Historical Overview of the
Fairbanks Family in the West
Coming to America
The first ancestors of Joseph Fairbanks in America were Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks, who came to this country from England seeking religious freedom. Some sources say that they came from Sowerby, West Riding, Yorkshire, England to Boston in 1633 in the "Griffin."
Jonathan and his wife, Grace, first settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1636 they moved to Dedham, Massachusetts, where they built a home from frame lumber which he had had shipped from England. This home still stands today and is regarded as the oldest frame home in America.
Joseph's great grandfather, Deacon Joseph Fairbanks, was instrumental in forming the first church of Lancaster in 1733. His father, also named Joseph Fairbanks, was a Revolutionary soldier. He enlisted when he was fifteen years of age. He was also a Minuteman who answered the Lexington alarm in 1775 and the Bennington alarm in 1777.
Read a story about how a 375+-year-old trunk was returned to the Fairbanks House in Dedham, by Jonathan L. Fairbanks (in PDF format).
Joseph and Polly (Brooks) Fairbanks - Early Years - 1803-1843
Joseph Fairbanks was born in Templeton, Massachusetts, on October 15, 1778, the only son of six children from Joseph and Asenath Osgood Fairbanks. Joseph by trade was a stone mason and contractor which required him to travel often. He married Mary (Polly) Brooks, daughter of David and Patience White Brooks, on October 3, 1803. Shortly after their marriage, they took up residence in Peru, Bennington County, Vermont, where seven children were born. Next they moved to Sandy Hill, Warren County, New York, where five more children were born. In the spring of 1826 they moved to Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey, where their last child, Henry, was born. In 1830 they moved to Meads Basin, now known as Mountain View, Bergen County, New Jersey, where Joseph contracted the Morris Canal, which is still in use today.
Polly was described as a large, strong woman who was thrifty and not afraid to work. She was a very capable homemaker and housekeeper. Everything in and around her home was in order, neat and clean. Polly taught her children to work and trained them that whatever they did in life, they must do well. Harriet, one of her daughters, knitted all of her own stockings when she was but six years old. Joseph hired many men to help him in his profession, and often Polly would cook for them. It was reported that Polly made into bread as much as one barrel of flour (two hundred pounds) in a single day.
Meeting the Missionaries
 It was in Mountain View, New Jersey, where Joseph Fairbanks first heard the Mormon missionaries preach. Joseph was so impressed with the doctrine that he invited Elders John Leach and Curtis E. Bolton to his home so that his family could hear them. Joseph's daughter-in-law, Susan Mandeville Fairbanks, was reluctant to attend. She was shocked that Joseph would invite the Mormons, about whom she had heard only ridicule and unfavorable reports. Although she vacillated about whether or not to go to the meeting, her esteem for her father-in-law convinced her to attend. Just before the appointed meeting, Susan told Joseph that she was afraid Mary Jane, her two-year-old daughter, might disturb the meeting, and she took her upstairs in order to keep her quiet.
While the meeting was underway, the baby fell asleep. The door leading into the hall was open, so Susan could plainly hear the voice of the first speaker. His message strongly attracted her attention, so she took her knitting and went to the top of the stairway. She sat on the top step with a ball of yarn on her lap. Eager to catch every word, she leaned forward. The ball of yarn rolled from her lap, down the stairs, and underneath an available chair in the room where the Elders were seated. Her own words were, "I would not be found eavesdropping, so I followed the ball down and listened." She later became the first of that group to join the new church.
Within a year Joseph and Mary (Polly) Fairbanks had joined the church, along with their children, including Susan's husband David, John Boylston, Harriet, Nathaniel, and Henry. David later recounted, "That was the sweet morsel I was waiting for."
Joseph and his family, like many other converts, prepared to move to Nauvoo, Illinois, which had become a gathering place for church members. In preparation for Nauvoo, Harriet worked in New York City where she met and married Dr. Hendrick (Henry) John Doremus on May 12, 1844. That same year, while attending church meetings, John Boylston Fairbanks became acquainted with the family of Halmagh Van Wagoner. Halmagh's youngest daughter, Sarah, one day reportedly saw John walking down the road and said, "That's the man I'm going to marry!"
That evening John and Sarah met at a cottage meeting in his parent's home. Thus began a romance culminating in their marriage on August 31, 1844. The same missionary, Elder John Leach, who had baptized the members of the family, also performed the wedding ceremony.
Nauvoo, Illinois
In the spring of 1844, David, his wife Susan and family, along with David's two younger brothers, Nathaniel and Henry, journeyed seven weeks by wagon train to Nauvoo. They arrived on July 5, just shortly following the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. Joseph and Polly, their children John Boylston Fairbanks and Harriet Fairbanks Doremus, along with their spouses, left New York on September 27 and arrived in Nauvoo November 1, 1844.
Construction of the Nauvoo temple was paramount when the Fairbanks family arrived. Workmen tithed their labor, contributing one day in ten to the temple's construction, while women donated precious heirlooms and coins to fund the construction and provided food and clothing for the workers. Joseph by trade was a stone mason and contractor and had worked to build bridges, locks, docks, and canals. His sons had also learned the skills of his trade. Both Nathaniel and Henry Fairbanks worked as stone masons in or around Nauvoo. It was recorded that John Boylston Fairbanks labored on the Nauvoo temple as a stonecutter from 1844-1845.
Fully expecting to make a permanent abode in this new area, it was recorded that both David and John Boylston Fairbanks erected two beautiful brick homes. David purchased a farm of 160 acres four miles east of Nauvoo. However, persecution by mobs and anti-Mormons from Illinois and Missouri began to escalate. Following implied threats from the Governor, and at the insistence of neighboring communities, the Mormons agreed to start a migration west in the spring of 1846.
It had been less than two years since the Fairbanks family first arrived in Nauvoo, the temple was completed, and church members were forced to abandon the city. Before leaving, however, John Boylston and Sarah Van Wagoner Fairbanks received their own endowments in the Nauvoo temple and were sealed to each other two days later on January 23, 1846. They donated a wedding present, a hand-loomed carpet, given to them by Sarah's mother, to the temple. Dr. Hendrick (Henry) and Harriet Fairbanks Doremus were sealed in the temple on January 28, and on February 2, Henry Fairbanks received his own endowments.
Because of the mob threats to kill Brigham Young and other church leaders, the first group of church members left on February 4, 1846. Soon many wagons were backed up waiting to cross the Mississippi River. The Mississippi froze over a short time later allowing many wagons to cross over on a natural ice bridge. That exodus from Nauvoo continued in large masses until April.
The Fairbanks family joined these masses that winter and spring, leaving their homes and also many of their belongings behind. Two weeks prior to her departure from Nauvoo, David's wife Susan gave birth to a baby daughter. David left his property unsold but was well outfitted for the beginning of the journey. He left his plow in the furrow, but reserved a peck of wheat which he later planted in Utah, securing a return of about twelve bushels. From February to October 1846 the Mormons were scattered all across southern Iowa.
On to Winter Quarters, and the Mormon Battalion
Crossing Iowa was the first real experience the church had had in moving large groups of people, wagons, and animals. Because of weather and the general unpreparedness of many, the crossing of Iowa was difficult and unpleasant. Joseph Fairbanks, then 68 years old, was very feeble. The crude food rations of the camp not being palatable to him, he one day expressed a desire for some soup. He had no sooner uttered the wish than a fine plump bird alighted on his knee. He reached forth his hand, caught the bird, and in a short time it was converted into a bowl of nourishing soup, of which he partook with relish.
The Fairbanks Family traveled as far west as the Missouri River and made their first camp at "Winter Quarters," located on the Missouri River, six miles north of Omaha, Nebraska, the present site of Florence, Nebraska.
Shortly after the arrival of the first wagons at the Missouri River, Captain James Allen came to Brigham Young and asked for five hundred volunteers to join the United States Army in fighting the war with Mexico. David Fairbanks offered his services but was advised to remain and assist in caring for the needy.
On July 21, 1846, five hundred twenty-one volunteers left their families and began their march.
While the Mormon Battalion was stopped for outfitting at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on July 26, 1846, Henry Fairbanks, David's brother, enlisted. He served as a private in Company A. The Mormon Battalion would begin a march to San Diego, resulting in the longest sustained military march in US history. They would never fight a battle, but would make history by clearing roads to the West and helping to secure California as a US Territory. Some former members would eventually participate in the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill.
The Tragedy at Winter Quarters
Because of agonizing delays, suffering travelers, the weakened condition of their draft animals, the disrepair of the wagons and equipment, the unaffordable high prices for feed grain, rapidly depleting food supplies, and no prospects for better weather, the dream of reaching the Rocky Mountains that year was fading. While yet in Iowa, church leaders counseled together and deemed it wise to postpone their trek to the Rocky Mountains until the following spring. In September, an area near a proposed ferry site along the Missouri River was selected as a temporary settlement, and surveying was begun. By the end of the month a town of eight hundred and twenty lots had been laid out and some lots spoken for. Winter Quarters, as church leaders called the community, was brought into existence.
The camp was divided into wards. David was called to preside over the Third Ward. During the winter of 1846 and the spring of 1847, David was assigned to assist in providing sod-huts and log cabins for the families of the soldiers, the widows and orphans, and to help the sick and succor the destitute, of which there were almost endless numbers.
In his journal, David's brother, John Boylston Fairbanks, wrote that he spent his time building homes (some of which were log-faced dugouts on the banks of the Missouri River), making some household furniture such as benches, tables, chairs, beds, etc., hauling wood, obtaining hay and grain for their animals, repairing their wagons, and attending meetings. President Brigham Young told them to build well for others who were to follow.
The weeks at Winter Quarters passed into months. People had to fight against the ravages of winter. They were now on the frontier, and the lack of food along with the storms caused sickness and suffering. They had meat from their own herds, and corn, but milk was limited. Much-needed vegetables were diminishing. Wheat flour, too, was becoming scarce, and little could be bought.
The accounts of sickness at Winter Quarters were plentiful. The major causes of death were ascribed to starvation, a malaria-type disease (called by them as summer disease, fever and chills, or ague), tuberculosis (known to them as consumption), and scurvy (known to them as black leg or black canker.) Measles, pneumonia, and other diseases were also prevalent.
Owing to the poor diet, both Susan and Sarah, the wives of David and John Boylston Fairbanks, suffered with scurvy, or black leg, along with many others. It was reported that Sarah was bedfast for most of the winter with legs so swollen and painful that she could not stand. She received several blessings, but they seemed to bring no relief until Patriarch John Smith blessed her that her days would be prolonged upon the earth and that she would live to raise her children in the fear of the Lord. "She was patient in her sickness and grateful to the Lord for her blessings," records one descendant, and she gradually began to recover.
During that fateful winter at Winter Quarters, the very young and the very old died in great numbers, and the bishoprics were kept busy burying the dead. On December 4, 1847, two months after the death of Sarah's mother, Sarah's father Halmagh Van Wagoner, died. John Boylston Fairbanks wrote in his journal "Father Van Wagoner died. I helped to make his coffin." He was buried the next day. On February 28, 1847, Polly's husband, Joseph Fairbanks died. He had been in poor health during much of the journey west from Nauvoo. An estimated six hundred men, women, and children lost their lives at Winter Quarters.
Journey to Salt Lake Valley
The following spring of 1847, Brigham Young organized the Pioneer Company, an advance party, to travel with him to the Great Salt Lake Valley. The original idea for this Pioneer Company, also known as the Vanguard Company, was to handpick 144 men---twelve for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. As it turned out, the original group consisted of 143 men including three slaves of southern members, three women (wives of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Lorenzo D. Young), and two children.
Collectively this hand-picked group had a variety of pioneering talents and skills. They included mechanics, teamsters, hunters, frontiersmen, carpenters, sailors, soldiers, accountants, bricklayers, blacksmiths, wagon makers, lumbermen, joiners, dairymen, stockmen, millers, and engineers. Nathaniel, Polly's son, was chosen to join this Pioneer Company and was assigned to be the traveling companion of Aaron Farr. Together their outfit consisted of a mule team and wagon with farming utensils, seeds, and provisions for two persons.
Church leaders also wanted six hundred families prepared to follow Brigham Young's company to the Valley. Three church leaders came to David's cabin early one morning and asked him if he could prepare to leave. They discussed it while standing in the dooryard and David said, "How can I start with my wife so sick?" An apostle, Elder Willard Richards, laid his hand on David's shoulder and said, "Brother Fairbanks, I promise you in the name of Israel's God, that if you will go, your wife shall begin to mend the day you start." From her bed Susan heard this promise and called to David, "Then we will go." Thus the families of David, John Boylston, and Harriet, along with their widowed mother were among those of that group.
When David loaded his wagon, he made a bed on the top of the load for Susan. He placed a rocking chair beside the bed in case she should recover enough to use it. Elder Richards' promise was literally fulfilled. The first day's travel was very hard on her, but when camp was made, she fell into a deep sleep. When she awoke in the morning she felt better. Each day she improved a little, and she entered the Salt Lake Valley a well woman.
The families of David, John Boylston and Harriet, along with their widowed mother Polly Fairbanks, left Winter Quarters on June 17, 1847. Six hundred wagons organized into companies of tens, fifties, and one hundreds with captains at their heads started up the river. John was chosen captain of the third ten. Camp routine stressed order: a prearranged starting time in the morning and camping time at night, morning and evening prayers, observance of the Sabbath day, and regular meetings.
On their journey they were sometimes delayed by runaway cattle, Indians driving their cattle off, or wagons breaking down. When evening came, they would sit around the campfire and sing or visit. Many times they would dance to the music of a violin or some other instrument that had been brought along the trek. When they camped in a place where there was plenty of good, clean water, they would have a wash day. The women would get their tubs and washboards ready, and the men would help all they could in a good, general clean up.
An amusing incident happened to David Fairbanks as he traveled in Apostle John Taylor's company. "A strong wind blew for days, and Brother Taylor was in a position to get the dust. Our wagons traveled four abreast. After some days Brother Taylor asked permission to change sides, which was granted. The wind then changed and he got all the dust again. In the evening he asked permission to take his old place." At one point along the trail there was a stampede and a large number of stock were lost, yet the only animal of Bishop David Fairbanks' that ran off was the laziest one.
Nathaniel, traveling with the Vanguard or Pioneer Company, was universally known among his associates as a brave man and a great hunter. One day, while engaged in hunting, he heard some rustling in the brush. With rifle in hand, he crawled silently into the brush and soon spied a bear with two large cubs. He shot one of the cubs while the mother and the other cub escaped. In a short time Nathaniel surprised the company by dragging the dead cub into camp.
Nathaniel Fairbanks became the first Mormon emigrant en route to Utah to be bit by a rattlesnake. Nathaniel and several other pioneers had climbed into the bluffs above the Platte River and had come upon a large rattlesnake. They began teasing it "to make it mad." The snake bit Nathaniel on the back of his left leg. By the time Nathaniel returned to camp, he was suffering much with pain. He said he felt the effects of it all over his body, mentioning that three minutes after he was bit he felt a pricking in his lungs. His tongue was dry, his leg swollen, his vision dimmed, and he complained much of a pain in his stomach. After being treated with several remedies, including a corn meal mush poultice with dried leaves known as Indian tobacco, along with some alcohol and water, Nathaniel continued to suffer. He finally called upon some of the church leaders to give him a priesthood blessing. Heber C. Kimball, who helped administer to him, wrote, "I went over to his wagon, and with President Young and Elder Ezra T. Benson laid hands on him." Wilford Woodruff wrote that he "soon was better."
Nearing the Salt Lake Valley in early July, Nathaniel's companion, Aaron Farr, recorded, "We journeyed to the Green River (now in Wyoming), where we made rafts, and on the first three days of July we ferried over the river and on the 4th of July celebrated on the West Side."
On July 21, Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow of the Pioneer Company caught the first glimpse of the Salt Lake Valley and shouted for joy at the sight. After a twelve-mile ride into the Valley they returned to camp. Finally, on July 24, an ill Brigham Young raised up from his sick bed in a carriage, looked over the Salt Lake Valley below, and said, "This is the right place, drive on."
On the very first day in the valley, crops were planted and streams were diverted to irrigate, insuring that those coming behind would have food when they arrived. Brigham Young, the Twelve, and most of the Pioneer Company spent only thirty-three days in the Valley in 1847. Then they started back for Winter Quarters to prepare their families to come to the Valley the following year. Nathaniel started back with the company, but upon meeting the rest of his family en route, he returned with his family to the Valley again, arriving on October 6, 1847.
The First Years in Utah
John Boylston and Sarah Van Wagoner Fairbanks reported that their first home in the Salt Lake Valley was their covered wagon. They removed the wheels and the front end-gate and hung a piece of carpet to make an entrance for a door. Another piece of carpet covered the floor. In the rear of the wagon was a bed under which they stored their trunks. In the front was a small stove. One chair was the extent of their furniture, and yet Sarah reported that she never passed a happier winter than she did in this humble home. Fortunately, she said, it was a mild one. Before too long, they had a good log cabin to live in which was considerably more comfortable.
When Salt Lake City was laid out into wards, David was called to be the first bishop of the First Ward in Salt Lake, with John Boylston as the ward clerk. David was also elected as one of the first Justices of the Peace in Utah.
Harriet and her husband Henry Doremus built a two-story academy, the first of its kind in the Intermountain West, located on Second West Street. Henry Doremus taught the older students upstairs while Harriet taught the younger ones on the ground floor. Harriet not only taught school but kept boarders, made elegant quilts, kept a garden, and was an ardent church worker. For years she served as Relief Society Secretary in the Seventeenth Ward.
After Henry was discharged from the Mormon Battalion in Los Angeles, following his year's enlistment on July 16, 1847, he left California to rejoin his family who were in Salt Lake. A few years later, being somewhat discontented, Henry moved to Iowa (one source indicates Quincy, Illinois) where he married Rhoda Ann Davis and had five children. Henry later died in Kansas.
Nathaniel lived only a few short years in the Valley. In 1853, while driving a herd of cattle from the Salt Lake Valley to California, either with the intent to move as some accounts explain, or on a business venture, Nathaniel was accidentally thrown from a mule and drowned in a river near Sacramento.
Settling in Payson
In April of 1851, when the city bishops were advised to go out into the neighboring country and take up farms, David requested a release from his services as bishop so he could farm with his children. Brigham Young blessed him that he should never want for bread because of his loyalty and service to the great cause of truth.
That fall, the families of David and John Boylston Fairbanks, including their widowed mother, Polly, along with a few other families, moved south, intending to stop at American Fork, but continued on as far as Payson. Because of a water shortage, the first settlers in Payson deemed it inadvisable for them to stay. Following their advice, David and John Boylston Fairbanks settled three miles east of the city where there was a natural spring. They helped build a dam and a small fort and gave the place the name of Pond Town, today called Salem.
In the spring of 1852, with Indian troubles then threatening, David and John Boylston Fairbanks and their families returned to Payson. With the completion of a new dam constructed in Payson Canyon which conserved the spring run-off, water problems that had plagued the area were now solved and the families were invited to stay.
David and John Boylston Fairbanks built two identical adobe brick homes near each other. David had a room built on the back of his home for his mother Polly, and she lived there until her death on January 24, 1860, just a few weeks shy of her 80th birthday. She was buried in the Payson cemetery.
Both David and John Boylston Fairbanks served as members of the Payson City Council. David held the positions of city marshal, school trustee, and city counselor, and served in all these offices without pay. David also owned one of the largest and finest farms in Utah County. John Boylston Fairbanks was set apart as bishop of Payson. In addition, John Boylston Fairbanks became one of Payson's first merchants, owning shares in sawmills, grist mills, dairies, ZCMI stores, shoe shops, the Provo Woolen Mills, and such.
In Payson, the families of both David and John Boylston Fairbanks grew to be much loved by the Indians and the community. As bishop, John Boylston Fairbanks often gave the Indians flour, beef, and other commodities. To show their appreciation, the Indians would put their arms around him and pat him on the back and shoulders saying, "Good Bishop, Good Bishop." Some mornings, John and his wife Sarah would awaken to find Indians camped in the yard surrounding their home, waiting for John to get up and help them settle grievances.
David and Susan Fairbanks' oldest son, William, was also much loved by the Indians. The Indians called David "Weeams Monch," meaning William's father, and Susan was called "Weeams Peage," meaning William's mother. His family's friendly relationship with the Indians proved to be very fortunate. During a series of Indian raids in the middle 1850's, later dubbed the Walker War, it was learned that Indians had planned an ambush in Salt Creek Canyon to kill church leader George A. Smith who was in Nephi, Utah, preparing to return to Salt Lake City. David boldly made a forced ride to Nephi to warn him and was only spared by the Indians along his route through the influence of Ponewatt, a friendly Indian who persuaded the others not to fire, saying, "Weeams Monch, don't shoot!" David Fairbanks later returned to Salt Lake with George A. Smith under the protection of Ponewatt.
Both David and John Boylston Fairbanks often provided accommodations for church leaders as they passed through Payson on their travels. Susan and Sarah, the wives of David and John Boylston Fairbanks, were identified with years of dedicated service in the Relief Society in Payson. Susan spent time establishing Payson's silk industry and raising thirteen children. Sarah served as treasurer of the Relief Society and raised nine of her eleven children in Payson.
David and John Boylston Fairbanks served several missions. David served in the so-called "Muddy Mission." Both he and John Boylston Fairbanks served missions in the eastern part of the United States. John Boylston Fairbanks also served missions in the White Mountains of the eastern United States, and in Great Britain.
On September 3, 1873, upon his release from his two-year mission in Great Britain, John Boylston Fairbanks sailed from Liverpool, England, bound for New York, having 510 immigrating converts to his charge (291 were British and 219 were Scandinavian). Off the coast of Nova Scotia, they sailed too near Sable Island, a twenty-mile-long, one-mile-wide treeless, gently curving sandbar. The ship ran aground and was held fast for several hours. It sprang a leak which caused much confusion and concern among the passengers. Some came to John, helping to man the pumps, and asked him why he did not pray. He replied, "Now is the time to work!"
John Boylston Fairbanks calmly told the passengers not to fear, that the ship would not sink. Even the captain took courage upon hearing his remarks. John remembered the blessing he had been given before leaving on his mission which had promised that he would go in peace and return in safety. One of his sons recalled hearing his father say later that when they were finally able to resume their trip, he told those on board that "Now is the time to pray and thank the Lord for his great mercy upon us."
Safely arriving in New York on September 27, 1873, the ship was put into dry dock for repairs. The repairmen said that they could not understand how that ship ever finished its journey, it was so badly damaged. The explanation given was that there were so many Mormons on board it could not sink. Just four days later, John Boylston Fairbanks returned home to Payson.
John's sister, Harriet, and her husband Henry Doremus continued to live in Salt Lake and run their academy. Three children were born to them. One of the students from their academy, Willard Brigham Richards, the son of Apostle Willard Richards, eventually married their youngest daughter. Harriet and Henry moved for a short time to Payson and lived with Sarah Fairbanks during her husband's mission to the White Mountains.
Although those children of Joseph and Polly Fairbanks who remained in the East never did join the Mormon Church, the Fairbanks families in Salt Lake and Payson still kept in touch through letter writing. In a letter to his wife's non-Mormon family members in the East, David Fairbanks shared why he and his family were willing to suffer so much for their faith. He wrote:
"My dear friends, you must not think strange of me that I don't write oftener than I do. It is a thing that I am very apt to neglect. I never had better health than I have had for the last eleven years although I have with family suffered more than to die thousands deaths. Why have we suffered this? It is for the Gospel's sake. It is for the sake of eternal principles that are calculated to exalt man in the presence of his maker. I feel thankful that I have been permitted to understand the order that God has tabulated for the redemption of man. That I may be able to combat the enemy of truth and overcome the wickedness of this world and obtain that crown of glory that is laid up for those that fear God and keep his commandments. John P. Berry in his letter to my wife says he is on board of a beautiful ship, I suppose sailing clean of all the rocks and sandbars. Nothing to molest or make him afraid. I tell you I am on board of our old snag boat and it is in snag harbor. It is going to pull up and tear down all the snags on this earth…
"My love to you all. Peace and plenty."
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