Appendix E: Biographies

Fairbanks

Reuben Goodale Fairbanks, son of Silas and Eleanor (Goodale) Fairbanks, was born on 29 December 1804 in Litchfield, New York, one of twelve children.1 He married on 11 March 1831 in Windham, Connecticut, Lucy Lee Webb (Windham, CT 24 November 1806 – West Farm, Westchester, New York March 1870).2 At this time, he was living in Brooklyn (a part of Pomfret, Connecticut, in the 1880s).3

Lucy Lee (Webb) and Reuben Goodale Fairbanks had nine children: George Carmichael (1835–1837), Mary Eleanor (Charlton, MA 16 June 1837 – Bronx, New York 10 April 1908), Edward Reuben (1838–1839), Henry Webb (9 September 1840 – August 1865), Sarah Lucy (b. 23 September 1841), Annie Julia (b. 29 January 1843), Charles Albert (1846–1846), Helen Louise (25 December 1847 – 25 October 1848), and Alice Amanda (b. 22 October 1851).4

Reuben Goodale Fairbanks was a partner in the railroad-contracting firm of Carmichael, Fairbanks and Otis of Westfield, Massachusetts, in the 1830s.5 Otis died in 1839, and the firm became Carmichael, Fairbanks and Company by 1840.6 The identity of Carmichael and Fairbanks has been established by a search of Hampden County (MA) Deeds, which confirmed “a deed involving Daniel Carmichael, R.G. Fairbank & Co., ‘gentlemen’ of Springfield, Mass., who bought land in Springfield in 1841.”7 In another deed, dated February 1840, “Carmichael, Fairbank and Co. of Springfield, ‘gentlemen’” sold land in Springfield. This deed was not recorded until 1855. The deed was signed by “Daniel Carmichael and R.G. Fairbank.”8 R.G. Fairbanks, nevertheless, did not appear in the censuses for Massachusetts consulted for 1820–1880.9

When “the question of obtaining American mechanics” to come to Russia “to set up and supervise the operation” of the excavators and pile drivers arose in late 1842, Major Whistler (see Images 7–8, 21) recommended and vouched for Fairbanks “as an experienced and reliable man.”10 The firm had experience “in operating steam excavators during the construction of the Western Railroad.”11 Captain William H. Swift called Fairbanks “one of my oldest and best contractors.”12 On 18 March 1843, a “Mr. Fairbanks” was issued a diplomatic passport by the U.S. Embassy in London “as bearer of despatches to St. Petersburg.”13 He arrived in Russia some time between 4 and 18 April 1843: “nothing of any great interest has … transpired except the arrival of Mr Fairbanks, a person invited by this government to contract for the excavations etc. to be made upon the proposed line of railroad between this and Moscow.”14 In July 1843, Colonel Todd (see Image 278), the U.S. envoy to St. Petersburg, reported that Fairbanks “had made a contract with the Russian Government for half the route … presumably … the Northern Administration.”15 In praising America, Maxwell singled him out, among others: “here is Mr Fairbanks astonishing the natives with piledriving machines and excavators.”16 But this steam machinery was “to find limited application and [its] operation … was far from a signal success.”17 By “late 1846, the use of his steam machinery was coming to an end.”18

It is not possible to say exactly when Fairbanks left Russia, but in April 1846, when he was granted a patent for Scotland, his address was Cecil Street in the county of Middlesex.19 He became the agent of Harrison, Winans and Eastwick in London, and when the remains of John Bouttatz Whistler, the youngest Whistler child, were being sent home in October 1846, Fairbanks was responsible for shipping them from London to New York.20 By November 1847, Fairbanks and George Henry Prince had announced that they were “going into the Ice business – exporting it to London.”21 Fairbanks wrote every Friday to Major Whistler, and when James was left in England in the fall of 1848, he could avail himself of this opportunity to send a letter to his parents.

Fairbanks had come to Russia without his wife and children, who Anna Whistler (see Images 1–5) said were living in Pittsfield. Inquiries to the Berkshire Athenaeum22 produced negative results. It is more likely that Anna Whistler made a mistake and meant Litchfield, the town in New York State where Fairbanks was born. Perhaps he had sent his family to stay with his relatives while he was in Russia. Inquiries to the historian for the Town of Litchfield and to the Herkimer County Historical Society also produced negative results.23

After Fairbanks moved from Russia to England, his family joined him there. Anna Whistler met Mrs. Fairbanks and the children in July 1848. She did not record any of the children’s names in her diary. Fairbanks, however, had written Andrew McCalla Eastwick (see Image 233) on 2 June 1848, congratulating him on the birth of George Whistler Eastwick and telling him that he had lost three of his own sons, “who would now have been of the respective ages of 13, 9, and 2 years.”24 He still had one son and four daughters.25 The names of the children Anna Whistler could have met were, therefore, Henry, the only surviving son, who would have been about seven years old, and the daughters Mary, Sarah, Annie, and Helen. Mary would have been about eleven years old, Sarah about six years old, Annie about five years old, and Helen about seven months old. On 25 October 1848, Helen died.26

In 1860, R.G. Fairbanks, an engraver, fifty-five years old, and his wife, Lucy, fifty-three years old, were residing in the First District, Sixth Ward, of Brooklyn City in Kings County State of New York with their children: Mary, born in Massachusetts, twenty-one years old; Henry, born in Massachusetts, nineteen years old; Sarah, born in Massachusetts, eighteen years old; Annie, born in Massachusetts, sixteen years old; and Allice, born in New York, eight years old.27 The female named Margarett, whose name is listed in the 1860 Census after those of the children, who was twenty-one years old, born in Ireland, and the same age as Mary Fairbanks, must have been a servant, although this occupation is not indicated next to her name. Usually the first and last name of servants and visitors are listed, but the ditto marks next to her name seem to indicate that her surname was also Fairbanks.28

In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census, Reuben Fairbanks, railroad contractor, sixty-four years of age, was living in Fordham, West Farm, in Westchester County, New York with Mary, born in Massachusetts, twenty-five years old (listed as 21 years old in 1860), and Alice, born in New York, eighteen years old, both “at home.”29 Lucy Lee (Webb) Fairbanks had died in March 1870 (see Note 2 in this biography).

In the 1875 New York Census, Reuben G. Fairbanks, agent for Silex Lead Company, was living in Fort Ann, Washington, New York, with two female servants.30 In the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, R.G. Fairbanks, widower, Silex Manufacturer, age seventy-five, was living in Fort Ann, Washington, New York, with Mary, age forty-two, and Sarah, age forty-eight.31

He died on 5 October 1882, age seventy-seven, of pneumonia, in Manhattan, New York.32 His daughter, Sarah L. Fairbanks, was named as administratix in the probate records.33 He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.34

Alice Amanda Fairbanks married in Manhattan, New York, on 3 May 1883, Sidwell S. Randall.35

Notes