Jonas Fairbanks

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: Slain with son in King Phillip's War by indians.

Notes:

FAIRBANK. Jonathan Fairbanks or Fairbank, immigrant ancestor, was born in England before 1600, and came to Boston with his family in 1633. He remained there about three years, then settled in Dedham, where he was pioneer, and a signer of the Dedham convenant. His house is still standing in Dedham, and is now owned by the family association, having been occupied to the present time by Jonathan and his lineal descendants. He was a town officer, and died December 5, 1668. He married Grace Lee, who died December 28, 1673. Children: 1. John. 2. George. 3. Mary. 4. Susan. 5. Jonas, mentioned below. 6. Jonathan.

(II) Jonas, son of Jonathan Fairbanks, was born in England and came to Dedham with his parents. He signed the covenant in 1657, and March 7, 1659, became one of the fathers of the town. He was a farmer and believed to be a carpenter also. In 16752 he was fined for wearing great boots, not being worth two hundred pounds, the amount of wealth prescribed by the laws of the colony, in 1651 to suffice for men who could lawfully wear great boots. He removed to Lancaster in 1657. There he met his death in the assault by King Philip and fifteen hundred warriors, February 10, 1675, 76. Some fifty persons were slain that day, including Joshua Fairbanks, son of Jonas. Jonas Fairbanks married, May 28, 1658, Lydia Prescott, born in Watertown, August 15, 1641, daughter of John Prescott, who came from Sowerby, Halifax, England, the English home of the Fairbanks family. she married (second) Ellis Barron, of Watertown, Groton and Lancaster. Children: 1. Marie. 2. Joshua. 3. Grace. 4. Jonathan. 5. Hazadiah. 6. Jabez, mentioned below. 7. Jonas.

(III) Captain Jabez, son of Jonas Fairbanks, was born at Lancaster, January 8, 1670-71, and settled there after the war. He died March 2, 1758. 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 little son Joseph. Twenty-one persons were killed 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 Fairbanks had land granted him on both sides of the brook above Thomas Sawyer's sawmill. 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 (first) Mary wilder, who died February 21, 1718, in her forty-third years, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Houghton) Wilder. He married (second) March 25, 1719, Elizabeth Whitcomb, who died May 11, 1755, aged about eighty years. Children of first wife: 1. Joseph. 2. Jabez. 3. Elizabeth. 4. Jonas. 5. Thomas, mentioned below. 6. Abigail. 7. Jonathan. 8. Grace. 9. Joshua. 10. Anna.

(IV) Deacon Thomas, son of Captain Jabez Fairbanks, was baptized in Lancaster in 1708, died February 10, 1791. He was sentinel in Captain Josiah Willard's company in the Indian War, June 3, to November 10, 1725. He was also a soldier in Captain Ephraim Wilder's company, Colonel Sam-

Jonas married Lydia Prescott on 28 May 1658 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Lydia (daughter of John Prescott, Sr and Mary Gawkroger) was born on 15 Aug 1641 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; died on 31 Dec 1723 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 1V8C-WS

Notes:

An Old Family Burial Site...
"A Tombstone, surrounded by wild strawberry plants, embedded in the soil of the country town of Lancaster, Massachusetts bears mute testimony of facts. The rough slate is boldly cut with the following inscription:
JONATHAN-FAIR BANKS-AND-HIS DAUGHTER-GRACE FAIRBANKS For two hundred and ninety-nine years this stone has weathered the elements to maintain the memory of a tragic event that cut short the lives of Jonathan and Grace. Two nearby stones, carved by the same hand, record the fateful September of 1697 when twenty-seven towns folk were massacred by Indians. Killed in that raid was the town's minister, the Rev. John Whiting. The Jonathan buried in Lancaster surely was not that earlier Jonathan (deceased 1668) whose Dedham home is preserved by the family Association. No, the identity of Jonathan of Lancaster is documented in the monumental book by Lorenzo Sales Fairbanks, Genealogy pp. 49-50. Lorenzo Sales explains that the Jonathan who met his untimely death in Lancaster was the son of Jonas, the third son of the original Jonathan of Dedham. Jonas had moved to western Massachusetts as one of the original settlers of Lancaster in 1657. He was a founding father of that town. Although a carpenter and a farmer, he had a sense of style and self-worth that exceeded his monetary position in society. Even before moving to the frontier of the seventeenth century he was, in 1652, fined a few shillings for violating the sumptuary laws (passed the year before) by wearing great boots before his estate amounted to more than 200 pounds. Jonas married Lydia Prescott of Watertown who bore him seven children. The fourth was Jonathan (b. 7/8/1666). Within ten years, Jonas was dead - having perished in an Indian attack on Lancaster on Feb. 10, 1676. That raid also took away the life of Jonathan's older brother Joshua, who was at the time fifteen years of age. It is not surprising therefore that when Jonathan matured he became a soldier, and was one of the first to venture on long expeditions into the wilderness. He shared in the ill-fated expedition against Quebec in 1690 with Sir William Phips. On Aug 24 1688 he married Mary Hayward of Concord. She gave him three children: Hannah, (d 1704), Grace (d 1697), and Mary (d 1745) Grace was about seven when she perished in the Indian raid of 1697 that killed so many inhabitants of Lancaster, including her father and his younger brother Jonas (b. 1673). Jonathan's wife was carried away with six other Lancastrians as captives, like Mary Rowlandson who had been taken in the l676 raid and wrote a famous account of her captivity and return. All captives from Lancaster but one were redeemed by government intervention and returned to their remaining family members a year later. During the raid of 1697, another brother of Jonathan s, Jabez, saved many Lancastrians in a garrison, or fortified house. He later became a notable soldier commissioned by Governor Dummer, employed as a Captain for long distance travel and scouting throughout the 1720's. "

Died:
Massacred with two children by indians.

Jonathan married Mary Hayward on 24 Aug 1688 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. Mary (daughter of Joseph Hayward and Hannah Hosmer) was born on 21 Sep 1667 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; died on 5 Jan 1734 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 22JL-7L8

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.

Jabez married Mary Wilder in 1691 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Mary (daughter of Thomas Wilder and Mary Wheeler) was born on 21 Feb 1676 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; died on 21 Feb 1718 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jabez married Elizabeth Whitcomb on 25 Mar 1719 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Elizabeth was born in 1674 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; died on 11 May 1755 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Ephraim Brown on 9 Feb 1719 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Ephraim (son of Boaz Brown and Mary Richards) was born in 1697 in Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; died on 4 Jan 1756 in Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Deliverance Brown on 24 Dec 1718 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Deliverance (son of Boaz Brown and Abiel Abigail Parmenter) was born on 4 Oct 1692 in Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; died in 1744 in Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Willard. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Brown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Butler. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Joshua Warner. Joshua (son of Samuel Warner and Hannah Cady) was born in Apr 1719 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; died on 2 Oct 1756 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Silas married Judith Marble on 25 Feb 1744. Judith (daughter of John Marble and Abigail Merriam) was born about 1702 in , Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
aka: Oron Brown

Aaron married Rachel Reed on 3 Oct 1746 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Rachel (daughter of Daniel Reed (Read) and Elizabeth Ide) was born on 10 Jun 1728 in Westmoreland, Cheshire, New Hampshire, USA; died in 1758 in , , New Hampshire, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Aaron married Sarah Fails on 19 Feb 1761 in Littleton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. Sarah was born in 1735 in , , Massachusetts, USA; died on 28 Jan 1817 in , , Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Silas Wetherbee. Silas (son of David Wetherbee and Mercy Brown) was born in Jan 1727 in Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; died on 3 Apr 1811 in Boxborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lydia Wetherbee. Lydia (daughter of David Wetherbee and Mercy Brown) was born in 1734 in Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; died on 13 Apr 1758. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ephraim married Abigail Thomson on 23 Dec 1758. Abigail and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]