Surname Saturday- Archibald Baird

Archibald Baird born 1700 in Antrim, Antrim, Ireland, died Feb 1765 in Peters, Franklin, Pennsylvania. He married in 1728 in Antrim, Antrim, Ireland. To Mary potter born about 1674 in Pennsylvania, Somerset. Pensylvania.

Their children:
1) Sarah Baird born 1725 in Fairfield, York, Pennsylvania, died 1813 in Early, Georgia.
2) Adam Baird born 1730 died 8 April 1807 in Abbeville, South Carolina
3) Robert Baird born 1735
4) Richard Baird born 8 Feb 1736 Carrolls, Delight Fairfield, York, Pennsylvania, died 22 Feb 1799 in
                                    Fairfield, Adams, Pennsylvania.
5) William Baird born 7 Jun 1738 York, Adams, Pennsylvania. Died 31 Jul 1802 in Bardstown, Nelson,
                                    Kentucky.
6) David Baird born 1744 Carrolls, Delight Fairfield, York, Pennsylvania, died 12 Mar 1815 Alexandria,
                                    Huntington, Pennsylvania.
7) John Battle Baird born 1745 Abbeville, South Carolina, died 1803 in Abbeville, South Carolina.



WILLIAM BARD, Second son of Archibald Beard, or Bard, was born June 7, 1738, and 
died at Bardstown, KY., July 31, 1802. He was reared in Hamiltonban township, York, now Adams 
county, Pa. By deed dated April 2, 1761, his father conveyed to him a tract of land in "Carroll's Delight," 
which was surveyed to Robert McPherson, October 7, 1765. Another conveyance from Archibald to 
William dated November 20, 1764, was for a tract of 74 acres of land in Antrim, now Quincy township, 
Franklin county, near the Seventh Day Baptist plantation, known as the Nunnery. William also 
owned a tract outside of Carroll's Delight, which he sold to the Rev. John McKnight and Ebenezer Fin- 
ley and removed to the Cumberland Valley. The Quincy tract, which Archibald Bard obtained on a 
Proprietary warrant, was conveyed by William Bard, 
of Cumberland county, to Richard Bard, of York county, December 21, 1767. After this sale he went 
to western Pennsylvania, and finally settled in Ken- tucky.  According to the tradition of the Bard family, of 
Bardstown, William Bard first visited Kentucky in 1768. The story is that salt being scarce at Pittsburgh, 
he proposed to three other men, Brown, Evans and Doe, to go down the Ohio river, on a flat-boat, to the 
salt licks of Kentucky. Doe's wife went with them to cook for them. They landed near the site of 
Louisville, and then went to Drennon's creek, twelve miles distant, where they built a cabin preparatory to 
beginning the manufacture of salt. The Does had 
with them an infant six months old. The party had not been many days at the salt licks when they were 
attacked by a band of Indians. Doe and his wife were both killed and Brown was severely wounded. 
Bard killed one Indian with his own gun, and with the gun of the dead man he shot another. These 
fatalities had the effect of intimidating the Indians, 
and they retired, leaving Mr. Bard with the wounded man and the helpless babe on his hands. He succored 
the child by chewing bread, that it might have 
sustenance. In the meantime, Evans made his way to the river in search of assistance. At midnight of the 
following night, the wounded man died. Bard then barred up the cabin and taking the child in his arms 
followed after Evans. He had gone only three miles when he was attacked by wolves. He escaped them 
by climbing a tree, where he remained until daylight. Resuming his journey, he "soon afterward met Mr. 
Evans with a company of men coming to his rescue." The reality of the rescuing party is taken for granted 
in the tradition, but it is not easily explained, as this was a year before Boone and his companions had 
made their way from the Yadkin, and before any per- manent settlements had been made in Kentucky. 
  The Bardstown tradition further asserts that Mr. Bard and Mr. Evans returned to their homes in Vir- 
ginia, taking the little girl with them to its relatives; that later William Bard and his brother, Richard, went 
to Kentucky and located at Danville; that Richard built a cabin that entitled him to a thousand acres 
of land, but afterward returned to Pennsylvania; and 
that William settled where Bardstown now stands. There is no tradition among the descendants of 
Richard Bard in regard to this early visit to Ken- tucky, but land entries copied by Colonel Durrett, 
of Louisville, and deeds and other instruments of writing on record, at Bardstown, Nelson county, 
show his ownership of land adjacent to Bardstown, 1780-88.   When William Bard went to Kentucky to settle, or soon afterward, he built a cabin about four miles north of Bardstown and acquired a large tract of land on Buffalo creek. A part of this land remained in the possession of some of his descendants until within 
a few years. There is a family burying ground on the old Bard homestead in which four generations of 
the Bards are buried. William Bard and his son, James, were both buried there, but there is no stone 
to mark the place of sepulture of the pioneer.  The town of Bardstown was laid out by William 
Bard on lands of David Bard. It was named after the latter. The following announcement taken from 
the records of the city of Bardstown, originally called Salem, shows the initial steps toward the erection of 
Nelson county and the creation of Bardstown as the county seat:..

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