Henry Samuel Baird Jr. (May 16, 1800 – April 30, 1875) was an Irish American immigrant, Wisconsin pioneer, lawyer, and politician.

[1] Born in Dublin, Ireland, Baird moved with his family, at age five, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Baird was involved with Indian affairs, negotiating land transactions as a counsel for the Menominee and Ho-Chunk tribes in 1830, he volunteered as a quartermaster with the militia during the Black Hawk War in 1832, and was secretary to U.S. negotiator Henry Dodge at the Treaty of the Cedars in 1836, and was secretary to the council at Lake Poygan in 1848;[2] Baird also served in the Wisconsin Territorial Council, the upper house of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, and was the first president of the territorial council; he also served in the first Wisconsin Constitutional Convention of 1846.

Elizabeth was born in Prairie du Chien in southwest Wisconsin and had moved with her mother to Mackinac Island as a toddler.

Elizabeth's skill at translation and her family connections to the American Indian communities made their home a hub for social life in the territory and contributed to her husband's political success.