Glimpse into Made to Last Forever and Fairbanks House with Patriots from the Revolutionary War
Glimpse into Made to Last Forever
The Fairbanks House: the Old and Not so New
Have you been to the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts? It’s the oldest frame house still standing in North America. In 1961, it was named a National Historic Landmark (NHL). There are only about 2,600 NHL in this whole country. The Fairbanks House is one of them. Automatically, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Add a visit to the Fairbanks House in Dedham, MA, on your bucket list.
As I promised my followers, I’m giving you a glimpse at the book cover for Made to Last Forever: A Family. A House. A Nation. The thumbnail of this blog and the picture accompaning gives a glimpse of the painting that will be on the front cover of this historical novel about the Fairbanks Family. Around 1633, they left the turmoil of England in the early 1600s to risk sailing to the newly founded Massachusetts Bay Colony. The painting shows the house they built as it is today with additions on the left and right from the Revolutionary War era and the early 1800’s. The original house was only the central portion. The book depicts the original house through a conversation Jonathan Fairbanks had with one of the more likely builders of the house in 1637.
Lance Jonathan Fairbanks and his painting of the Fairbanks House that will be featured on “Made to Last Forever: A Family. A House. A Nation.
The artist for the cover is Lance Jonathan Fairbanks, a descendant of Jonas, the third son of Jonathan and Grace, and currently a member of the Fairbanks Family of the West. Lance is also a descendant of some nationally and internationally famous sculptors and painters. These Fairbanks Family members mentored Lance as he learned to paint. Lance will be our keynote speaker at the 123th National Fairbanks Family Reunion on July 11 and 12 in Dedham, MA. His topic is “New Horizons, New Frontiers, and The Fairbanks Fine Art Legacy.” Keep following to see the final cover. On the right side bar, you can sign up for the monthly newsletter and your chance to get early notifications on the book.
Building The Fairbanks House of 1637
To learn about the earlier English settlement homes (1620) of our country, go to Plimoth and Patuxet Museums in Plymouth, MA to see the replicas of some of the earliest English structures. Then go to the Fairbanks House and see an actual house built seventeen years later. Keep in mind, the Fairbanks House is larger than most homes at that time.
The Jonathan Fairbanks family was granted land in the town of Dedham, March 23, 1637. Jonathan had to be accepted by the proprietors unanimously, or he would have been turned away. When he received his land, he not only had to clear the land, but build and occupy his land by November 1, 1637, seven months later. He was also given village tasks; everyone was expected to help develop the town and the structures it needed (DTR, Volume III).
Jonathan and his three older sons, John, George, and Jonas along with their indentured servant, Samuel Bullen, about John’s age, had to clear some of the 12 acre lot they were given before starting a house. Jonathan had above common means when he had this house built. He didn’t build it himself. Most houses of the time in the new Massachusetts Bay Colony were at most two rooms with one hearth. Jonathan commissioned a brick layer to build a 40,000 brick chimney with three hearths. One in the hall (kitchen) and one in the parlor which was Jonathan and Grace’s bedroom and the room where they would entertain guests. There was another hearth in the parlor chamber (room above the parlor) which was the children’s bedroom. These were very lucky children of that era. There were a total of 4 rooms with a hall chamber above the hall (kitchen) that didn’t have a hearth. It was possibly used for a winter work area and cold storage..
The original house was 36 X 16 1/2 feet. From the original structure it was found that there were six windows in the front of the house. One horizontally positioned window in each room and one square window at the top right of the original door which has been moved a bit and another square window above it on the second floor. At some time, the windows in the front of the house were made from 4x4 inch diamond panes set in lead cames in sashes. The panes were likely shipped from England.
The earliest roof might have been thatch. Thatch was plentiful and easy to prepare for roofing. The roof was very peaked so snow would not be heavy on it or melt through the thatch. Probably soon after, the thatch would have been replaced by wooden shingles.
At first, Dedham didn’t allow clapboards, the long overlapping board on the sides of the house exterior. England was smarting from deforestation. The men of Dedham didn’t want that to happen to their new land. However, in the 1600s, it was the “Little Ice Age.” New England didn’t had limestone for durable plaster, so the clay mixture New Englanders used for insulation eroded out due to weather. Soon, clapboards were allowed to protect the insulation.
The original house, appeared as a near rectangular two story building built on a foundation of stone with a central chimney, six windows, a thatch roof and clapboards. There were not windows in back of the house to protect from the cold and soon a lean to and a sloped roof was added to the back to protect the north of the house from the severe weather.
How did the house get so large? Through the eight generations that lived in the house, the families grew, sometimes housing at least two generations. Around the time of the Revolutionary War the east wing was added. It appears to be a house from a different location that was moved and added to the east side of the original Fairbanks House. Sometime in the early 1800s, another portion was added to the west side of the original Fairbanks House. Other small structural changes were made to accommodate the needs of the family.
From a picture of the entire Fairbanks House, it is easy to discern the central original house with its steep peaked roof. The cover of Made to Last Forever will show the Fairbanks House as it is today, not as it was in the 1600s. I wanted you to have a souvenir of the house when you get the book. You will know what part is the original house. One chapter of Made to Last Forever describes the building of the house in more detail. Jonathan had only seven months to clear the land, find and commission the chimney built, and find and commission the house built. Finding skilled craftsmen wasn’t easy as Boston and all the budding towns of MBC were building at that time. Not only did the Fairbanks build a house, they built one that appears to “Last Forever.” It is 387 years old this year.
The Fairbanks Revolutionary Patriot Project
The Patriots of the Fairbanks Family of the West Group (Utah)
Deacon Joseph Fairbanks IV (#27 LSF)
Lineage:
Jonathan I, Jonas II, Jabez III,
Deacon Joseph Fairbanks (1693-1772) was the first child of Jabez and his first wife Mary (Houghton) Wilder. He was born in Lancaster, MA. and died in the spin off town of Lancaster, called Harvard. Joseph was 79 years old when he died, four years prior to the first shots fired of the Revolutionary War. He, like others, didn’t fight with weapons but with his words and deeds prior to the military battles.
On page 67 of Fairbanks Family in America 1633-1897, Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks writes that Deacon Joseph was “prominently identified with the stirring events that preceded the Revolutionary War.” He was a leading man in committees in his town to stand for the colonies’ rights and liberties in face of the British Parliaments rulings. It appears he may also have been on the committee from his area as the one from Dedham that wrote their thoughts about how the country should be ordered should they remove from England.
Deacon Joseph Fairbanks #A038408 is designated Senior in the Daughters of the American Revolution database. He is listed there as a Captain using the resources: MA SOLS & SAILS, VOL 5, P 465; NOURSE, HIST OF THE TOWN OF HARVARD, P 324. His patriotic services are the same as above.
Deacon Joseph and Mary (Brown) Fairbanks had 10 children. Three of these died young. However, their third son, Joseph, designated as V by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks, was in the Revolutionary War. He was elected to the Harvard (town) Committee of Correspondence in March of 1776, then lead troops as a Captain in the Massachusetts “Provincial Regiment of Foot of Alarm” under Col. Asa Whitcome. They marched to Cambridge, April 19, 1775. Captain Joseph lead the first company attached to the Second Worcester Regiment in the militia organization of the state at the Massachusetts at the close of the war (LSF, page 105).
Joseph Fairbanks Jr.
Joseph Jr. (1722-1802) is listed as #67, on page 104 of LSF. He was elected to the Harvard (town) Committee of Correspondence in March of 1776. Later, he lead troops as a Captain in the Massachusetts “Provincial Regiment of Foot of Alarm” under Col Asa Whitcome. They marched to Cambridge, April 19, 1775. Captain Joseph lead the first company attached to the Second Wrocester Regimnet in the militia organization of the Massachusetts at the close of the war (LSF, page 105).
The DAR lists this Joseph as Joseph Junior, #A038410. He is ranked as a Private under first Captains Fletcher and Wilder. Secondly, he is listed under Colonels Doolittle and Sparhawk.
Captain Joseph had 11 children by his first two wives, Mary Willard and Abigail Tarbell. There were no children listed with his third wife, Mrs. Mary Willard (no to be confused with the first wife). Two of the eleven children died early (LSF, page 105).
Joseph Jr. (1743-1784 ) ( Joseph VI, #159, page 199, LSF), Captain Joseph’s first son, followed his father and grandfather as a Revolutionary War soldier. He marched as a minute man to the Lexington Alarm in 1775 and the Bennington Alarm in 1777.
The Bennington Alarms were sounded in Vermont as British soldiers under General Burgoyne attempted to take much needed supplies from Bennington, Vermont. The battle became brutal with the use of the weapons of the Revolutionary War: guns, bayonets, the butt of the rifles, sabres, and pikes. The Patriots won the bloody battle with a loss of 70 men compared to the 200 dead and 700 prisoners or missing of the combined British, German, Loyalists, and Natives. Two month’s later General Burgoyne’s troops were defeated at the Battle of Saratoga (American Battlefield Trust).
Joseph, also known as Junior, is considered both from Harvard and Templeton. He married Asenath Osgood in 1766. They had six children. Joseph and Asenath’s only son and fifth child, Joseph (1778-1847) (#384, LSF,page 393) , and his wife, Polly Brooks are the couple who were the forbearers of the Fairbanks Family of the West group of Utah.
Summary
Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks and their six children who came to early Massachusetts Bay Colony and built the house known as the oldest frame house in North America became the predecessors of a legacy of men and women who fought for and developed this nation into what it is today. The family started with the marriage of Jonathan and Grace in 1617, 408 years ago. The house was built in 1637, 387 years ago. The family endured through hardships and wars, contributing to this country. The Revolutionary War was 249 year ago. The 2025, 125th Fairbanks Reunion will be held on July 11 and 12th at the original house. Come see the house that Lance Fairbanks painted for the front of the book to be published Made to Last Forever: A Family. A House. A Nation. You’ll also hear about this line of the family and their artistry they have given to this nation’s history. The family, the house, and the nation seems as if they were built to last forever.
