Calvin Fairbank
Encyclopedia
Calvin Fairbank was an American abolitionist
minister who spent more than 17 years in prison for his anti-slavery
activities.
, Fairbank grew up in an intensely religious family environment. Listening to the stories told by two escaped slaves whom he met at a Methodist
quarterly meeting, he became strongly anti-slavery. He began his career freeing slaves in 1837 when, piloting a lumber raft down the Ohio River
, he ferried a slave across the river to free territory. Soon he was delivering runaway slaves to the Quaker
abolitionist Levi Coffin
for transportation on the Underground Railroad
to northern U.S.
cities or to Canada
.
The Methodist Episcopal Church
licensed Fairbank to preach in 1840 and fully ordained him in 1842. Hoping to improve his education, he enrolled in 1844 in the "preparatory division" of Oberlin Collegiate Institute, now Oberlin College
, a center of anti-slavery sentiment. Responding to an appeal to rescue the wife and children of an escaped slave named Gilson Berry, Fairbank left Oberlin for Lexington, Kentucky
, where he made contact with Delia Webster, a teacher from Vermont
who was to help with the rescue. Berry's wife failed to meet Fairbank as planned, so he and Webster set their sights on freeing Lewis Hayden
and his family.
Fairbank and Webster successfully delivered Hayden, his wife Harriet and Harriet's son Joseph to freedom in Ohio
, then returned to Kentucky
where they were identified and arrested for assisting the runaway slaves. Webster was tried in December 1844 and sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary, but served less than two months of her sentence. Fairbank was tried in 1845 and received a 15-year term, five years for each of the slaves he helped free. He was pardoned in 1849 when a grateful Lewis Hayden raised the money to pay off Hayden's former master.
In 1851, Fairbank helped a slave named Tamar escape from Kentucky to Indiana. On November 9, with the connivance of the sheriff of Clark County, Indiana
and Indiana Governor Joseph A. Wright
, marshals from Kentucky abducted Fairbank and took him back to their state for trial. In 1852, he was again sentenced to 15 years in the state penitentiary, where he was singled out as a target for exceptionally harsh treatment that included flogging and overwork. Finally, in 1864, three years into the American Civil War
, he was pardoned by Acting Governor Richard T. Jacob, who had long advocated Fairbank's release.
Once free, Fairbank married Mandana Tileston, to whom he had become engaged during his brief period of freedom in 1851. Known as "Dana," she moved from Williamsburg, Massachusetts
, to Oxford, Ohio
, in order to visit Fairbank in prison as often as possible and to press the case for his pardon with the Governor of Kentucky. Their only child, Calvin Cornelius Fairbank, was born in 1868.
The conditions of Fairbank's life in prison broke his health. Although he held jobs with missionary and benevolent societies, he was not able to support his family. At one point, he and his wife tried to earn a living operating a bakery in the utopian community of Florence, Massachusetts
. Mandana Fairbank died of tuberculosis
in 1876 and the couple's son was raised by her sister and brother-in-law. Fairbank remarried in 1879, but little is known of his second wife, Adeline Winegar.
Fairbank's memoirs were published in 1890 under the title Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times: How He "Fought the Good Fight" to Prepare "the Way." Unhappily, this effort earned him little money. He died in near-poverty in Angelica, New York
, and is buried there in the Until the Day Dawn Cemetery. He is generally credited with helping free 47 slaves.
to pardon Fairbank and others convicted of helping slaves escape.
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
minister who spent more than 17 years in prison for his anti-slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
activities.
Biography
Born in Pike, in what is now Wyoming County, New YorkWyoming County, New York
Wyoming County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2010 census, the population was 42,155. The county seat is Warsaw. The name is from a modified Delaware Indian word meaning "broad bottom lands"...
, Fairbank grew up in an intensely religious family environment. Listening to the stories told by two escaped slaves whom he met at a Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
quarterly meeting, he became strongly anti-slavery. He began his career freeing slaves in 1837 when, piloting a lumber raft down the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, he ferried a slave across the river to free territory. Soon he was delivering runaway slaves to the Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
abolitionist Levi Coffin
Levi Coffin
Levi Coffin was an American Quaker, abolitionist, and businessman. Coffin was deeply involved in the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio and his home is often called "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad"...
for transportation on the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
to northern U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cities or to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
licensed Fairbank to preach in 1840 and fully ordained him in 1842. Hoping to improve his education, he enrolled in 1844 in the "preparatory division" of Oberlin Collegiate Institute, now Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, a center of anti-slavery sentiment. Responding to an appeal to rescue the wife and children of an escaped slave named Gilson Berry, Fairbank left Oberlin for Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, where he made contact with Delia Webster, a teacher from Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
who was to help with the rescue. Berry's wife failed to meet Fairbank as planned, so he and Webster set their sights on freeing Lewis Hayden
Lewis Hayden
Lewis Hayden was an African American leader, ex-slave, abolitionist, businessman, Republican Party worker and a representative from Boston to the Massachusetts state legislature in 1873.-Early life:...
and his family.
Fairbank and Webster successfully delivered Hayden, his wife Harriet and Harriet's son Joseph to freedom in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, then returned to Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
where they were identified and arrested for assisting the runaway slaves. Webster was tried in December 1844 and sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary, but served less than two months of her sentence. Fairbank was tried in 1845 and received a 15-year term, five years for each of the slaves he helped free. He was pardoned in 1849 when a grateful Lewis Hayden raised the money to pay off Hayden's former master.
In 1851, Fairbank helped a slave named Tamar escape from Kentucky to Indiana. On November 9, with the connivance of the sheriff of Clark County, Indiana
Clark County, Indiana
Clark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana, located directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. At the 2010 Census, the population was 110,232. The county seat is Jeffersonville. Clarksville is also a major city in the county...
and Indiana Governor Joseph A. Wright
Joseph A. Wright
Joseph Albert Wright was the tenth Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from December 5, 1849 to January 12, 1857, most noted for his opposition to banking. His positions created a rift between him and the Indiana General Assembly who overrode all of his anti-banking vetoes...
, marshals from Kentucky abducted Fairbank and took him back to their state for trial. In 1852, he was again sentenced to 15 years in the state penitentiary, where he was singled out as a target for exceptionally harsh treatment that included flogging and overwork. Finally, in 1864, three years into the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he was pardoned by Acting Governor Richard T. Jacob, who had long advocated Fairbank's release.
Williamsburg, Massachusetts
Williamsburg is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,482 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.-The Mill River Flood:...
, to Oxford, Ohio
Oxford, Ohio
Oxford is a city in northwestern Butler County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern portion of the state. It lies in Oxford Township, originally called the College Township. The population was 21,943 at the 2000 census. This college town was founded as a home for Miami University. Oxford...
, in order to visit Fairbank in prison as often as possible and to press the case for his pardon with the Governor of Kentucky. Their only child, Calvin Cornelius Fairbank, was born in 1868.
The conditions of Fairbank's life in prison broke his health. Although he held jobs with missionary and benevolent societies, he was not able to support his family. At one point, he and his wife tried to earn a living operating a bakery in the utopian community of Florence, Massachusetts
Florence, Massachusetts
Florence is a village in the northwestern portion of the city of Northampton, near Westhampton and Williamsburg in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.-The naming of Florence, Massachusetts:The name "Florence" was suggested by neurologist Dr...
. Mandana Fairbank died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in 1876 and the couple's son was raised by her sister and brother-in-law. Fairbank remarried in 1879, but little is known of his second wife, Adeline Winegar.
Fairbank's memoirs were published in 1890 under the title Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times: How He "Fought the Good Fight" to Prepare "the Way." Unhappily, this effort earned him little money. He died in near-poverty in Angelica, New York
Angelica, New York
Angelica, New York may refer to:*Angelica , New York *Angelica , New York...
, and is buried there in the Until the Day Dawn Cemetery. He is generally credited with helping free 47 slaves.
Push for posthumous pardon
Retired state archivist James Pritchard and several others are working to petition Kentucky Governor Steve BeshearSteve Beshear
Steven Lynn "Steve" Beshear is an American politician who is the 61st Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A Democrat, Beshear previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1979, was the state's Attorney General from 1980 to 1983, and was Lieutenant Governor from...
to pardon Fairbank and others convicted of helping slaves escape.
See also
- Harriet TubmanHarriet TubmanHarriet Tubman Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Harriet Ross; (1820 – 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves...
- Sojourner TruthSojourner TruthSojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she...
- List of African-American abolitionists
- Slavery in CanadaSlavery in CanadaSlavery in what now comprises Canada existed into the 1830s, when slavery was officially abolished. Some slaves were of African descent, while others were aboriginal . Slavery which was practiced within Canada's current geography, was practiced primarily by Aboriginal groups...
- National Underground Railroad Freedom CenterNational Underground Railroad Freedom CenterThe National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a museum in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio based on the history of the Underground Railroad. The Center also pays tribute to all efforts to "abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people." Billed as part of a new group of "museums of...
- Westfield, IndianaWestfield, IndianaWestfield is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States. In the year 2010 United States Census, the population was 30,068. Westfield is in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area.- History :...
External links
- Anti-Slavery Prisoners in the Kentucky State Penitentiary 1844-1870
- Scanned Text: Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times
- Levi Coffin's "Memoir of Calvin Fairbank"
- Underground Railroad Indiana: Calvin Fairbank
- National Park Service: Aboard the Underground Railroad
- National Geographic: Underground Railroad
- Find A Grave Profile: Calvin Fairbank
- Find A Grave Profile: Mandana Tileston Fairbank
- Calvin Fairbank family history on Rootsweb