mexico for government contracting and mining, and then spent fourteen years farming a ranch in Missouri.

In 1910, Mr. Baird arrived in Fresno and soon purchased a twenty acre ranch in the Gray Colony to focus on high quality grape growing. He personally improved the property by grafting vines, planting Malaga and Thompson seedless grapes, and adding acres of peaches and oranges supported by a modern pumping plant. His professional dedication was further demonstrated when he joined and supported both the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc. He shared his home with his wife, Mary Cooper, whom he married in New Mexico on October 25, 1886, and their four surviving children, Bertie C., Edson Earl, Pearl, and Cassie.