He was born in 1848 and in 1878 he graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

He exhaustively researched other organizations seeking a suitable partner to merge with his own 5-chapter regional fraternity Alpha Sigma Chi.

As no authoritative resource on the subject existed, Baird published his research for the benefit of the public as American College Fraternities.

He continued to refine the work, publishing a total of eight editions under his name as author.

In addition to his membership in Alpha Sigma Chi, which the year after his graduation became the Sigma chapter of Beta Theta Pi, Baird was a member of Phi Delta Phi (international legal honor society) and Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society).