Jabez Fairbanks^[1]

1670 - 1758  (87 years)

• Name	Jabez Fairbanks  [2, 3]
  Birth	11 Aug 1670	Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA   [3]
  Gender	Male
  Death	2 Mar 1758	Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA   [3]
  Person ID	I1573	Master
  Last Modified	13 Nov 2021

  
  

  Father	Jonas Fairbanks,   b. 8 Mar 1625, Sowerby, Yorkshire, England d. 10 Feb 1676, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 50 years)
  Mother	Lydia Prescott,   b. 15 Aug 1641, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA d. 31 Dec 1723, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 82 years)
  Marriage	28 May 1658	Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA   [4, 5]
  Family ID	F46	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Mary Wilder,   b. 21 Feb 1676, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 21 Feb 1718, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 42 years)
  Marriage	1691	Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
  Children	+ 1. Joseph Fairbanks,   b. 1693, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 6 Dec 1772, Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 79 years) + 2. Elizabeth Fairbanks,   b. 1696, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 6 Dec 1772, Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 76 years)   3. Jabez Fairbanks, Jr,   b. 1698, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 1782, Bolton, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 84 years)   4. Jonas Fairbanks,   b. 1703, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 4 Nov 1792, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 89 years)   5. Deacon Thomas Fairbanks,   b. 29 Aug 1707, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 10 Feb 1791, Sterling, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 83 years)   6. Abigail Fairbanks,   b. 1708, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 1748, Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 40 years)   7. Jonathan Fairbanks,   b. 18 Jun 1710, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 1798, Sterling, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 87 years)   8. Grace Fairbanks,   b. 22 Feb 1712, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 14 Feb 1801, Hamilton, Essex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 88 years)   9. Joshua Fairbank,   b. 28 Mar 1714, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 25 Nov 1769, , , Massachusetts, USA (Age 55 years)   10. Annah Amenda Fairbanks,   b. 18 Nov 1716, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 25 Sep 1789, , , Massachusetts, USA (Age 72 years)
  Family ID	F1691	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	14 Nov 2021

  
  

  Family 2	Elizabeth Whitcomb,   b. 1674, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA d. 11 May 1755, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Age 81 years)
  Marriage	25 Mar 1719	Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA   [3]
  Children	1. Sarah Fairbanks,   b. 29 May 1720, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
  Family ID	F9965	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 Nov 2021

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 11 Aug 1670 - Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Marriage - 1691 - Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Marriage - 25 Mar 1719 - Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Death - 2 Mar 1758 - Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  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, see forward; 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. 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.

  
  

• Sources

  [S761] Yates Publishing, Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Tree. [S23] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (R), (Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998). http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=5532189&pid=-1441228151http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=7073538&pid=-1169381827 [S1133] Ancestry.com, North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.). [S1133] Ancestry.com, North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), Book Title: Genealogy of the Fairbanks family in America, 1633-1897. [S338] Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.).