William Fairbanks

William Fairbanks is the brick wall on this Fairbanks line. We do not know when or where he was born or who his parents were. The only record found so far is his will which was written 13 August 1797 and probated 25 August 1797 in Guilford County, North Carolina. We know at least that he died in August 1797. The will raises more questions than it answers. In it William names a wife Mary and children David, William and Susannah. William mentions "Sarah, a daughter of my wife" (no last name for Sarah) which indicates Mary had been married before and could mean she may not be the mother of David, William and Susannah. However since David, William and Susannah were fairly young children when William died Mary is most likely their mother. Mary's maiden name is unknown. The will mentions a brother-in-law Nathan Spence and a sister-in-law Sydney Spence. This could indicate several things. One is that Nathan Spence was Mary's brother and therefore her maiden name was Spence. It could also mean Sydney Spence was Mary's sister and she is married to Nathan Spence. According to the will Sydney Spence had a son John Spence so Spence must be her married name. Since Mary had been married before maybe her first husband was a Spence. Also in those days "in-law" sometimes indicated a "step" relationship. Since there is so much confusion about the relationships of the people mentioned in the will it is, in my opinion, impossible to know for sure what Mary's maiden name was. It may or may not have been Spence.

DNA tests are ongoing in the Fairbanks family DNA project. So far there have been some surprises. Fairbanks lines that were thought to be closely related are not. However Y-DNA test results indicate that a descendant of William Fairbanks is closely related to a couple of project participants who are proven descendants of the Jonathan Fairbanks line out of Dedham, Massachusetts. Further research is needed to find a paper trail to document the connection between the William Fairbanks who died in Guilford County, North Carolina in August 1797 and Jonathan Fairbanks who died in Massachusetts 6 December 1668.