Patriot in a Painting
As a child, I remember seeing painting of an old soldier hanging in my grandparents’ home. I wondered who it was. When I was just 6 or 7, I asked about the painting and who the soldier was. My grandparents told me it was “Captain Baird.” Because that was I could recall from that early time, I have often wondered, “Just who was Captain Baird?”
UNCOVERING THE HISTORY
It turns out the painting was that of David Baird, the grandson an early colonist, John Baird.
When just 18 years old, John Baird arrived in the English colony of Staten Island in 1683. He had traveled from Scotland aboard the ship Exchange with a group who sought religious freedom. From Staten Island,
