Baird was born in Vanceburg, Kentucky and attended high schools in Chicago, Illinois and Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father, Lyman Beecher Baird (September 6, 1833 - October 24, 1907), was an Ohio native who worked as a farmer and merchant. In the 1880 United States Census, Lyman Baird was identified as a grocer in Vanceburg. He also operated a hardware store in Vanceburg that burned in the 1880s. His mother was Frances Amelia (Halbert) Baird, and he had an older brother Charles A. Baird (born c. 1869).