A  letter  from  one  of  the  family  to  Miss  Lucy  contains
the  following  data,  here  somewhat  condensed:

"Mary  Douglas,  widow  of  Thomas  Baird,  with  five
sons  and  two  daughters  went  to  Kentucky,  after  the
death  of  her  husband,  and  later  to  Indiana,  but  apparently
was  brought  back  to  be  buried.  She  is  said  to  have  been
interred  at  St.  John's  church,  Pequa,  Pa.  The  graves  of
the  early  settlers  of  the  Baird  family  lie  in  the  churchyard
of  the  Rocky  Spring  Presbyterian  church,  four  miles
from  Chambersburg.  Samuel  (1),  son  of  Thomas,  married
Rebecca,  daughter  of  Thomas  Potts  (1)  of  Colebrookdale
and  Deborah  Pyewell,  his  wife.  John  Potts,  in  charge  of
the  Baird  family  burying  ground  at  Pottstown,  related
that i Uncle  Tommy'  (brother  of  Rebecca)  was  a  charac-
ter. He  was  connected  in  business  with  a  cousin  and
would  call  for  his  partner  in  a  buggy,  and  if  the  other
Potts  gentleman  did  not  come  at  once,  would  yell  from
the  buggy  the  most  embarrassing  remarks,  quite  oblivious
of  the  neighbors.  He  claimed  that  he  thus  taught  punc-
tuality. He  seems  to  have  been  a  very  uncouth  person  of
whom  the  children  were  rather  afraid."

Samuel  took  his  bride  to  his  estate  called  "Stowe,"
at  Pottsgrove  (now  Pottstown).  "She  wrote  the  day
after  she  was  married,  describing  its  attractions,  marble


GENEALOGICAL  AND  FAMILY  NOTES  7

floors  and  so  many  rooms  and  passages  that  one  might
get  lost.  The  Reading  railroad  trains  used  to  stop  to
allow  the  passengers  a  glimpse  of  it  and  its  garden.  There
is  a  release  from  the  heirs,  after  the  death  of  Samuel
Baird,  in  1820,  recorded  at  the  West  Chester  Court
House,  to  allow  their  mother  to  remain  at  Stowe  during
her  lifetime."  This  mansion,  of  such  great  repute  in  its
day,  was  erected  originally  by  a  Frenchman,  and  after-
ward came  into  the  possession  of  Samuel  Baird  by  pur-
chase from  John  Potts,  his  wife's  uncle,  as  previously
mentioned.
