page_title: Solomon Kimball House (Wenham, Massachusetts)
section_title: William, Esther (-----) and Rebecca (Tarbox) Fairfield
hierarchical_section_title: Solomon Kimball House (Wenham, Massachusetts) / William, Esther (-----) and Rebecca (Tarbox) Fairfield
caption_attribution_description: English: Gravestone of Esther Fairfield, Fairfield Family Burial Ground, William Fairfield Drive, Wenham, MA
context_page_description: The Solomon Kimball House, probably built in 1696, is a historic First Period house at 26 Maple Street in Wenham, Massachusetts. Although named for nineteenth- and early twentieth-century owner Solomon Kimball, the house was built by Thomas and Mary Kilham—he the veteran of a pivotal battle in King Philip’s War and she the sister and aunt of defendants in the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
  Eighteenth-century owners included Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Deputies William Fairfield, and American Revolutionary War veteran Capt. Matthew Fairfield.
  The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
context_section_description: William Fairfield owned the property from 1701 to 1725. He lived in a house near the current-day intersection of Cherry Street and William Fairfield Drive, a house that he probably built around 1687 coincident with his first marriage. (The land adjacent to Fairfield's house included a burial ground that the family started in 1691.) The Fairfield Farm was contiguous to the Thomas Kilham Farm, and Fairfield apparently bought the Kilham property as an investment. He gave the former Thomas Kilham homestead to his son Josiah Fairfield as a wedding gift in 1725. 
  A son of Ens. Walter and Sarah (Skipper) Fairfield, William was born October 14, 1662 in Reading, MA, and died on December 18, 1742 in Wenham. He was active in town affairs, and was Town Clerk 1706–1711 and 1724–1729; Moderator of Town Meeting in 1715, 1716, 1733–1736, 1739 and 1741; and was elected deacon of the First Church in 1731. He was a Representative at General Court in 1723, 1728, 1730, and 1732–1742, and “[d]uring the session of 1741, he was Speaker of the House of Deputies, at that time the highest office in the gift of the people, the Governor and Lieut. Governor being appointed by the King.”
   He appears to have been one of those shrewd, clear-headed, practical men, whose minds are formed and trained by reflection and experience, rather than by a knowledge of books, or by intercourse with the world. He held, at different times, every office in the gift of the people of his native town and State, and in all, he gained the confidence of those whom he was called to serve. He was also an active member of the church, and for many years one of its deacons.
   We regret that so little can now be ascertained concerning Mr. Fairfield. An anecdote is still told of him, which is quite characteristic. The common mode of travelling in those days was on horseback. Setting out to attend a session of the Legislature, he became so absorbed in thinking of the business on which they were to enter, and upon his duties as Speaker, that he is said to have actually reached Boston, bridle in hand, before discovering that he had left his horse at home.
  William married twice. His first marriage was to Esther ----- about the year 1687. She was born circa 1668 and died on January 21, 1722/3 in Wenham. William and Esther (-----) Fairfield had thirteen children, all born in Wenham:  
  Sarah, born July 23, 1688; died February 6, 1705 in Wenham (buried in Fairfield Family Burial Ground)
  Mary, born December 18, 1689
  William, Jr., born October 18, 1691; died October 24, 1691 in Wenham (buried in Fairfield Family Burial Ground)
  William, Jr. (2nd), born November 17, 1692
  Esther, Jr., born August 12, 1695
  Tabitha, born May 17, 1696; died October 7, 1717 in Wenham (buried in Fairfield Family Burial Ground)
  Abigail, born May 9, 1698
  Elizabeth, born January 9, 1699/1700
  Josiah, born October 12, 1701
  Prudence, born July 13, 1704
  Skipper, born January 2, 1706
  Benjamin, born October 29, 1708
  Rev. John, born November 29, 1712
  William’s second marriage was to Mrs. Rebecca (Tarbox) Gott on October 14, 1723 in Wenham. Rebecca was born on August 8, 1672 in Lynn, MA, the daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Armitage) Tarbox. Her first marriage was to John Gott, whom she married on July 19, 1693 in Salem, MA. (John Gott was the son of Charles and Lydia (Clark) Gott, was born on November 8, 1668 in Wenham, and died on January 25, 1722/3 in Wenham.) She died on July 29, 1765 in Lynn, MA. No children are recorded in Wenham’s vital records for William and Rebecca (Gott) Fairfield.
caption: Gravestone of Esther (-----) Fairfield (ca. 1668–1722/3), first wife of William Fairfield[57]
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