Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/45

 FAIRBANKS

FAIRBANKS

His ancestor, Jonathan Fairbanks, with his four sous, immigrated to Boston about 1630 and built the Fairbanks house which was still standing in 1899 at Dedham, Mass. Artliur Fairbanks was graduated in 1882 at St. Johnsbury academy, ■which was founded by his grandfather, Thaddeus Fairbanks, and at Dartmouth college in 1886. He wks tutor of Greek, 1886-87, and subsequently assistant professor of German at Dartmouth. He studied at the University of Berlin in 1889 and at the University of Freiburg in 1890, receiving from the latter institution the degree of Ph.D. He spent the year 1898-99 at Athens, Greece, as fellow of the American school of classical studies. He was instructor in comparative religion at Yale, 1894-98, and became acting assistant pro- fessor of Greek philosophy in Cornell university in 1899. He was married, Miy 2, 1889, to Eliza- beth Leland, daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Lord) Moody. He published a translation of RiehUs Critical Philosophy (1892) : also an Introduc- tion to Sori,,loij\l (1890, 2d ed., 1898); and First rhil,,s,,i,lir,-s ,,/ (irifn- (1S98).

FAIRBANKS, Charles Warren, senator, was born near Unionville Center, Union county, Ohio, May 11. 1853; son of Loreston M. and Mary A. (Smith) Fairbanks; and grandson of Luther Fairbanks. His father was a farmer and the son attended the pubUc schools and was graduated from the Ohio Wes- leyan university in the classical cour.se in 1872. He was agent for the associated press at Pittsburg, Pa., and later at Cleveland, Ohio; and i'f, was admitted to the

^ bar by the supreme court of Oliio in 1874. ^ He was married in

' »^ 1874 to Cornelia,

.^t-'' daughter of Judge P.

/^y A^ n ' ^' '^°^^ "^ Marysville,

C^Uei^h^l^-Z^^Lr/n*^ Ohio, and in the same year removed to Indianapolis, where he practised liis profession until 1897, when he was elected a L'.S. senator. He never held public office prior to his election to the senate. He was chairman of the Indiana Republican state conventions in 1892 and 1898; was unanimously chosen as the nominee of the Republican caucus for U.S. sena- tor in the Indiana legislature in January, 1893, and subsequently received his entire party vote in the legislature, but at that time the Re])ubli- cans were in the minority. He was a delegate- at-large to the Republican national convention at St. Louis in 1896, and was temporary chairman of the convention. He took his seat in the U.S.

senate, March 4, 1897, and was chairman of the committee on immigration and a member of the claims, census, geological survey and public buildings and grounds committees. He was ap- pointed a member of the Joint high commission which met in Quebec in 1898 for the adjustment of Canadian questions, and was made chairman of the United States high commissioners.

FAIRBANKS, Erastus, governor of Vermont, was born in Brimtield, Mass., Oct. 28, 1792; son of Joseph and Phcebe (Paddock) Fairbanks His father was a farmer, carpenter and mill owner, who settled in St. Johnsbury, Vt., in 1815. His first American ancestors, Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks or Ffayerbanke, were natives of Sowerby, near Halifax, Yorkshire, England, and came to America about 1630, settling in Content- ment, afterward Dedham, Mass., in 1633, where they erected a house, the timbers and brick for which they brought from England on the ship Speedwell. This house vi-as standing and con- tained the original furniture in 1899. Erastus attended the district school, taught a similar school two terms and in 1812 became a student of law in the office of his uncle, Judge Ephraini Paddock, at St. Johnsbury, Vt. Failing health compelled him to relinquish study and he entered mercantile life as a country store-keeper. He joined his younger brother, Thaddeus, in estab- lishing a manufactory of plows, stoves, etc., about 1824, and in 1829 they added to the business tliat of dealers in hemp. This led to the inven- tion of the platform scales for their own use. The demand from the public for similar scales suggested their manufacture ami this business soon super.seded their other interests. In 1828 they met their first financial reverse througli a fire and flood and for two years they were at the mercy of their creditors, who, however, gave them the time asked, during which they lully li(iuidated all debts. Erastus represented his town in the state legislature, 1836-38. He was a Whig presidential elector, 1844 and 1848; was governor of the state, 1852, but was defeated at the next election by reason of having signed the bill passed by the legislature proliibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors in the state. In 1854 he declined a renomination urged upon him bj- the Whig party, but in 1860 was prevailed upon by the Republican party to accept a unanimous nomination, and he defeated John G. Saxe, the Democratic candidate. He was Vermont's " war governor," 1860-61, and the state voted SI. 000.000, which was placed at his disposal to arm and for- ward troops for the defence of the Union. He sent out six regiments constituting the famous Vermont brigade, and a comjiany of sharp- shooters, and at the expiration of his term refused to draw out of the state treasury his au-