Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/427

Rh York in July, 1868. — Another son. John Contee, eleventh representative of the title, b. 18 Sept., 1830, is a physician, residing at Northampton, Prince George co., Md. — Bryan's great-grandson, Donald McNeill, naval officer, b. in Virginia, 10 Aug., 1823; d. in Hagerstown, Md., 10 Jan., 1894, served under Dupont on the west coast of Mexico and California during the Mexican war, and was at the capture of several towns. He was promoted to a lieutenancy, 26 Feb., 1851, made commander, 16 July, 1862, and served on the " Cayuga," of the west gulf squadron, from June, 1862, till February, 1863, under Farragut, when he was transferred to the command of the steamers " Nantucket " and " Montauk," of the South Atlantic squadron, in which he made several attacks on the defences of Charleston harbor, under Dupont and Dahlgren. In 1864-'5 he was in command of the naval academy, promoted to a captaincy, 25 July, 1866, served on the flag-ship "Rhode Island," in the North Atlantic squadron, in 1866-'7, and on the steam sloop ." Susquehanna" in 1867-"8. He was advanced to the rank of commodore, 24 Aug., 1873, and made rear-admiral, 11 July, 1880. Admiral Fairfax was in service forty-eight years and five months ; of this time, twenty years and four months were spent at sea, his last cruise ter- minating in 1868. He died at Hagerstown, Md., 10 Jan, 1894, in his seventy-third year.

FAIRFIELD, Francis Gerry, journalist, b. in Stafford, Conn., 18 Aug., 1844 ; d.'in New York city, 4 April. 1887. He was educated at a private school in Massachusetts, at the Pennsylvania college in Gettysburg, and finished his course in a Lutheran theological seminary. When only twenty years of age he was placed in charge of a Lutheran church in Waterloo, N. Y. After about two years he abandoned his calling and came to New York city, which became his home. Here he was at first em- ployed in the editorial department of the " Home Journal," and later wrote for the "Daily News," the " Herald," and other papers. He tlien went to Mexico, where he was an eye-witness at the exe- cution of Maximilian, an account of which he fur- nished to several journals. On his return to New York city he became a space writer for several newspapers, and contributed poems, sketches, short stories, and literary criticisms to various periodi- cals. Tempted by the prospect of greater emolu- ments, Fairfield for a brief period followed the pursuit of a veterinary surgeon. Disappointed, he returned to his former occupation, and at the last was employed as an occasional writer for the New York "Sunday Mercury" and Albany "Argus." Fairfield, in the best period of his life, was a forci- ble and incisive writer, and his .signed articles were always read with attention. But he became addicted to the morphine habit, and gave way to mental vagaries and irregularities that eventually reduced him to poverty. He published " The Clubs of New York " (New York, 1873), and " Ten Years with Spiritual Mediums" (1875).

FAIRFIELD, John, senator, b. in Saco, Me., 30 Jan., 1797; d. in Washington, D. C, 24 Dec, 1847. He received a eommon-schoOl education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1826, and practised successfully in his native town. He was appointed reporter of the state supreme court in 1832, and was then elected to congress as a Demo- crat, serving from 7 Dec, 1835, to 3 March, 1839. He was governor of Maine in 1839-'40, and again, in 1842, was chosen U. S. senator from Maine, in ^ place of Reuel Williams, resigned, and served from 4 Dec, 1843, till his death. He was the author of " Supreme Court Reports " (Augusta, 1835-'7).

FAIRFIELD, Sumner Lincoln, poet, b. in Warwick, Mass., 25 June, 1803; d. in New Orleans, La., 6 March, 1844. His father died when he was three years old, and the mother with her two chil- dren removed to a small farm in western Massa- chusetts. Fairfield entered Brown, but sickness prevented his graduation, and he became a tutor in Georgia and South Carolina. There he passed several years and prepared himself for entering the university, but changed his purpose and returned to the northern states. Meanwhile, as he says, he had published " two pamphlets of rhymes." In December, 1825, Fairfield took passage for Eng- land. About this time his " Cities of the Plain " was published in Buckingham's " Oriental Herald." During his absence in Europe he contributed let- ters to several New York city weeklies. He re- turned home in July, was married, and removed to Elizabeth, N. J., but afterward went to Boston, Harper's Ferry, Philadelphia, and other places, winning a precarious subsistence by writing for the press. In 1828 he became principal of the New- town academy, near Philadelphia, but soon after- ward left for New York city. In 1833 he began the publication of the " North American Magazine " in Philadelpiiia, continuing as its editor and pro- prietor during five years. Soon afterward his health failed entirely. Fairfield excelled as an in- structor in history and literature. He had more than the ambition of a Southey for writing epics, and was equally unfortunate in finding few readers and no admirers. He stoutly maintained that Bul- wer-Lytton had taken thoughts and subject-mat- ter from him in the construction of his " Last Days of Pompeii." Fairfield's published volumes in- clude "Lays of Melpomene" (New Yoi'k, 1824); " The Sisters of St. Clara " (1827) ; " Cities of the Plain " (1828) ; " Heir of the World " (1828) ; " Abad- don, the Spirit of Destruction " (1830) : " The Last Night of Pompeii" (New York, 1832): "Poems and Prose Writings " (Philadelphia, 1840) ; and " Select Poems " (1860). — His wife, Jane Frazee, pviblished her husband's " Life," including a few of his poems (1846). — Their eldest daughter, Genevieve Genevra, has written several volumes of miscellaiicDiis literature.

FAIRLAMB, James Remington, musician, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 23 Jan., 1839. He received his first musical instruction from his mother. At the age of twenty, after serving as organist of churches in Philadelphia, he went to Paris, where he pursued his instrumental and vocal studies under Marmontel, Prudent, and Masset, of the then Conservatoire imperiale, and Mme. Bockholtz-Falconi. Later he studied under Mabellini in Florence. Subsequently, while U. S. consul at Zurich, he visited Leipsic, Berlin, and Stuttgart. Soon after his return to this country he received from King Karl of Wurtemberg the "great gold medal for art and science." Between 1867 and 1880 he was successively director of the music in different churches in Washington, D. C. He was called to a similar office in the Church of the Ascension, New York city, and a year later to that of St. Ignatius. His published works, chiefly sacred compositions and songs (the latter including contributions to the St. Nicholas song-book), number nearly a hundred, exclusive of "Valerie," a romantic opera in five acts, which was successfully produced in Washington, and of which a large part is published in sheet form. " Leonello," a grand opera in five acts, and a mass in B flat, are still in manuscript.

FAIRMAN, Gideon, engraver, b. in Newtown, Conn., 26 June, 1774; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 18 March, 1827. He was apprenticed to a firm of