Charles Washington Baird, second son of the Rev. Robert Baird, D. D., was born in Princeton, N.J., August 28th, 1828. He was graduated at the University of the City of New York, in 1848, and at the Union Theological Seminary in the same city, in 1852. From 1852 to 1854 he was Chaplain to the American Embassey in Rome, Italy. Since 1861 he has been pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Rye, Westchester county, N. Y.
In 1876 the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by his alma mater. Dr. Baird's extensive reading, ripe scholarship, and graceful rhetoric, make him an instructive and attractive preacher. Aside from his pulpit labors he has accomplished much valuable literary work, as the following list of his publications will show: "Eutaxia, or the Presbyterian Liturgies," 1855. A revised edition, under the title "A Chapter on Liturgies," was published in London, in 1856, by the Rev. Thomas Binney. "A Book of Public Prayer," compiled from the Authorized Formularies of the Presbyterian Church, as prepared by Calvin, Knox, Bucer and others, 1857. Dr. Charles W. Shields, in "Liturgia Expurgata" (p. 22, note), refers to these books as "the two learned and valuable works of the Rev. Charles W. Baird, to whom belongs the credit of a first investigator and collector of the Presbyterian Liturgies." "Chronicles of a Border Town; the History of Rye, N. Y., 1660-1870," 1871. "History of Bedford Church, New York," 1882. Several minor publications might be added to this list. Dr. Baird has also publised translations of "Malan on Romanism," and of Merle d"Aubigne's "Discourses and Essays." He has now in preparation "A History of the Huguenot Emigration to America."