A Visit to The Fairbanks House

The Fairbanks house is located at 511 East Street, Dedham, Massachusetts.  It was about an hour and twenty minutes from Manchester, New Hampshire, and located just outside of Boston.  The website has driving directions, and directions for anyone arriving by public transportation (bus or the commuter train).  This building is the oldest known wooden structure in North America, and was built by my ancestor Jonathan Fairbanks sometime between 1637 and 1641.  Jonathan, his wife Grace, and six children arrived from England in 1633, and lived in this house, which was passed down through the family for eight generations!  

1630       1930

FAIRBANKS HOUSE

Oldest house in Dedham.

Part of it built about 1636. Home-

stead of Jonathan Fairbanks

who, with his sons, John, George,

and Jonathan, Junior.  Signed

the Dedham Covenant September

10, 1636.  Ancestral home of the

late vice-president Fairbanks

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Massachusetts Bay Colony                

                       Tercentenary Commission

Although the 1930 sign and the chimney say that the house was built in 1636, dendrochronology tests show that the oldest wood in the house was from a tree felled in 1637.   Over the years many additions and rooms were added to this house.  The last changes were added in 1820, when the family fell unto hard times.  After this time period no modern conveniences were ever added to this house, so the building remains trapped in time.  There were never any plumbing, heat or electricity added to the building.  When you visit, you see the house as it was when the Fairbanks family lived here. 

The Fairbanks house remained in the Fairbanks family until it was the home of Rebecca Fairbanks (1827 - 1908), the unmarried 6th great granddaughter of Jonathan and Grace (Smith) Fairbanks.  The building became a museum in 1904, operated by the Fairbanks Family in America, a family association.  It is open for tours from May to October.   The family association still has an annual reunion, and this year it will held on Saturday August 11th.  See the website (below) for more information on the family association. 

FAIRBANKS HOUSE

Built 1636 by

JONATHAN FAIRBANKS

Here lived eight generations

to preserve and perpetuate this historic spot

The Fairbanks Family Association

acquired the property in 1903

Tablet placed by

Massachusetts Society Daughters of the American Colonists

1941

During our tour of the Fairbanks House the curator took apart this model, and rebuilt it as he showed how each generation added additions and rooms onto the original homestead.  

Jonathan Fairbanks came from Yorkshire, where he was built spinning wheels for his living. When he arrived in New England, he was the only settler for many miles who knew this skill.  As a result, he became very wealthy, since the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony needed spinning wheels to produce their own clothing, rugs, blankets and other textiles.

The kitchen of the Fairbanks House

My Fairbanks genealogy:

Generation 1:  Jonathan Fairbanks, son of John Fairbanks and Isabella Staincliffe, born about 1594 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, died 5 December 1668 in Dedham, Massachusetts; married on 20 May 1617 in Halifax to Grace Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith and Grace Gawkroger.  She was born 6 January 1600 in Warley, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire and died 28 November 1673 in Dedham.  Six children.

Generation 2: Jonas Fairbanks, born 6 March 1624/5 Sowerby, Halifax, and died 10 February 1676 in Lancaster, Massachusetts when he was killed during an Indian massacre; married on 28 May 1658 in Lancaster to Lydia Prescott, daughter of John Prescott and Mary Gawkroger.  She was born 15 August 1641 in Watertown, Massachusetts and died 31 December 1723 in Watertown.  She married second to Elias Barron.  Six Fairbanks children.

Generation 3:  Grace Fairbanks, born 15 September 1663 in Lancaster, died 11 August 1689 in Sherborn, Massachusetts; married about 1680 to Ephraim Bullen, son of Samuel Bullen and Mary Morse.  He was born 18 July 1653 in Sherborn and died 1690 in Sherborn.  Four children.

Generation 4:  John Bullen m. Sarah Underwood

Generation 5:  Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healy

Generation 6:  Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen

Generation 7:  Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 8:  Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 9:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 10:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 11:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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The genealogy of the Fairbanks family members who lived in this house:

Generation 1:  Jonathan Fairbanks (about 1595 - 1668) and Grace Smith
Generation 2:  John Fairbanks (1618 - 1684) and his wife Sarah
Generation 3:  Joseph Fairbanks (1656 - 1734) and his wife Dorcas
Generation 4:  Joseph Fairbanks (1687 - 1753) and his wife Abigail
Generation 5:  Joseph Fairbanks (1717 - 1794) and his wife Frances, and his younger brother Ebenezer Fairbanks (1732- 1812) lived here with his wife Prudence.
Generation 6:  Ebenezer Fairbanks, Jr. (1758 - 1832) and his wife Mary
Generation 7:  Prudence (1781 - 1871), Sally (1790 - 1877), and Nancy (1794 - 1879) - three unmarried daughters of Ebenezer, Jr. left the house to an unmarried neice-
Generation 8:  Rebecca Fairbanks (1827 - 1908)

This painting "Old Fairbanks House, Dedham, Massachusetts", by Childe Hassam (1859 -1935) is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.  It is on display in the Lorraine and Alan Bressler Gallery (Gallery 222).    The artist is related to my mother through her LEACH, CHOATE and ALLEN lineages.  The artist was born Frederick Childe Hassam, son of Frederick Fitch Hassam and Rose Delia Hathorne.  

For the truly curious:

The Fairbanks House website (including the Fairbanks Family Association):     https://fairbankshouse.org/ 

The Fairbanks House Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/The-Fairbanks-House-129954507016357/ 

The Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America, 1633 - 1897, by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks,  1897.

The Fairbanks House: A History of the Oldest Timber-Frame Building in New England, by Abbott Lowell Cummings, published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002.

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Visit to The Fairbanks House", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 6, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-visit-to-fairbanks-house.html: accessed [accesss date]).

The Will Says "All Other Family Portraits to be Destroyed"

From the Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), Saturday, November 16, 1940, "Many Public Bequests Made in Will of Salem Woman", page 15

"Many Public Bequests Made in Will of Salem Woman

Salem, Nov. 15 - Many public bequests were included in the will of Miss Eleanor Hassam of Salem, filed in Essex probate court today and disposing of an estate of approximately $500, 000.  Miss Hassam, member of one of Salem's oldest families, died Nov. 9 at the age of 71.
        She left $20,000 to Harvard University for a scholarship in memory of her father, John Tyler Hassam, of the Harvard class of 1863.  Another gift was $25,000 to the First Congregational Society of Salem.
        Other bequests were [made]....
         ....The will bequeathed her antique furniture, jewelry, certain portraits, silhouettes and a picture, "Prodigal Son", to Essex Institute, and provided that all other family portraits be destroyed.  The document, drawn Feb. 4, 1930, left the residue to Essex Institute and Salem Hospital.
         Five cousins, Elizabeth S. Osgood, Henry Osgood and Charles S. Osgood of Salem, Robert W. Osgood of Swampscott, and Edward H. Osgood of Wenham were named as next of kin.  William D. Chapple of Salem was named Executor."


Eleanor Hassam was born 20 March 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts and died 9 November 1940 in Salem, Massachusetts, daughter of John Tyler Hassam and Nelly Alden Batchelder.  She was unmarried and had no children nor any siblings.   In the 1940 US Census of Salem, Massachusetts she was living in the Hotel Hawthorne in Washington Square.  Eleanor Hassam was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery with her parents.

Her father, John Tyler Hassam (1841 - 1903), was a Boston lawyer and also was the author of genealogies of the CHEEVER, HASSAM and HILTON families.  He was born in Manchester, Massachusetts, and was closely related to my mother on her LEACH, CHOATE and ALLEN lineages.  The accomplished painter, Childe Hassam (1859 - 1935) (born Frederick Childe Hassam, son of Frederick Fitch Hassam and Rose Delia Hathorne) is part of this same family.  

John Tyler Hassam published the Suffolk Deeds, and indexed the records at the Suffolk County registry of deeds.   His genealogical papers are held by the Massachusetts Historical Society under call number Ms N-1373.   He also wrote the useful book The Confiscated Estates of Boston Loyalists in 1895, and many other books.  The 1904 NEHGS Register has a four page obituary of John Tyler Hassam and his genealogical contributions.

I found this obituary for Eleanor Hassam when I was researching a cousin, Charles Stuart Osgood (1872 - 1956) and his family.  He was a first cousin to Andrew Nichols (1862 - 1861) who married my great aunt Mary Ann Bill (about 1861 - 1910).  Charlie Osgood was always good to my father's family during the great depression. My father remembered him as a rich relative who bought him and his brothers a fine Lionel train set one Christmas, delivered by a chauffeur.

And isn't it sad that Eleanor Hassam wanted the family portraits to be destroyed?  I wonder what else she didn't want passed on to family members or anyone else?   The Hassam Family Papers (1802 - 1929) are kept at the Peabody Essex Museum under the call number MS 452, and are held in 9 boxes.

Click here to see a paisley shawl donated by Eleanor Hassam to The Center for the Study of Clothing, Costume, Fashion and Culture at the Five Colleges Historic Dress Project in Northampton, Massachusetts.  This shawl had been worn by her Hilton great - grandmother circa 1820 - 1825  http://historicdress.org/omeka/items/show/278 

Isn't it amazing how much family history can be gleaned from one newspaper article?

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To Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Will Says "All Other Family Portraits to be Destroyed", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 20, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-will-says-all-other-family.html : accessed [access date]).