page_title: History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699
section_title: Jonathan Fairbanks
hierarchical_section_title: History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699 / Other / Jonathan Fairbanks
caption_attribution_description: Jonathan Fairbanks House, 511 East Street, Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. General View from South-East.
context_page_description: The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699, begins with the first settlers' arrival in 1635 and runs to the end of the 17th century. The originally settlers, who built their village on land the native people called Tiot, incorporated the plantation in 1636. The sought to build a community in which all would live out Christian love in their daily lives, and for a time did, but the Utopian impulse did not last. The system of government they devised was both "a peculiar oligarchy" and a "a most peculiar democracy". Most freemen could participate in Town Meeting, though they soon established a Board of Selectmen. Power and initiative ebbed and flowed between the two bodies.
  The settlers then undertook the difficult task of establishing a church, drafting its doctrinal base, and selecting a minister. In early days nearly every resident was a member but, seeking a church of only "visible saints", membership declined over time. Though the "half-way covenant" was proposed in 1657 and endorsed by the minister, the congregation rejected it.
  Population grew from about 200 people in early days to around 700 by 1800, with land being distributed according to rank and family size.
context_section_description: In 1637 Jonathan Fairbanks signed the town Covenant and was allotted 12 acres (49,000 m²) of land to build his home, which today is the oldest house in North America. In 1640 "the selectmen provided that Jonathan Fairbanks 'may have one cedar tree set out unto him to dispose of where he will: In consideration of some special service he hath done for the towne.'" He had "long stood off from the church upon some scruples about public profession of faith and the covenant, yet after divers loving conferences ... he made such a declaration of his faith and conversion to God and profession of subjection to the ordinances of Christ in the church that he was readily and gladly received by the whole church."
  The house is still owned by the Fairbanks family and today stands at 511 East Street, on the corner of Whiting Ave, and near the site of the Old Avery Oak Tree. The builders of the USS Constitution once offered $70 to buy the tree, but the owner would not sell. The Avery Oak, which was over 16' in circumference, survived the New England Hurricane of 1938 to be toppled by a violent thunderstorm in 1973; the Town Meeting Moderator's gavel was carved out of it.
  Jonathan Fairbanks would have a number of notable descendants including murderer Jason Fairbanks of the famous Fairbanks case, as well as Presidents William H. Taft, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. He is also an ancestor of the father and son Governors of Vermont Erastus Fairbanks and Horace Fairbanks, the poet Emily Dickinson, and the anthropologist Margaret Mead.
caption: The Fairbanks House is the oldest timber frame house in North America.
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