Meeting Your Fairbanks Ancestors in England

If you could go back in time to meet our early ancestors of the Fairbanks line, who would you want to see? Most people today can only name their relatives back three generations. We can find Fairbank/s in England back to the 1400s. Knowing the early Fairbanks lineage will make a trip to England much more rewarding. Marcus Garvey proclaimed, “People without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture are like trees without roots.’

What if you could go back to the 1400s or further? To prepare you for the next leg of our self-guided West Yorkshire, England tour and to give me some time to actually do the tour before I suggest it to you, I’m going to introduce you to our English ancestors.

I have not studied these relatives in depth, but others have done extensive research of historical English documents to bring you and me as close as possible to them. Perhaps we can use their work and the recent findings I have gleaned to further the understanding of our English heritage.

Those Who Have Studied our Ancestry in England

For this blog, I draw from George Redmond’s, A Dictionary of Yorkshire Surnames , 2015. He was a highly respected scholar and researcher in England. He did an extensive study of the Yorkshire records to find the earliest Fairbanks (with many different spellings) up to the number and distribution in an 1881 census.

Fairbank/s that have researched and published about our family in England include Henry Fairbanks, a professor at Dartmouth College and founder and first president of the Fairbanks Family Organization in 1902. He is said to have written a pamphlet in 1890 used by subsequent researchers. However, this document doesn’t seem to be available.

The next to research in England was the Reverend Hiram Francis Fairbanks of Milwaukee Wisconsin. He did extensive research there and engaged others in England to do local research. His article “Ancestry of Jonathan Fairbanks” appeared in the Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks 1897.

A subsequent study was written by a New England genealogist, Clarence Almon Torrey. His article of 1961, The English Ancestry of Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham Massachusetts can be found in American Genealogist 37 (1961): 65-72.

The latest of the researchers of our ancestry is Ruth Fairbanks Joseph and James Swan Landberg. Their article, 2012, “Jonathan Fairbank o Dedham, Massachusetts, and His Family in the West Riding of Yorkshire” was published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register 166 (2012: 165-87. She does her own research in England and compares and contrasts her findings with those mentioned above.

In this blog, we will concentrate on the Fairbanks’s of Yorkshire to 1636 when our ancestor is documented in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Information is drawn from each of the above. However, we will use Ruth Fairbanks Joseph’s lineage of John Fairbanks of Thornton in Craven as the father of Jonathan Fairbanks, the immigrant to New England. The other relationships remain a bit ambiguous, but they merit acknowledgement in case further research makes stronger connections.

Beaumont or Fairbanks as a Yorkshire Surname

The first thing to remember is that names were spelled many different ways. There wasn’t a standardized form of spelling any words until about 1783.

Very early, people took the description of their location as their names.

Place names were based on land forms that surrounded them. Royd in a name meant the land had been cleared, ie: Akroyd. Rocher meant rocks or crag. Clough was deep valley or ravine. What location would you expect a family with the name fair banks to reside?

Therefore, different groups of people, totally unrelated by blood or location, could use the same name.

Jonathan Fairbanks, the immigrant, was given a name established much earlier. He would not necessarily live in the location that his surname implies. It is said the Fairbanks name once was Beaumont as in Sir William Beaumont (1378 – 1438). Beaumont is French for beautiful mountain. This man fell out of favor with the monarch of that time and was at risk of losing his land holdings. To protect his holdings from the King, he changed the name of his son to Sir Edmund ( Beaumont) Fayrebanke (born 1415) in Soureby, parish of Halifax.

Not only did the people take the name of their surroundings or their location, but when necessary, they added a location “alias” to their name. There were a number of Gawkrogers in the Sowerby area. Gawk meant cuckoo, a bird found frequently in West Yorkshire, or gawk also meant awkward. Rogers meant rocks or crags. To further distinguish one family line from another, one group of Gawkrogers added the alias of Platts to their name, which was an area in south Sowerby now known as Old Hague End in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, England. One example is Mary Gawkroger Platts. This name is in the lineage related to Grace (Smith) Fairbanks. Mary (Gawkroger Platts) also married John Prescott.

Fairbank/s in Kendal, Cumbria, England

Lake District

George Redmond and Reverend Hiram Fairbanks recognizes a group of Fairbanks’s in the Kendal area, particularly the chapelry of Staveley in 1330. He mentions a Richard Fairbank who died in 1517 in Heptonstall stated in his will that his father was in Kendal and he, himself, was born in the chapelry of Kendal.

Hiram Francis Fairbanks noted that there was a the High, Middle, and Lesser Fairbank house in the Kendal area along a one and one-half mile valley, which was probably close to the Gowan River. One of these houses still exists as a privately owned resident and as an historic England listed or registered house. The other has only an early wall of a barn remaining.

It is said that Sir William Beaumont (1378-1438) was of Kendal. His son, named Sir Edmund (Beaumont) Fairbank (b 1416 -1460), died in Heptonstall.

A Fairbank was mayor of Kendal as late as 1694 and 1733. There is also a town called Fairbank on the west coastal area near there.

We don’t have a full understanding of the relationship of those Fairbanks’s and the immigrant. However Reverend Hiram believes the Kendal Fairbank/s could be among the earliest of the Fairbanks’s in England.

Fairbanks in Heptonstall

Heptonstall is an ancient village in the Halifax Parish, West Yorkshire, dating back to at least 1253. It was known for its hand-loom weaving of wool, cloth hall (where finished cloth was bought and sold) and its position on a pack train route near the crossing of the River Calder at Hebden Bridge. It also had a grammar school founded in 1642.

An Edmund Fairbanks (1416-1460), born in Kendal and died in Heptonstall, was mentioned in the Manor Rolls of 1487. It is said Sir Edmund had two sons who were priests, Sir William Fairbank (1455-1518) and Sir George Fairbank. His third son, Sir Edmund, founded a chapel and maintained a chaplain, Sir John Green.

Sir William Fairbanks (1455-1518) had two sons, Sir Edmund ( - d 1560) and Sir Richard Fayrebank of Heptonstal ( - d 1517). Note this appears to be the same Richard whose will said his father and he were born in Kendal.

In Edmunds 1560 will, it is said that he passed down two mazer bowls. These were large bowls of lords and military leaders who used them in a ceremonial act of fidelity. The master would take a sip of the ale and pass it to his subordinate. If the subordinate drank from the maser bowl it indicated that he would follow, work, or fight for his master or leader.

Coincidentally one of the mazer bowls described in this 1560 will has similarities to the mazer bowl Jonathan Fairbanks brought to Dedham from England. The 1560 bowl was described by Reverend Hiram Fairbanks as being made of maple and inlaid with silver. The Fairbanks bowl is made of wood, I do not know the variety, and the design on the outside of the bowl is silver, but may not be inlaid. As far as I understand, the Dedham mazer bowl has not been dated.

Fairbank of Sowerby

Sowerby was an important ancient town in early England’s history found in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was known for processing wool into cloth and was a dominate town before the progression of Halifax. Sowerby was on the hillside of the Pennine Hills but receded into the swampy wooded valleys of the Rivers Calder and Ryburn stream that were noted as a Royal Chase or hunting area for nobility. This was the early location of our Fairbanks family. Court records and land transactions attest to their presence.

Sir William

1492: - Sir William Fayrebanke (1455- 1518) who is said by his son’s will to be born in Kendal, “took land of the soil and waste of the Lord, in Sourby (Sowerby), to hold according to the custom of the Manor.”

Sir William had three sons. Two were priest, Sir Edmund (1477 ) and Sir Richard ( d 1517, mentioned above as born in Kendal). A third son, was John (1480-1551).

In 1505, Sir William gave to his third son, John Fayrebank (1480 –1551) of Sowerby Briggbotham, Pighillcroft, in Sowerby and Wynlufroid in Warley. A current resident of the Sowerby Bridge area believes that Wynlufroid of Warley can still be located.

John Fairbank of Sowerby

In 1526, John Fairbanke surrendered Briggbottham, etc. to his son Gilbert Fairebank, Brigbotham.

Gilbert Fairbank of Sowerby

April 14, 1551, Gilbert, son of John Fairbanke surrendered the Briggbotham estate which was described as including Laithcroft with one barn and one croft (enclosure), Overholme and Netherholme which were land and meadows, and a wood called Le Sprynge to his son, George Fairbanke (1530-1610).

George Fairbank Sr. of Sowerby, clothier

George Fairbank (1530-1610), we will call senior, was married to Sibyl Waide. He was known as a George Fairbank of Sowerby Bridge.

George Fairbank Sr. had at least two sons. One is believed to be John Fairbanks, father of Jonathan Fairbanks, the immigrant. The other was George Jr.

John was in Sowerby in 1583, and again in 1600 through 1603 based on records of the christening of his children. Court records show that John Fairbank, Jonathan the immigrant’s father, held Briggbotham until it was given to his brother, George Jr. in 1583 by their father, George Sr. in 1583.

George Jr.

George Jr. (1562-1620) of Sowerby, known as George Fairbank of Sowerby Bridge, and also as a clothier, was married to Isabella Bannister (1) and Hester Denton (2).

In 1619, George Fairbank Jr. gave Le Brockwell and eight acres of land to John Fairebanck his second son. In 1620, in court it is said George Fairebancke of Sowerby Bridge gave eighteen acres of land next to Sowerby Bridge, occupied by himself to his eldest son Jonas Fairebanck..

Jonathan Fairbank Curate of Luddeden

George Jr. had very young sons when he died. Jonathan and George. They were provided for in their father’s will. Eventually Jonathan, first a puritan vicar of Brindley, then a curate of Luddenden received much of the land and Briggbotham.

In 1687, Jonathan, the curate, gave his son Jonathan the family land and home of Briggbotham, a croft called Tenter Croft and closes (enclosed areas called les Holmes (probably Over and Netherholmes) and 2 closes called Les Banks. This transfer of land in Sowerby was held under the Fairbank name for at least 200 years.

According to Ruth Joseph Fairbanks, it is a strong probability that Jonathan Fairbanks, the immigrant, spent some part of his life at Briggbotham.

John, the Father and Jonathan Fairbanks, the Immigrant

Places They Lived in England

The above all represents land and Fairbank/s that have some connection to Jonathan Fairbanks. Now we will explore what is currently believed to be Jonathan’s direct lineage and the places in England that are documented as locations Jonathan, the immigrant, resided.

John Fairbank of Thornton in Craven

John Fairbank (c.1543/1547 -1625) is believed to be the father of Jonathan Fairbanks, the immigrant. Please see the article by Ruth Fairbanks Joseph for details. John Fairbanks is believed to have married three times.

From his first marriage the following children were all born in Halifax Parish: according to Ruth Fairbanks Joseph there are several possibilities for the first marriage.

1583 Sowerby

John 1586 Skircote

George 1588 Skircote

Joseph 1590 Skircote

On August 6, 1593, John Fairbank married his second wife at Halifax: Isabella Staincliffe

Jonathan Fairbanks, the immigrant, is believed to be a son from this second marriage. They also had a daughter Susan christened in April 1595 in Skircote. Jonathan’s christening has not been found. His birth is believed to be between 1594 (one year after the marriage) and July 1597 (the year of his mother’s death) also in Skircote.

John Fairbank married a third time Ellen Parker of Burnley August 28, 1598, one year after the death of the second wife. Jonathan would be between a new born baby and four years old.

From this marriage the children were christened,

Helen (1599) was born in Skircote died early

Joseph (1600) Sowerby died early

Anna (1601) Sowerby

Michael (1603) Sowerby

Marie (btw 1604 and 1610)

Jeremie (1608) Carleton in Craven

Susanna (1611) Carleton in Craven

Abigail unknown

From these we can see where John Fairbank lived in near Sowerby from in 1583 to 1608 when he relocated about 25 miles north to the Craven area. He was in Thornton in Craven, when he suddenly died during the 1625 plague of England.

Jonathan Fairbanks, The Immigrant

Jonathan Fairbanks was registered as living in Warley in 1617 when he married Grace Smith of Warley at St. John’s Church (now known as the Minster) in Halifax. This is the first documentation of location for Jonathan the immigrant. His father had land in Thornton in Craven as early as 1612, received from George and Margaret Parker, believed to be Ellen Parker, John’s third wife’s parents. After Jonathan’s marriage, we can locate him by the baptism of his children.

Jonathan’s children were christened as below:

John 1617 Warley

George 1618 Shelf

Marie 1622 Shelf

Jonas 1624 Warley

Susan c 1627 Thornton in Craven Note: about two years after John Fairbank’s death

Jonathan c 1629 unknown

Another interesting fact is that Jonathan named all his children corresponding to the children’s names of George Jr. (1562-1620) That implies a significant relationship between the two.

Leaving England

Jonathan left England between 1629 when his last son was born and 1636 when he signed the waiting list for a lot in Dedham. He is said in historical listings to have come from Sowerby and he probably had many relatives in Sowerby and may have lived on some of the land they owned that had many buildings and cottages and land. Looking at the places his children were christened gives us a clear picture of where he lived, mostly in the area of Halifax Parish and mainly in the lands near the Calder and Ryburn waters.

Jonathan was sent the will of his “cusin” (a word used for a close relative at that time), George, a clothier at Sowerby in 1650. This George, son of John Fairbanks and his first wife, is believed to be Jonathan’s half-brother. The executor James Platts sent the will. There was no inheritance left to Jonathan and the reason for his receiving the will is still a mystery. However, there is a brass sundial in Dedham Historical Society and Museum dated 1650 and made in London, that belonged to Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks. They could have sent for the sundial, but it is a coincidence that it is dated the same year as George Fairbank died and sent his will.

The same question arises with the description of Edmund Fairbank’s will describing a maser bowl, similar to the one that Jonathan and Grace are believed to have brought from England.

Summary

We know more about our family history than most other families, but we still have much to intrigue us about their early lives. Our history will continue to evolve as new generations with new technology and lots of foundational information strive to know our ancestors better.

I hope meeting the Fairbank/s of England will help you enjoy your self-guided tour of West Yorkshire into Sowerby, Sowerby Bridge, Old Haigh End of Sowerby/Triange, Thornton in Craven and into the Lake District of Kendal, Cumbria, England. We will explore those later. I want to make the trip and gather pictures before I share it with you.

What’s Up Next

To give me time to visit England in July and solidify the pathways of a self-guided tour of our ancestors locations there, I will divert my blog to my study of which ports they might have used when they left England to emigrate to New England.