The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-07

InNMAsM from old England to New Eng
- land but prior to that. in 1886,
came Jonathan Fayerbanke and his family,
consisting of his wife, four sons and two
daughters, who settled in New England at
the then village of Boston. Two things &C
tuated the Puritans in their departure from
England-first. they were not secure in as
much liberty of conscience in religious wor-
ship they desired to be, and, second,
most of the people of England were wor-
Shipping God after a fashion they did not
approve, and, truth to tell, the second cause
furnished them the stronger motive for get
ting away
John Fayerbanke was a typical Puritan,
sternly willed, thoroughly religious, strong
ly prejudiced and totally intolerant of every
creed, religious, social or political except
his own. There was an intensity and res
olution-a fanaticism, if you choose-about
the people that we of this later generation
and more liberal age can scarcely under
stand Tolerance of Quaker, or a Baptist,
in their creed, was not only a denial of
God, but an eating of soup with the old
horned devil himself They would have
none of it, and from their standpoint and
with their lights they were exactly right.
They believed as much in God in the state
as they believed in God in the church, and
they did not believe in any God other than
their own conceptions of the God of Abra-
ham. Jonathan Fayerbanke did not reside
long in Boston, but soon pitched his tent at
Dedham. He was a man of independent
thought, and had a misunderstanding with
his church on some question of doctrine or
government, and for long time he was not
a communicate; but after a free conference
the breach was closed and he was restored
to full fellowship. He built home at Ded-
ham, which remained the property of his
descendants for centuries, but was finally
acquired by the Massachusetts, State His
torcal Society. and is yet the property of
that association, and is carefully preserved
as relic of colonial days.
The sons and daughters of Jonathan Fay
erbanke multiplied and the family is very
numerous and has representatives in all
| sections of the American Union. The quaint
way of spelling gave way to later customs
and the family is now known Fairbanks
| in New England as elsewhere. Loriston
Monroe Fairbanks was a native of Ver-
mont, but early settled at Ware. Mass, and
subsequently moved to Ohio and took up his
abode in Union county. He was a man of
| great force of character and strong convic-
| tions. When the law and his conscience
were at discord he followed his conscience
and invoked the higher law" For exam
| pie, his house in Ohio was a station of the
| underground railroad and he would have
| gone to the stake sooner than aid in the eX-
| ecution of the fugitive slave law that was
| part of the compromise of $780," He was
a wagon maker, but when he came to Ohio
he acquired farm and independence, and
| modest competence rewarded his industry
| and frugality.
| Charles Warren Fairbanks, a senator in
| Congress from the State of Indiana, is the
son of Loriston Monroe Fairbanks, and
| eighth in descent from Jonathan Fayer-
| banke, who first brought the name to Amer
| lea. He was born at Unionville Center
| in life his father taught him the use of
| tools required in wagon making and en-
ployed him on the farm as a help to till the
| soil. He was made to practice the virtues
| of industry and frugality, but this stern old
| Puritan father, who feared God and Moth
| ing else;" VINO believed in Rem Wade and
| Joshua Giddings, who daily renowned the
| devil and all his works-this old Puritan
| father taught the boy two other lessons,
| without a mastery of which the wisest and
| the most learned man is poorly educat ted
the boy was taught to practice sef-denial
| and to be self-reliant. Without these how
| miserable is the genius of intellect, Without
| these how tyrannical is the genius of lib
| erty.
| The parents of Charles Warren Fairbanks
| were Methodists. Have you reflected what
| a mighty force the Methodist Church is?