Lt. Jabez Fairbank

Capt Jabez Fairbank (Dummer's War; lived adj to Th Sawyer)

Capt Jabez FAIRBANK Birth 8 January 1670 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States Death 2 Mar 1758 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Family Members Parents Jonas Fairbanks 1625 – 1676

Lydia Prescott 1641 – 1723 Show siblings Spouse & Children

Mary Wilder 1675 – 1718 Joseph (Deacon) Fairbank 1693 – 1772 Elizabeth Fairbank 1696 – 1772

Jabez Jr. Deacon Fairbank 1700 – 1782

Jonas Fairbank 1703 – 1792 Hannah FAIRBANKS 1704 – Thomas FAIRBANKS 1707 – 1791 Abigail Fairbanks 1708 – 1748 Jonathon FAIRBANK 1710 – 1798 Grace Fairbanks 1712 – Joshua Fairbanks 1714 – 1769 Annah Amanda Fairbanks 1716 – 1790 Spouse & Children

Elizabeth Whitcomb 1674 – 1755

Timeline Birth 1670 8 Jan Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States 3 source citations Marriage to Mary Wilder 1696 Age: 26 Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States Marriage to Elizabeth Whitcomb 1719 25 Mar Age: 49 Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States Death 1758 2 Mar Age: 88 Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States 2 source citations Burial Old Settlers Burial Field Lancaster, Worcester Co. Massachusetts

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Jabez Fairbanks He was a very efficient soldier and officer in the Indian wars, and was no doubt incited to heroic exploits by the massacre of his father and brother, in 1676, and of his only surviving brother in 1697. During the raid upon the town in 1697, when his brother Jonathan and one of the latter's children was slain, he was the means of saving a garrison and perhaps many lives, including that of his "little son," probably Joseph. In all, outside the garrison , twenty-one persons were killed, two wounded and six were carried away as captives, of whom five returned. Among the captives returned was the wife of Jonathan.

About 1720, the Indians at the East again began to manifest open hostilities to the whites, which soon assumed the proportions of war. There had been occasional fights previous to 1722 , instigated by the French Jesuits, and in August 1723 the General Court met and approved of the proclamation of war which had been issued by Gov. Samuel Shute, July 25, 1722. By the death of Gov. Shute the conduct of the war fell to the lot of Lieut-Gov. William Dummer, acting governor of the colony; hence it is sometimes known as Dummer's War. Expeditions were sent in successive years, with great loss of men and money, until the natives were subdued. The people of Lancaster bore their part of the public burden, and probably volunteered more than their proportion of fighting men. Prominent among these were the Willards, White, Fairbank and Hartwell. See Marvin's History of Lancaster.

"First in the order of time of our military heroes, in those days of trial," says Marvin, "was Lieut. afterwards Capt. Jabez Fairbank. He was a famous scouting officer, and traversed large sections of the country to the north, east, and west, in search of prowling Indians. More than sixty parties were engaged in this service. Some of the names of the men under his command, between 1721 and 1724, were the following: Edward Hartwell, Ephraim Wheeler, Daniel O sgood, Isaac Farnsworth, Isaac Lacain, John Bennett, Joseph Wheelock, Ezra Sawyer, Moses Willard, John Eams."

Gov. Dummer immediately sought the services of Fairbank to enlist men. He offerred him the choice of the office of sergeant, if he remained at home in Lancaster, or that of Lieutenant , if he were willing to serve at Groton or at Turkey Hill. He chose the latter, and at once entered the service. He reported directly to the Governor during the war, and the published correspondence between them furnishes many interesting chapters of history. See Mass. Archives and Marvin's History of Lancaster; also History of Groton.

In the year 1700 he had lands laid out to him "on both sides of danes Brook aboue Thomas Sawyer's Sawmill." This site became the home of the Fairbanks, and so remained for a hundred years or more."

He was elected as a representative to the General Court in 1714, 1721, 1722 and 1723.

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Jabez Fairbanks and Mary Wilder 1670-1758 , Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA From "Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal...Volume 1" (1907), edited by Ellery Bicknell Crane irbanks%22+Dedham&source=bl&ots=WuGTRxowDf&sig=7pAU-lCw-SLr0eRc2i8Rm-ju1kQ&hl=en& ei=FJDxS7HAO4aglAfH_dS1CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBIQ6AEwBA #v=onepage&q=%22Jonas%20Fairbanks%22%20Dedham&f=false

"Captain Jabez Fairbanks, son of Jonas Fairbanks, was born at Lancaster, January 8, 1670-1, and he settled there after the war. He died March 2, 1758, aged eighty-seven. He was a very efficient soldier and officer in the Indian war, and was no doubt incited to heroic exploits by the massacre of his father and brother in 1676 and of his only surviving brother in 1697 during a raid on the town. At the time his brother Jonathan and one of his children were killed, Captain Jabez was the means of saving a garrison and perhaps many lives including that of his own little son Joseph. Twenty-one persons were killed in this raid, two were wounded and six carried off captives, of whom five were ransomed later, including the wife of Jonathan Fairbanks. In 1700 Jabez had lands laid down to him on both sides of Dane's brook above Thomas Sawyer's saw mill. This site was the homestead of Jabez and his descendants for a hundred years. He was deputy to the general court in 1714-21-22-23.

"He married Mary Wilder, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Houghton) Wilder, who died February 21, 1718, in her forty-third year. He married (second), March 25, 1719, Elizabeth Whitcomb, who died May 11, 1755, aged about eighty years. The children of Jabez and Mary were: Joseph, born 1693; Jabez; Elizabeth, married Deliverance Brown, December 24, 1718; Jonas; Thomas; Abigail, married Major Henry Willard, of Ashburnham, descendant of Major Simon Willard; Jonathan, baptized June 18, 1710; Grace, baptized February 27, 1712, married Joseph Brown, March 27, 1733; Joshua, baptized March 28, 1714; Anna, baptized November 18, 1716, married, April 5, 1738, Simon Butler."

By Volume 4 (1907), Ellery Bicknell Crane had demoted Jabez Fairbanks to Lieutenant, and had this to say: "Lieutenant Jabez Fairbanks is believed to be the only son of Jonas and Lydia, who left sons and posterity of the name of Fairbanks. Lieutenant Jabez Fairbanks, son of Jonas Fairbanks, was born November 8, 1670 at Lancaster, Massachusetts. He was a lifelong resident of his native town, a farmer and man of distinction." The rest of the narrative is pretty much the same as before in Volume 1, except that he states that Mary Wilder was in the 45th year of her age rather than 43rd when she died. source=bl&ots=Y-_GERp-3S&sig=Mim6LSaGZ8CkYNHMRaCw9zDVBio&hl=en&ei=RrvyS6PiOYT6lwemuJ SgDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%2 2Jabez%20Fairbanks%22&f=false

From Fairbanks and Kester Genealogy [http://www.familyorigins.com/users/k/e/e/Louis-J-Keester/FAMO1-0001...]:

Letter from Lieutenant Jabez Fairbanks to the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1724: ------------------------------------------------------------ Groton May 28th 1724

May it please your Honour I have Posted the men Committed to my care at the Towns of Lancaster Groton Dunstable & Turkey Hill according to your Honours orders; and Improve them in the best manner I can for the protection of the People & Discovery of the enemy and I think to General Satisfaction I have ordered one man to Mr. Prescotts Garrison During his attendance on the Court. I beg Leave further to acquaint your Honour that ye people in these Towns apprehend themselves in Great danger, and cannot (in my humble opinion) be in any manner safe with so Small a number of men.

I am your Honours Humble & most obedient Servt Jabez Fairbanks ------------------------------------------------------------ [Samuel A. Green, "Materials for the History of Groton, Mass.," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 10 (July 1856): 248. The article cites "Mass Archives, Vol 72, Page 176." as the source of this letter.] ___________________________________________________________________

From Lieutenant Jabez Fairbanks to the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1724: ------------------------------------------------------------ Groton July 20th 1724

May it please your Honour I have attended your orders in posting the men at the Towns of Groton Lancaster & Turkey Hill--precisely except at Turkey Hill there is but eleven men Capt Stevens having not as yet sent as many as ordered & I have taken my post at Groton where I improve the Souldiers in the best manner I can agreeable to your order, & have ordered them to Lodge in some of ye most Exposed Garrisons as often may be, but I find it impossible to Improve so Small a number of men So as to answer ye Necessities of the people here whose circumstances are so very Difficult & Distressing that I am not able to Represent to your Honor the poor people are many of them obliged to Keep their own Garrisons and part of them Imployed as Guards while others are at their labours whose whole Time would be full Little enough to be expended in getting Bread for their families. my own Garrison at Lancaster is very much exposed & with Humble Submission I think Requires Protection as much as any in that Town. therefore I Humbly pray your Honor would be pleased to give me Leave to post a souldier there Dureing my absence in the Service of the province. I beg your Honours Pardon for giving you this Trouble; and as leave to Subscribe my selfe

Your most Obedient Humble Servt Jabez Fairbanks ------------------------------------------------------------ [Samuel A. Green, "Materials for the History of Groton, Mass.," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 10 (July 1856): 248. The article cites "Mass Archives, Vol 52, Page 17." as the source of this letter.]

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abez Fairbanks 2

Jaffrey is very fortunate to have had the foresight and the resolve to record it's history in a formal way. The History of Jaffrey (Volume I & II 1937) now spans four volumes and covers a period of over 300 years. The early years were represented in Volume I and the following is an excerpt from that book

Among the most experienced scouts of the period called into service at this time was Captain Jabez Fairbanks of Lancaster. The History of Lancaster credits him with being the first of that town’s military heroes. He was also prominent in civil affairs and several times represented the town in the general court. He had been early incited to hostility against the Indians by having witnessed the massacre of his father and brother and many of his neighbors and friends. In the archives of Massachusetts are many reports in his own hand of his expeditions into the northern wilderness. He was bold alike with sword and pen, and in the encounter with uncouth Indian names he rushed in where a lexicographer might fear to tread. His quaint reports, terse and unadorned as the commentaries of Julius Caesar, are priceless records of New England’s heroic age.

Captain Fairbanks knew the region from Lancaster to Monadnock like a book. He had traversed it for twenty years as policeman of the woods before there was a habitation of white man or a cart path in our unbroken wilderness. One winter day in February, 1724, we find him up at "Wanomihouck" (Monomonock) ponds, a locality which he calls thirty miles from Lancaster. This was then the collective name for the group of ponds in present day Jaffrey and Rindge. His record continues, "from thence to Wachusett hills and Ocsechoxit bills [Sterling] and Washacum ponds [near Lancaster] and then hom."

Again a scout set out "to the Turkey Hill [Lunenburg], to Mashapoge pond to Cateconimong pond [Lunenburg] to Unchecowalounck pond [unknown] and came hom by Lancaster North river." Next we find them on a longer march. In mid-winter ten sturdy woodsmen, commanded by Sergeant Edward Hartwell, loaded like pack horses, tramped "to Turkey Hills and from thence to ye Dimon hills, and to the head of Mullipers river [Mulpus Brook] and to the head of Squannicook river and from thence to the head of Sowhegan river [in Ashby or Ashburnham], to the Watutuck hill [Watatic Mountain] and then steared towards the grand Wanodnock hill, and from thence to Wanominock ponds, and from thence to Wachusets Hills and to Oxsechoxits Hills, and mostly to such places as ye Indians are Most Likely to Hount In there coming to our Towns."

Captain Jabez also lent his assistance to another frontier town, Dunstable (now in part the city of Nashua), and from that place he directed his patrol toward the Monadnock wilderness. He went again "to Sowhegan river [in Wilton and Milford], so up said river about six miles, so crossing ye woods to several grate mountains [Wapack Range] and ponds where ye Indians were formerly use to live and Pass so to Nashaway River." "Another scout to several ponds to Sowhegan river and then campt ye first night, crossed river to a brook called Baboosuck brook, so up brook and parting our scout, so driving ye woods, meeting again at night and camping at a pond called Sabenes pond, so from thence to Strawberry hill and along by ye East hunkenoonert hill [Uncanoonuc] then to Pasentaquage [Piscataquog] river, and campt two nights being a great storm of snow, so from thence to Sowhegan and campt and so up said river to several grate hills and ponds and so return again.~~

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Facts About Capt. Jabez Fairbank , Lancaster, Worcester, MA Source: Fairbanks Family in America 1897 p.50 (13.) Born in Lancaster, November 8, 1670 (?), and lived there. "died March 2, 1758, aged about 84," according to the inscription on his tombstone, which would make his birth later than 1670. He was a very efficient soldier and officer in the Indian Wars, and was no doubt incited to heroic exploits by the massacre of his father and brother, in 1676, and of his only surviving brother in 1697. During the raid upon the town in 1697, when his brother Jonathan and one of the latter's children were slain, he was the means of saving a garrison and perhaps many lives, including that of his "little son," probably Joseph. In all, outside the garrison, twenty-one persons were killed, two wounded, and six were carried away as the captives, of whom five returned. Among the captives returned was the wife of Jonathan. Jabez, was well educated for the times. He was his father's only son who left any male descendents and he shines in history. His military dispatches preserved in the records show him to have been a man of marked intellectual ability, and he was certainly a hero of great physical stamina and bravery. His children and their descendants contributed largely o the population of Lancaster and the neighboring towns, especially Sterling and Harvard, originally parts of Lancaster. The name did honor to the towns in those days. The marriages were generally with the foremost families. About 1720, the Indians at the East again began to manifest open hostilities to the whites, which soon assumed the proportions of war. There had been occasional fights previous to 1722, instigated by the French Jesuits, and in August 1723 the General Court met and approved of the proclamation of war which had been issued by Governor Samuel Shute, July 25, 1722. By the death of Governor Shute the conduct of the war fell to the lot of Lieut-Governor William Dummer, acting governor of the colony; hence it is sometimes known as Dummer's War. Expeditions were sent in successive years, with great loss of men and money, until the natives were subdued. The people of Lancaster bore their part of the public burden, and probably volunteered more than their proportion of fighting men. Prominent among these were the Willards, White, Fairbank and Hartwell. (See Marvin's History of Lancaster). "First in the order of time of our military heroes in these days of trial," says Marvin, "was Lieut. afterwards Capt. Jabez Fairbank. He was a famous scouting officer, and traversed large sections of the country to the north, east and west, in search of prowling Indians. More than sixty parties were engaged in this service. Some of names of the men under his command, between 1721 and 1724, were the following; Edward Hartwell, Ephriam Wheeler, Daniel Osgood, Isaac Farnsworth, Isaac Lacain, John Bennett, Joseph Wheelock, Ezra Sawyer, Moses Willard, John Eams" Gov. Dummer immediately sought the services of Fairbank to enlist men. He offered him the choice of the office of sergeant, if he remained at home in Lancaster, or that of Lieutenant, if he were willing to serve at Groton or at Turkey Hill. He chose the latter, and at once entered the service. He reported directly to the Governor during the war, and the published correspondence between them furnishes many interesting chapters of history. (See Mass. Archives and Marvin's History of Lancaster; also History of Groton). In the year 1700 he had lands laid out to him "on both sides of Danes Brook about Thomas Sawyer's Sawmill." This site became the home of the Fairbanks, and so remained for a hundred years or more." He was elected as a representative to the General Court in 1714, 1721, 1722 and 1723.

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GEDCOM Note

"One of the first settlers to explore the wilderness around Mt. Monadnock, NH. He was a famous scouting officer, leading more than sixty parties, transversing large areas to the north, east and west.""Jabez FAIRBANK's father, and brothers Joshua and Jonathan died in theIndian raids of 10 Feb 1676 that destroyed the town of Lancaster, andof 11 Sep 1697. His brother Jonas died earlier, within days, leaving Jabez as the only male heir with male offspring. He was the means of saving the rest of the Lancaster Garrison, saving many lives, includingthat of his little son Joseph. Outside the garrison 21 were killed and 6 carried away into captivity, of whom 5 were returned." "Gen. Daniel Gookin states that this bloody foray was headed by a one-eyed chief of the Nipmucks, named John Monoco "who lived near Lancaster before the war began," and that he had twenty of Philip's men with him. The bold incursion of one-eyed John was but the prelude to tragedyof February 10th. Of the plan for the destruction of Lancaster in allits details, even to the very day assigned for its accomplishment, the colonial authorities were fully advised; yet with a neglect that seems criminally strange, they did almost nothing to ward off the blow. Of the aboriginal possessors of Nashaway, none better deserves to be honored among us than that Indian scout, whose courage, skill and fidelity should have saved the town from the massacre of 1676, James Quanapaug, alias James Wiser, also known as Quenepenett or Quannapohit." "In the year 1700 he had lands laid out to him "on both sides of Dane's Brook above Thomas Sawyer's sawmill. This site became the home of the Fairbanks, and so remained for a hundred years or more." He was eleceted as a representative to the General Court in 1714, 1721, 1722, and 1723.

Burial: Old Settlers Burial Yard, Lancaster, Worcester, Mass. gravestone reads: "In Memory of Lieut Jabaz Fairbank who died in March1758 Aged about 84 Years. Mrs. Mary his first wife died in March 1718aged 42 years. Mrs. Elizabeth his 2nd wife died May ye 11, 1755 Aged 80 years 7 months."

Sources

<references />* Lorenzo S. Fairbanks. "Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America 1633-1897. Boston: 1897. p. 50-53.

Abijah P. Marvin. History of Lancaster. History of Groton. Henry S. Nourse. "Epitaphs in Lancaster Prior to 1850 - The Old BurialField" from The Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts 1640 to 1850. 1890 Henry S. Nourse. Early Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts. 1884: p.127, p.125, p.295, p.321.

"Massachusetts, Births and Christenings, 1639-1915" Name: Jabez Fairbanks Gender: Male Birth Date: 08 Nov 1670 Birthplace: Lancaster, Massachusetts Father's Name: Jonas Fairbanks Mother's Name: Lidea Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I08987-5. System Origin: Massachusetts-EASy"

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Glenn Kittredge for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Glenn and others.

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