ROBERT BAIRD &
PHOEBE BEAVER
Upon
their death Robert
& Phoebe left their California orange grove and ranch to their
sons. The men didn't agree on the running of the land and all was
eventually lost.
SCOTLAND & ENGLAND
Robert grew up in Throsk near Stirling, Scotland. His father James Baird died when Robert was 13 and his mother Mary McLellan died when he was 16.
Phoebe had
been raised in Liverpool, England where her father was a boiler maker. Phoebe’s
mother Elizabeth Berry died in Valparaiso in 1881 at the age of 50.
VALPARAISO, CHILE, SOUTH AMERICA
In 1878 when Robert was 29 years old he sailed to Valparaiso, Chile. There he opened a Tea Emporium & grocery store. Because so many British people were living in Valparaiso at the time his business thrived. In 1883 he married Phoebe who was 20 years old while Robert was 33. She had traveled with her family to Chile. Below is a photo of Robert’s “Emporio de Te – Roberto Baird”.
According to Mr. B's father James Boole Baird none of the men in front of the store are Robert Baird. He is looking out the window behind the two little boys. The building is still standing in Valparaiso but it is now a bank.
The SS Gulf of Corcovado that set sail from Liverpool to South America with “Twelve Souls”
The business in Valparaiso was sold in 1893 and Robert & Phoebe traveled back to England & Scotland with three daughters and two sons. Their daughter Winifred Rae was born in Stirling while visiting home. On Valentine’s Day 1894 just six months after Winifred's birth the whole family returned to Valparaiso and three more sons were born. The voyage was 3,275 miles and took about 6 weeks depending on the wind.
In 1902 Phoebe’s father John Jackson Beaver dies and is buried in the Dissidents Cemetery in town overlooking the Pacific Ocean. John had become a stone mason while in Valparaiso.
CALIFORNIA
On the 18th of March 1903 Robert & Phoebe & their nine children set sail from Hamburg, Germany and arrived in San Francisco on the 10th of July 1903 four months later. I am assuming they had a stopover around the horn in Valparaiso. They had never been to the United States before. According to James Boole Baird they resided in San Jose for a short time and then moved to Pasadena. The 1910 Census shows the family living in Pasadena with all of the children except Elizabeth (who was married to Earl Comstock) and James who was studying at the Throop Institute in Pasadena and then went to the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado where he received his degree in Mining Engineering. Robert owned a farm and raised fruit trees. They remained in Pasadena for about five years then moved to Porterville and purchased an orange grove.
Below are photos of the Baird Orange Grove c 1909 and the photo below it is from 1980 when Jim and I went down to meet family with James Boole Baird. The arch is the entrance to the orchard.
In 1910 Robert and Phoebe purchased the “Winterhaven” home & farm from the Howard J. Williams estate. It was located at the end of E. Putnam Drive.
All of the children married except Stanley John Baird. On the 1920 & 1930 Census he is listed as an Orchardist on an Orange farm (probably the Baird’s). The 1940 California Census shows him as a caretaker in a private home in San Diego.
Elizabeth Mary Baird married Earl Comstock while the family was in Pasadena. Earl was an orange farmer in 1920, 1930, 1940 in Glendora & Monrovia, Los Angeles. They had five children.
Daughter Phoebe May Baird married Julian Snodgrass and had a son and a daughter. Julian was a superintendent in 1920 and they are living on Main Street in Porterville. In 1930 they are living on Putnam and he is a stock buyer for cattle. Probably living on the Baird farm and James Boole Baird said one of the sisters lived in the big house on the farm.
Jeanie Beaver Baird married Sidney Wilcox and had three sons & a daughter. In 1920 Sidney is an instructor at the University in Reno, Nevada, a State statistician in 1930 living in New York and in 1940 they are living in Virginia and Sidney is a Chief Statistician for the government. James Boole Baird said that he wrote some speeches for President Roosevelt.
Robert Throsk Baird listed on his US draft card that he was a farmer working for his father in 1917. In 1920 he is a pumping mechanic in Porterville and married to Anna Belle Sears. In 1930 he is a fruit farmer with two sons and living next door to his brother Stanley. By 1940 Robert is widowed and he is living with his son Robert they are boarders in a private home and he is an electrician and mechanic in a shop.
Riverside, California at the age of 34. They had one daughter Ann. In the 1940 Census Ivan is listed as a bank teller in Los Angeles. Winifred died in Bakersfield but was buried in Porterville alongside her husband.
William McEwan Baird was listed as an Orchardist for his father on his 1917 draft card. In 1920 he is living at home and is an Orchardist on his families orange grove. In 1921 he married Bina Mae Fuller in Riverside, California. They had one daughter Janice. The 1940 census shows him as a farmer on an orange grove. Bill went on to purchase and be president of an orange packing house in Porterville – Baird-Neece.
A sample of the orange box labels from the Baird-Neece Packing Corporation
Alex Barry Baird was also listed as an Orchardist for his father on his draft card. He married Doris Mabell Murphy in 1923 in Porterville, They had two daughters and in 1930 he was an inspector for a furnace company. He was sent back to Valparaiso due to problems borrowing money from the bank under mistaken collateral. He eventually moved to South Australia and was listed on the Australia Electoral Rolls in 1958 and living in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
James Rogers Baird is both my husband’s paternal grandfather and namesake. I will tell you his exciting story when I do a “snapshot” of his life.
When Robert, Sr. died the sons all picked property in the orange grove by lottery. They soon began bickering about how the land should be run and then the Great Depression came in 1929 and they lost their land. The daughters all received money from their father's estate.
Phoebe died in 1920 and Robert in 1924. They are both buried in Porterville.
To see how Robert Baird and Phoebe Beaver fit into Mr. B's family tree click HERE
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