1683. Fairbanks

Outline

1. William Fairbanks (ca. 1455–1518) m. ____; Sowerby, Halifax, Yorks., Eng.
2. John Fairbanks (ca. 1480–aft. 1551) m. ____; Sowerby, Yorks., Eng.
3. Gilbert Fairbanks (ca. 1505–1578) m. Jennet ____ (d. 1579); Halifax, Yorks., Eng.
4. George Fairbanks (ca. 1528–1610) m. (1) 1551 Sybil Wade (d. 1573); Halifax, Yorks., Eng.
5. John Fairbanks (ca. 1554–1625); Halifax, Thornton-in-Craven, Yorks., Eng.
6. Jonathan Fairbanks (ca. 1593–1668) m. 1617 Grace Smith (d. 1673); Halifax, Yorks., Eng.; Dedham, Mass.
7. George Fairbanks (1619–1683) m. 1646 Mary Adams (d. 1711); Dedham, Medfield, Mass.
8. Mary Fairbanks (1647–1682) m. 1665 Joseph Daniel (ca. 1640–1715); Dedham, Medfield, Mass.

11325. Fairbanks

Outline

4. George Fairbanks (ca. 1528–1610) m. (1) 1551 Sybil Wade (d. 1573); Halifax, Yorks., Eng.
5. Jenet Fairbanks (b. 1552) m. 1570 James Gawkroger alias Platts (ca. 1540–1592); Halifax, Yorks., Eng.

Sources

The seminal article on this family in the American literature is Clarence Almon Torrey, The English Ancestry of Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham, Massachusetts, American Genealogist 37 (1961): 65-72. Torrey stated that Jenet Fairbanks, baptized in 1552, died young, on the ground that she had a younger sister of the same name, baptized in 1556, who lived to marry. Soon afterward, it was noticed that George Fairbanks of Sowerby, testator of 1650, left money bequests to three of the documented grandchildren of James and Jenet (Fairbanks) Platts, and referred to them as cousins. Torrey thereupon agreed to the identification of James’s wife as this Jenet Fairbanks. See John G. Hunt, Notes on Families of the Parish of Halifax, Yorkshire: Farrer, Deane, Platts, Fairbank, Prescott, American Genealogist 40 (1964): 22-9, at 28.

The most up-to-date information on this family appears in Ruth Fairbanks Joseph and James Swan Landberg, Jonathan Fairbank of Dedham, Massachusetts, and His Family in the West Riding of Yorkshire, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 166 (2012): 165-87. This essay includes a complete transcript of the 1650 will; an analysis of its endorsements; a revised line of descent from George to Jonathan; and a few chronological details that were not established by Torrey and Hunt. However, the earlier works are still essential for the early part of the lineage. In addition, Joseph and Landberg were not able to decide in a definitive manner whether it was John’s first wife or his second wife who was the mother of Jonathan.

Related surnames

841. Daniel · 2831. Gawkroger alias Platts · 22651, 26929. Wade

No additional information on the Adams and Smith families is available at this time.