Page:Men of Mark in America vol 1.djvu/49

 AIRBANKS, CHARLES WARREN, Vice-President of the United States, is a man whose life and work show the great possibilties for honor and usefulness which are open to the American youth who is intelligent, industrious, persevering, and honorably ambitious. He was born in a log house on a farm near Unionville Center, Ohio, May 11, 1852. His parents were Loriston Monroe and Mary Adelaide (Smith) Fairbanks. His father was a farmer, esteemed for his industry, patriotism and purity of purpose, who in early manhood emigrated from New England to Union county, Ohio, which was then but sparsely settled. His mother was a woman of fine mind and character who exerted a strong influence for good upon the intellectual and moral life of her family. His earliest known ancestor in America was Jonathan Fayerbancke, one of the Puritan settlers in the Massachusetts colony, who with his sons built a house at Dedham in 1636 with timber brought from England. This house still remains, one of the ancient landmarks of that region, and in it the descendants of the builders held a largely attended reunion in August, 1904.

When Charles W. Fairbanks was old enough to work he had the tasks that were common to the boys on a farm in a region that was scarcely redeemed from the wilderness. His health was good and the conditions for its maintenance were favorable. He was faithful in his work on the farm, but inclined to be studious. The school terms were short, but such opportunities as they afforded were carefully improved, and during the long vacations studies were carried on at night after the work in the field for the day had been done. He was anxious to obtain a liberal education, and before he was ready for college he had determined to become a lawyer.

In 1867 he entered the Ohio Wesleyan university at Delaware, Ohio, which was only a few miles from his home. Circumstances were such that economy was necessary, and during his college course a considerable part of his food was taken to him from the farm. When time could be spared from his studies he worked as a carpenter,