The Washington herald., 1914-04-08
fairbanks

lchurch, which was considered dangerous
errors. But he was not alone in his
misconduct. for there were several othei
lliberal-minded men Of the colony who
agreed with him and II seems that be-
fore many months had gone by he was
as highly esteemed as ever. The reason
for this supposition Is the fact that he
was made the first postmaster of Bos-
ton, and later of the whole colony. The
old ordinance was worded as follows:
For preventing the miscarriage Of let
ters. IL Is ordered that notice be given To
Richard Fairbanks his house in Boston
is the place appointed for all letters
which are brought from beyond the seas,
or are TO be sent thither, and he is to
take care that they be delivered or sent &C.
cording to their directions. and he is
allowed for every such a letter a penny.
and must answer all miscarriages
through his own neglect in this kind,
provided that no man shall be compelled
to bring his letters thither except he
pleases." At the time this order went
into effect Postmaster Fairbanks house
was In what is now Washington street,
Boston.
Richard Fairbanks had two children.
One was named Constance, and she mar
ried into the Mattock family. Then there
was Zaccheus. who was born In 1858. but
he had no children, and so Richard Fair
banks had no male line.
Jonathan Fairbanks, who Is supposed
to be the brother OF the postmaster, was
born in England in 1900. and lived for
three years in Boston, and went from
there to Dedham, Mass. where he was q
pioneer settler. In England he had mar
ried one Grace Lee and they had had six
children, all born in the old country. OF
these the eldest inherited the old home
stead in Dedham. He married Sarah
Fiske and had FIVE sons and four daugh-
ters. The second son of the pioneer was
named George. and he settled in Sher-
born. where he was a prominent citizen.
He met death by drowning. By his wife.
Mary Adams, he had five sons and two
daughters. Jonas was the third son Of
the founder of the Dedham family. He
settled in Lancaster, where he was
farmer and carpenter. He had the char
acteristic Fairbanks spirit of independ-
ence, and In 1852 he was fined for wear
ing boots before he was worth two hun
dred pounds. an action which was con-
trary to the sumptuary regulations OF
the government of the colony. He was
killed with his son Joshua by the In
dians in 1876 during a raid when the
Fairbanks father and son were bravely
their settlement. He had mar
TleQ FTcSCOIl hdd hNS 1OAS
and two daughters.
Jonathan the fourth and youngest son
OF the pioneer of Dedham was soldier
in King Philips war. He married De-
borah Shepard by whom he had seven
sons and six daughters.
Fifth In descent from the Dedham
pioneer were the two famous brothers
Erastus and Thaddeus. the famous manu-
facturers and inventors of the Fairbanks
platform scales. Erastus was born In
Brirnfield, Mass. and as a young man
studied law. His weak eyesight forced
him to give this profession up and he
went into business in st. Johnsbury, Vt,
as a manufacturer OF cast-iron plows and
stove castings About this time his
younger brother Thaddeus was engaged
In dressing hemp. The thing that i'm
pressed him most in this work was the
rudeness of the method then employed
In measuring the hemp. Being OF an in
ventive genius he set about to invent a
platform scale which would simplify this
operation. and the famous Fairbanks
scales was the result Fortunately his
brother was In the business Of casting iron
and the two brothers combined In the man
ufacture of these famous implements.
Erastus eventually became governor of
Vermont and his son Horace was also a
governor of Vermont. Another son.
Franklin, possessed Thaddeus's Inventive
genius and made many improvements
and perfected the patents on the scales.
only son, Henry was a min
Ister and prominently associated with
College
Erastus Fairbanks married Lois Cross
man and Thaddeus, the inventor. mar
ried Lucy Peck Barker. Thaddeus re-
ceived international recognition Of his
invention and was presented
with the Cross OF Francis Joseph by the
Emperor OF Austria.
The coat of arms of the Fairbanks
family Is blazoned as follows: Argent q
Tess between three hurts, azure, a bezant,
Or; Crest. three arrows, one In pale and
Two In satire proper. Motto. Finem
respice.
"opyrisht. lsili
Miss Cowles 10 glad to answer questions
AZ ReneaioRy in this column