19th-century American abolitionist and Methodist minister
Calvin Fairbank
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Rev. Calvin Fairbank
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Born
| November 3, 1816
(
1816-11-03
)
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Died
| October 12, 1898
(
1898-10-13
)
(aged 81)
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Resting place
| Until The Day Dawn Cemetery
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Alma mater
| Oberlin College
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Occupation(s)
| Methodist minister,
abolitionist
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Notable work
| Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times
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Spouses
|
- Mandana Tileston
- Adeline Winegar
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Calvin Fairbank
(November 3, 1816 ? October 12, 1898) was an American
abolitionist
and
Methodist
minister
from
New York state
who was twice convicted in
Kentucky
of aiding the escape of slaves, and served a total of 19 years in the
Kentucky State Penitentiary in Frankfort
. Fairbank is believed to have aided the escape of 47 slaves.
Pardoned in 1849 after four years of his first sentence, Fairbank returned to his
Underground Railroad
work. He was arrested in 1851 with the aid of the governor of
Indiana
, who was enforcing the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
. Fairbank was convicted again in Kentucky and served the full sentence of 15 years.
Early life
[
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]
Calvin Fairbank was born in 1816 in
Pike, New York
in what is now
Wyoming County, New York
, to Chester Fairbank and his wife; he grew up in an intensely religious family environment. It was also the period of the
Second Great Awakening
, and western New York was a center of evangelical activity. Listening to the stories told by two escaped slaves whom he met at a
Methodist
quarterly meeting, the young Fairbank 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 escaped slaves to the
Quaker
abolitionist
Levi Coffin
for transportation on the
Underground Railroad
to northern US cities or to Canada.
Aliases
[
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]
Calvin Fairbank used aliases: Samuel P. King,
[1]
Samuel S. King, John Doe, Richard Roe/Rowe and John Rowe.
[2]
Methodist Episcopal Church
[
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]
The
Methodist Episcopal Church
licensed Fairbank to preach in 1840 and ordained him as a minister in 1842. Hoping to improve his education, he enrolled in 1844 in the "preparatory division" of Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Ohio, now
Oberlin College
. It was interracial and a center of anti-slavery sentiment. At Oberlin, Fairbank met future AME bishop,
John M. Brown
and the pair worked together in underground railroad activities.
[3]
Abolitionist
[
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]
Gilson Berry
[
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]
Responding to an appeal to rescue the wife and children of an escaped slave named Gilson Berry, Fairbank went to
Lexington, Kentucky
, where he made contact with
Delia Webster
, a teacher from
Vermont
who was working there and had become active as an abolitionist. She was to help with the rescue, but Berry's wife failed to meet Fairbank as planned.
By chance, he met
Lewis Hayden
and his family, who were planning an escape. He asked Hayden, "Why do you want your freedom?" Hayden responded, "Because I am a man."
[4]
The Haydens
[
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]
Fairbank and Webster transported Hayden, his wife Harriet and Harriet's son Joseph by carriage to freedom in
Ripley, Ohio
. (See
John Rankin (abolitionist)
.) The fugitive couple put flour on their faces to appear white and, in times of danger, would hide their son under the wagon seat. As Fairbank and Webster returned to Kentucky, they were identified and arrested for assisting the runaway slaves.
Webster was tried in December 1844 and sentenced to two years in the Kentucky state penitentiary, but she was pardoned by the governor after serving less than two months of her sentence. Fairbank was tried in 1845 and sentenced to a 15-year term, five years for each of the slaves he helped free.
He was pardoned in 1849
[5]
in an effort begun by his father.
[6]
Effectively Lewis Hayden ransomed Fairbank, as he raised the $650 demanded by his former master to approve the pardon. Hayden had quickly collected the money within a few weeks from 160 people in Boston, where he and his family had settled.
[7]
Tamar
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]
In 1851, Fairbank helped a slave named Tamar escape from Kentucky to Indiana. On November 9 of that year, 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 sentenced to 15 years in the
state penitentiary
. While imprisoned, he was singled out for exceptionally harsh treatment; he was frequently flogged and overworked.
Imprisonment effects
[
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]
Over his combined imprisonment of more than 17 years, Fairbank was reported to have received 35,000 lashes in prison floggings. In an April 5, 1850 article,
The Liberator
summarized a letter from Fairbank to
William Lloyd Garrison
: "He expresses gratitude to the people of Boston, indicates an intention to write a book about his experiences, and indicates that letters to him can be sent in care of
Lewis Hayden
."
[8]
Finally, in 1864, three years into the
American Civil War
, Fairbank was pardoned by Acting Governor
Richard T. Jacob
, who had long advocated the activist's release. When
Thomas Bramlette
returned to office, he had Jacob arrested and expelled from the state for his attacks on Lincoln during the presidential campaign and support for
George B. McClellan
.
Marriage and family
[
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]
Once free, Fairbank married Mandana Tileston, to whom he had been engaged for thirteen years, since 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.
[9]
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
. After Mandana Fairbank died of
tuberculosis
in 1876, Calvin gave their son to the care of her sister and brother-in-law. Fairbank remarried in 1879, but little is known of his second wife, Adeline Winegar, except that she was the daughter of Henry and Jane Winegar and like Calvin, a native of Pike. In the 1870 census she had been listed as a domestic servant. She died of cancer on February 12, 1901, in Angelica, and was buried next to Calvin in the local cemetery.
Memoirs
[
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]
Fairbank wrote his memoir, publishing it in 1890 under the title,
Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times: How He "Fought the Good Fight" to Prepare "the Way."
This effort earned him little money. He died in near-poverty in
Angelica, New York
. He was buried there in the Until the Day Dawn Cemetery. He is credited with helping free 47 slaves.
[10]
Push for posthumous pardon
[
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]
In the 21st century, James Pritchard, a retired state archivist for Kentucky who published articles about the Underground Railroad, and several other persons worked to petition Kentucky Governor
Steve Beshear
to pardon Fairbank and others convicted of helping slaves escape.
[5]
From 1844 to 1870, Kentucky imprisoned 44 persons for activities to free slaves in the state, not releasing the last man until five years after the end of the
American Civil War
. Eight of these persons died in prison.
[11]
Induction into the National Abolitionist Hall of Fame and Museum
[
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]
On October 22, 2022, Rev. Calvin Fairbank was inducted into the
National Abolitionist Hall of Fame and Museum
in Peterboro,NY. The induction ceremony was attended by his three great-great-great-granddaughter's Lynn Fairbank, Jennifer Fairbank and Elizabeth Fairbank. The induction was also attended by his great-great-great-great-grandson Justin Fairbank Schlesinger and his wife Gina Silarais. Upon making a motion to nominate Calvin Fairbank into the Abolitionist Hall of Fame and Museum, Lynn Fairbank dedicated the honor to the 47 "slaves" freed by Calvin. Upon seconding the motion, Jennifer Fairbank dedicated the honor to their Father, Philip Fairbank.
See also
[
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References
[
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]
- ^
Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY 11 Nov 1851 p3 Arrest of a Kidnapper.
- ^
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY 18 Nov 1851 p3 Samuel S. King alias Calvin Fairbanks for arresting the slave of Mrs. Shotwell.
- ^
Runyon, Randolph Paul. Delia Webster and the Underground Railroad. University Press of Kentucky, 2015. p33
- ^
Fairbank, Calvin (1890).
Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times: How He "fought the Good Fight" to Prepare "the Way."
. Patriotic Publishing Company
. Retrieved
2014-03-14
.
- ^
a
b
Cheves, John (2010-03-12).
"Pardons pushed for Kentuckians convicted of helping slaves escape"
.
Kentucky.com
. Lexington Herald-Leader
. Retrieved
2014-03-14
.
- ^
Tom Calarco,
People of the Underground Railroad: A Biographical Dictionary
, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008, p. 155
- ^
"Lewis Hayden Clothing Store Opened"
.
The Liberator
. September 1849. Archived from
the original
on October 18, 2019
. Retrieved
May 1,
2013
.
- ^
"Calvin Fairbank, (the one finally with 35,000 lashes on his back), writes to Garrison"
.
The Liberator
. April 5, 1850
. Retrieved
May 1,
2013
.
- ^
Fairbanks, Lorenzo Sayles (1897).
"Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America, 1633-1897"
.
- ^
Fairbank, Calvin. Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times; How He Fought The Good Fight to Prepare The Way. Patriotic Publishing Co.,1890. Reprinted, (Angelica: Heritage Days Press, 2016).
- ^
James Pritchard,
Into the Fiery Furnace
, Part I: Anti-Slavery Prisoners in the Kentucky State Penitentiary 1844?1870
Archived
2016-05-27 at the
Wayback Machine
, 2006, Kentucky's Underground Railroad, KET-TV, accessed 3 December 2013
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Coleman, J. Winston (July 1943).
"Delia Webster and Calvin Fairbank, Underground Railroad Agents"
.
Filson Club History Quarterly
.
17
(3). Archived from
the original
on 2012-05-02
. Retrieved
2011-12-06
.
- Rev. Calvin Fairbank during slavery times : how he "fought the good fight" to prepare "the way"
Edited from his manuscript. Chicago: R.R. McCabe (1890). Reprint: New York: Negro Universities Press (1969)
ISBN
0-8371-2690-8
; Reprint: St. Paul, MN: Reprint Services Corp.
ISBN
0-7812-8126-1
- Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone (eds),
Dictionary of American Biography
, Vol. 3, Part 2, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959, p. 247.
- Frances K. Eisan,
Saint or Demon? The Legendary Delia Webster Opposing Slavery
, New York:
Pace University Press
, 1996.
ISBN
0-944473-41-5
- James Pritchard,
Into the Fiery Furnace
, Part I: Anti-Slavery Prisoners in the Kentucky State Penitentiary 1844?1870
, 2006, Kentucky's Underground Railroad, KET-TV
- Randolph Paul Runyon,
Delia Webster and the Underground Railroad
, Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1998.
ISBN
0-8131-1966-9
- Joel Strangis,
Lewis Hayden and the War Against Slavery
, North Haven, CN: Linnet Books, 1999.
ISBN
0-208-02430-1
External links
[
edit
]
- Scanned Text:
Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times...
, Chicago: 1890, Kentucky Digital Library
- Levi Coffin, Appendix: "Memoir of Calvin Fairbank"
, in
Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad...
; Cincinnati: Clarke & Co., 1880, online text at
Documenting the American South
, University of North Carolina
- "Calvin Fairbank"
, Underground Railroad Indiana
- Aboard the Underground Railroad
Archived
2014-09-29 at the
Wayback Machine
, National Park Service
- "Underground Railroad"
,
National Geographic
- Calvin Fairbank family history
, in
Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America, 1633-1897
by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks, pp. 457?459. Google Books scanned from the Collections of Harvard University (americana Collection), originally printed in 1897 for the Author by the American Printing and Engraving Company. NOTE: This book contains useful family tree information and personal stories obtained first-hand by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks during actual interviews with Calvin Fairbank during his time in prison.
- Video of gravesite reading of Calvin Fairbank's memoir
on
YouTube
- Find A Grave Profile: Calvin Fairbank
- Find A Grave Profile: Mandana Tileston Fairbank
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Origins
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Combatants
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Campaigns
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Battles
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Involvement
(by city or town)
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Aftermath
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- Monuments and memorials
- Cemeteries
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Related topics
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International
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National
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Other
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