Erastus Fairbanks

Erastus Fairbanks
Erastus Fairbanks
21st Governor of Vermont
In office October 1852 – October 1853
Lieutenant	William C. Kittredge
Preceded by	Charles K. Williams
Succeeded by	John S. Robinson
26th Governor of Vermont
In office October 12, 1860 – October 11, 1861
Lieutenant	Levi Underwood
Preceded by	Hiland Hall
Succeeded by	Frederick Holbrook
Member of the Vermont House of Representatives
In office 1836-1838
Personal details
Born	(1792-10-28)October 28, 1792 Brimfield, Massachusetts
Died	November 20, 1864(1864-11-20) (aged 72) St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Political party	Whig
Spouse	Lois Crossman
Children	Horace Fairbanks, Franklin Fairbanks
Profession	manufacturer / politician

Erastus Fairbanks (October 28, 1792 – November 20, 1864) was an American manufacturer, Whig politician, a founder of the Republican Party, and the 21st and 26th Governor of Vermont.

Biography

Fairbanks was born in Brimfield, Massachusetts to Phebe (Paddock) Fairbanks (1760-1853) and Joseph Fairbanks (1763–1846). Ephraim Paddock, the brother of Phebe Paddock, was his uncle. He studied law but abandoned it for mercantile pursuits, and operated a store in Wheelock, Vermont. He married Lois Crossman (1792 - 1866) on May 30, 1815. The couple had eight children.

Career

Marble bust of Fairbanks on display at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Finally settling in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, in 1824, Fairbanks formed a partnership, E. & T. Fairbanks & Co., with his brother Thaddeus for the manufacture of scales, stoves and plows. Thaddeus Fairbanks later invented the first platform scale, which made it possible to calculate the weight of farm products and other goods shipped by wagon and railroad car; the device proved so successful that the renamed Fairbanks Scales company became the largest employer in the state.

Fairbanks was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1836 to 1838. He was President of the Passumpsic Railroad, which completed a line from White River to St. Johnsbury in 1850. He was a Presidential Elector for Vermont in 1844 and 1848.

Fairbanks was elected the 21st Governor of Vermont in 1851 and served from 1852 to 1853. During this term, a law was passed forbidding the sale or traffic of intoxicating beverages. The law was not repealed until 1902.

Fairbanks was one of the founders of the Republican Party, and a delegate from Vermont to the first Republican National Convention in 1856. He was 26th Governor of Vermont from 1860 to 1861. During his second term he rendered valuable aid in the equipment and dispatch of troops in the early days of the American Civil War.

Family life

With his brothers Thaddeus and Joseph P., he founded St. Johnsbury Academy. He was the father of Horace Fairbanks and Franklin Fairbanks.

Death

Fairbanks was a Congregationalist. He died in St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont, on November 20, 1864 (age 72 years, 23 days). He is interred at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Further reading

• Fairbanks, Lorenzo Sayles, Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America 1633–1897, Boston, 1897.
• Inventory of the Erastus Fairbanks Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library

External links

• Ancestry.com
• Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont
• The Political Graveyard
• National Governors Association
• Erastus Fairbanks at Find a Grave

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fairbanks, Erastus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 130.