USA > Vermont > Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont > Part 54
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In 1848, he erected a large building and rented the upper part of it to the proprie- tors of a small melodeon factory, but as they were unable to pay the stipulated rent, Mr. Estey accepted, in 1850, an interest in their business in liquidation of his claims, and a few years afterwards purchased the entire
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establishment. To this new industry he gave close attention, striving for its enlarge ment and the development of its promising possibilities, and in the course of a few years, he deemed it expedient to dispose of his plumbing business, and to devore himself exclusively to the making of organs. With this determination he erected a second and larger building, but in the fall of 1857 a con- dagration consumed both structures. Though at once rebuilt, another fire in 1864 destroyed the new creation, and a very much larger one was promptly erected in order to furnish ample room for the storage of the immense quantities of material that were needed for the prosecution of the business.
In 1866 his son-in-law, Levi K. Fuller, and his son, Julius J. Estey, were admitted to partnership with himself. In 1869 the sud- den overflow of the stream near which their factory was located, caused the death by drowning of one of their workmen, carried off lumber to the value of several thousand dollars, and greatly endangered 'the safety of the manufactory. To avoid the repetition of similar disasters, the company selected higher ground, and on this have erected nine large factories, each three stories high, together with large dry houses and the neces- sary buildings for boilers and engines, with immense storage and packing houses.
Mr. Estey was ever a strong advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and in 1868-'69 he represented Brattleboro in the state Legislature. He was also a member of the state Senate from Windham county in the biennial sessions of 1872 and 1874, and rendered most excellent service in that body. He was one of the principal movers in the organization of the First Baptist Church in Brattleboro in 1840, and was dur- ing life one of its most active and liberal supporters. His death, on April 15, 1890, was a great loss to the community in which for so many years he had lived.
He was married on the 2d of May, 1837, to Desdemona, daughter of David and Anna Kendal Wood of Brattleboro. Three chil- dren were the fruit of their union, the eldest of whom is not living; the two remaining are : Abby E. (Mrs. Levi K. Fuller), and Julius J.
ESTEY, JULIUS J., of Brattleboro, son of Jacob and Desdemona (Wood) Estey, was born in Brattleboro, January, 1845.
He was educated in the public schools of his native place and at the celebrated Nor- wich Military University. He did not com- plete the full course, however, as he was admitted by his father into the business established in 1846-which has now be- come so justly famous-the manufacture of the Estey organs. At his majority in
1866, he was admitted as a full partner in the firm of J. Estey & Co. (afterwards known as the Estey Organ Co.), which was composed of Jacob Estey, Julius J. Estey, and Levi K. Fuller. As treasurer, before and since his revered father's death in 1890, he has contributed greatly to the large and highly successful business of organ manu- facturing. General Estey is, and has been for years, the president of the Peoples National Bank of Brattleboro, one of the soundest and most progressive banking insti- tutions in the state.
Mr. Estey is first and foremost a thorough business man, but he is also a leading factor in state affairs, having represented the town
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of Brattleboro in the Legislature in 1876, and having served as state senator from Windham county for the biennial term be- ginning in 1882, his services in both bodies being particularly creditable both to his party and himself. He was appointed a del- egate-at-large from Vermont to the Republi- can national convention of 1888, where his influence and good work was felt and appre- ciated by his associates.
At an early age he became interested in military affairs, serving in the National Guard of Vermont. In 1874 he was elected captain of Co. I, known since as the Estey Guard.
In 1876 he was appointed by Gov. Hor- ace Fairbanks a member of his military staff with the rank of colonel, and in 1881
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was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Ver- mont National Guard, which position he held until his election as colonel in 1886. In 1892 he was promoted to the command of the brigade, with the rank of brigadier general, which position he still holds.
It is a matter of record that General Estey has always commanded one of the finest and best disciplined military bodies in the New England states. He is considerate, polite and popular with his men, who love and respect their leader as few similar organizations do. This is due as much per- haps to the strong Christian character of the man as to his soldierly qualities, for not the least portion of his life has been exerted in active service for his church, where he has always successfully endeavored to inspire higher and nobler work in the denomination to which he belongs.
In 1867 he married Florence, daughter of Dr. Henry Gray of Cambridge, N. Y., from which union he has been blessed with three sons : Jacob Gray, Julius Harry, and Guy Carpenter.
He has been president of the Baptist State Sunday School Association, and for the past ten years has held the presidency of the board of managers of the Baptist state convention. He has been a great benefac- tor to and worker in the Sunday school of
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his church, which he has fostered and en- couraged to the utmost.
Among the educational institutions of the state which he has particularly promoted is the Vermont Academy of Saxton's River, which is now one of the foremost institu- tions of learning in Vermont. For some years he has been the treasurer of this insti- tution. He has for many years been a member of the board of trustees of the school for young men at Mount Hermon, Mass., and the Northfield Seminary, for young ladies, at Northfield, Mass., both of which were established by Mr. D. L. Moody, the evangelist. Of the latter institution he is also treasurer.
Since the organization of the Young Men's Christian Association of Brattleboro General Estey has served as its president and been one of its most liberal supporters and trusted leaders. His interest in this organization, however, is not confined to the local organization, but he has for years been active in the state gatherings and chairman of the state executive committee.
His benevolence and charity to deserving objects is too well known to require especial mention. He has won the highest en- comiums of his associates and fellow-men and has always led an active and upright life.
FAIRBANKS, FRANKLIN, of St. Johns- bury, son of Erastus and Lois (Crossman) Fairbanks, was born in St. Johnsbury, June 18, 1828.
He received his early education in the public schools of his native town, the Pink- erton Academy, Derry, N. H., and in the academies at Peacham and St. Johnsbury.
At the age of seventeen he entered the scale works and by actual labor in the various departments, and having a natural genius for mechanics, made himself familiar with everything that had to do with the making of a scale. He afterwards was clerk in the store and in all the departments of the office of the establishment, and these years of practical experience in the shop, store and office served as a school to give him a technical and business education.
When he was twenty-seven years of age he was admitted as partner in the firm of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. For many years he was superintendent of the works, a position for which he was prepared by his practical knowledge of all the operations of the estab- lishment. To his efficient management is due much of the success and growth of the company. He naturally assumed the prac- tical, while his brother Horace undertook
the business administration. He was active in the construction of the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain R. R., a work demanding courage, the most skillful engineering, and great executive ability. In 1876, at the or- ganization of the firm as a corporation he was elected vice-president, and at the death of his brother in 1888 he was made presi- dent and has held this office to the present time.
While Colonel Fairbanks has not been in politics, he has always manifested a consist- ent and active interest in public affairs. He was elected by the Republican party as rep- resentative from St. Johnsbury to the state Legislature in 1870 and again in 1872, at the latter session being chosen speaker of the House. He has been a member of the state Republican committee for more than twenty years. He was appointed aid-de- camp with the rank of colonel in Governor Hall's staff in 1858. He received the same appointment in 1861 from Governor Fair- banks. At this time he did effective service in raising troops, caring for their disposition and arranging for their comfort at the front.
Since 1888 he has been president of the First National Bank of St. Johnsbury. He is also president of the Ely Hoe & Fork Co.
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of the same town. He is a trustee of the Northfield ( Mass. ) Seminary, the Soldiers' Home, the St. Johnsbury Academy, the Athenaum, and Museum of Natural Science.
From his boyhood Colonel Fairbanks has had an carnest and intelligent interest in natural science. When a young man he became a collector of illustrations of an- thropology, mineralogy, and ornithology. These studies have been his recreation and at times have shared, while they have re- Heved, his business cares. Having a con-
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viction that a more extended knowledge of the sciences would elevate the community, he erected and presented to the town a museum of natural science, which was dedi- cated in December, 1891. This museum has been by his liberality fully equipped for scientific study, and amply endowed.
Since 1861 Colonel Fairbanks has been superintendent of the Sunday school of the North Church of St. Johnsbury, a continu- ous service of thirty-two years. For ten years he was a member of the international lesson committee.
December 8, 1852, Colonel Fairbanks married Frances A. Clapp, daughter of Rev. Sumner G. and Pamelia (Strong) Clapp. They have had four children : Alfred, Mary Florence (now Mrs. Joseph T. Herrick of Springfield, Mass.), Margaret Jane, and Ellen Henrietta, of whom two, Mrs. Her- rick and Ellen H., now survive.
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FAIRBANKS, HENRY, of St. Johinsbury, son of Thaddeus and Lucy Barker Fair- banks, was born in St. Johnsbury, May 6, 1830.
When ten years old he spent a year in Pinkerton Academy, Derry, N. H., and then entered the St. Johnsbury Academy, which the brothers, E., '1. and J. P. Fairbanks, established in 1842, to provide instruction for their children. He was graduated from this academy in 1847, from Dartmouth Col- lege in 1853, and from Andover Theologi- cal Seminary in 1857, having spent a year in Europe in 1848-'49, and six months in 1856. In the latter year he went with Dr. S. H. Taylor, the honored teacher of Phillips An- dover Academy, as far as Egypt and Pales- tine, and completed his tour of Europe by the ascent of Mt. Blanc. After graduation he took the charge of a large number of home missionary fields, not only preaching, but directing the vacation labor of students and others in them, and gathering up the fruits of their work. In 1860 he went to Dartmouth College as professor of natural philosophy, taking afterward the department of natural history.
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After eight years in this service he returned to St. Johnsbury, where he developed various inventions, securing many patents, and at the same time preached as his health allowed. He led the evangelistic work of the Young Men's Christian Associations in the state, and as president of the State Missionary
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Society had opportunity for much work in this direction. He is a trustee of Dartmouth College, and president of the St. Johnsbury Academy, and, in 1891, went to London as a member of the International Congrega- tional Council. For several years he has been secretary of the corporation of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co.
He was married in 1862 to Miss Annie, daughter of Prof. D. J. Noyes of Dartmouth College, who lived ten years. In 1874 he married Ruthy Page of Newport. He has six children ; the eldest, Rev. Arthur Fair- banks, Ph. D., is a member of the faculty of Yale Divinity School, and the second, Robert N. Fairbanks, is in business in New York.
FAIRBANKS, THADDEUS, born in Brimfield, Mass., Jan. 17, 1796 ; died in St. Johnsbury, Vt., April 12, 1886.
The first of the name came to this coun- try in 1633, Jonathan Ffayerbanke, from Sowerby, near Halifax, on the west border of Yorkshire ; and Richard, who was the inn- keeper and first postmaster of Boston. Jon- athan, the ancestor, so far as known, of all the American families, built in 1636 a house in Dedham, Mass., which with the additions made later is still standing. The "Item- two vices and one turning laeth and other seuch thinges," and "Item-many smale tools for turning and other the like work," in the inventory of the estate of Jonathan F. in 1668 seem to indicate thus early the mechanical taste of the family, while the plan of the house, the finish, and many little arrangements show taste and skill. George, the second son of Jonathan, came with his father from England, lived in Dedham, and in 1657 removed to Sherborn, where he was selectman and a leading citizen. His fourth child, Eliezur, was born in 1655 and became a prominent man in Sherborn. His young- est child was "Captain" Eleasur, born in 1690, whose eleventh child, born in 1734, known in Sherborn history as "Deacon" Ebenezer, moved to Brimfield, Mass., in 1783. His second son, Joseph, born in Sherborn in 1763, moved with his father to Brimfield, bought a small farm, and in 1 790 married Phobe Paddock of Holland, Mass., whose ancestor came to America with Gov- ernor Carver, and married into the family of Governor Bradford, and whose brother, Judge Ephraim Paddock, and others of the family, coming to Vermont, became honored and prominent citizens. To them three sons were born : Erastus, Oct. 28, 1792 ; Thaddeus, Jan. 17, 1796, and Joseph Pad- dock, Nov. 26, 1806.
Thaddeus, though born upon the farm, was a slender child, nervously organized, growing too fast to be strong, suffering in his plays with rougher children, then as all
his life lacking physical vigor, so that in his later years he said that he did not know that he ever in all his life felt well, an expe- rience that led to such care of himself and such pains to make the most of himself that few men have accomplished more or lived longer than he. He describes himself as exceedingly timid, exceedingly bashful, so that when sent on his mother's errands to the store in the evening no one could know what a struggle it cost him to pass the grave- yard, made terrible by the talk of the boys, under the dark trees on the way, or to nerve himself to speak to the storekeeper as he must. What costs another nothing develops in such a child a true manliness, a real hero- ism. And because it was not easy for him to speak he thought the more, and gained the habit, so marked in all his life, of not beginning to speak until he had thought the matter through and was quite prepared to speak intelligently. The boy who preferred to be with his mother instead of playing with boys outside was learning to consider every question so thoroughly that later his advice was sought and heeded by probably more men than ever came to any one else in the state.
His father, Joseph, was a carpenter as well as farmer, and Thaddeus, who was afraid to speak to the storekeeper, when five years old was found running as fast as a child could around and around upon the plates of a building partly raised ; and very early he began to use his father's tools with a skill that seemed inborn, setting in motion little machines driven by the brook back of the house, or making various things for his mother's convenience.
His father at that time had met with some losses, there was little money in the country, and the years when Thaddeus should have gone to some academy were years when the crops failed, so that he had only the oppor- tunities furnished by the common schools, when he was well enough to attend. Books were expensive. He often in later years spoke of how large a sum the dollar that must be paid for a new arithmetic seemed to him, and many a student coming to him for aid has had occasion to be glad that he re- membered how in his boyhood and young manhood he longed for educational priv- ileges, which he missed so much that he was glad to help others to gain them.
Joseph Fairbanks and his sons were too enterprising to be content with the hard work and small returns of the life on the rather rough farm. The new settlements of Vermont attracted them, and in May, 1815, he sold his property in Brimfield, purchased the falls of Sleeper's river, in what is now the southwest part of the village of St. Johnsbury, and moved his family into a
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little calin of rough boards there, in which they lived two and one half years, as pio neers live.
He and his son Thaddeus worked to gether, and being skilled mechanics, built a dam upon the stream, which, coming from the then wooded country, was of some size, and erected and operated a sawmill and a gristmill where the Fairbanks scale factory has grown up. Meeting thus the necessities of the new country they began to prosper. In a shop over the gristmill they also made carriages, doing so good work that in 1892 an old gentleman drove into St. Johnsbury with a wagon which he said had been used every year since his father purchased it of Thaddeus Fairbanks in 1819. In the summer of 1818 Thaddeus built a two-story double house in which his parents lived the rest of their life, and to which he, marrying in Jan- nary, 1820, brought his wife, and lived there until 1838. The work of the mills and the shops increased, and for ten years he boarded from three to seven' men, as the exigencies of that work required.
The maternal uncles of Thaddeus Fair- banks were iron workers, the newly opened iron mine at Franconia, N. H., attracted his attention, and in 1823 he started a small iron foundry, and was joined in 1824 by his brother Erastus, who gave up his store in Barnet, the elder uniting his business expe- rience with the mechanical and practical skill of the younger, as they formed the firm of E. & T. Fairbanks. Besides some job work they made cooking and parlor stoves, patenting one which sold well. Thad- deus also patented a cast iron plough, an unheard of thing, which the farmers said would " break all to pieces" but which, as made by the inventor, soon displaced the wooden ones with steel point, the only kind before known. For stoves and ploughs, Thaddeus made not only the plans, but also the patterns with his own hands, moulding many of them and attending to the melting, improving the blast furnace, and overcom- ing the faults that appeared in weak or porous castings. What he learned by this experience of making strong iron was in- valuable to him in all the later business.
In 1829 and 1830 the attention of the farmers of New England was directed to the raising of hemp, and machines for dressing it were required. E. & T. Fair- banks built three of the immense Haynes machines, thirty-two feet long, and each having one hundred and thirty fluted rolls arranged in pairs and geared together so that the hemp stalks were crushed between them as they were drawn from one end to the other of the machine. Mr. Fairbanks made the gear wheels, a machine for fluting the rollers, and parts that required skilled
work, besides planning and superintending the building of the new shop and store rooms, and patenting an improved hemp dresser. He was also made manager of the St. Johnsbury Hemp Co.
His duties as manager, purchasing hemp by weight, developed a necessity, which with such a man as he must prove the mother of invention. That which cost from ten to fifteen dollars per ton must be accurately weighed. The only weighing machine for carts then known consisted of a stick of timber suspended high in the air, from one end of which two chains hung down with rings at the ends which could be shipped over the ends of the axle, while from the other end of the timber lever hung a plat- form upon which weights were piled until the cart swung clear of the ground. The first device of Mr. Fairbanks consisted of a platform upon which a cart could be driven, resting and balanced upon a long knife- edge, or upon two in line, fixed upon a triangular lever, of which the apex hung by a steel-yard rod from a beam pivoted and graduated like the old Roman steel-yard, while the base rested upon proper bearings at the other end of the scale. To keep the platform balanced upon the supporting knife edges, a stiff post was framed into it, from the top of which level chains extended to posts set in the ground on either side which being level neither lessened nor increased the load resting upon the lever under the platform.
The scale which Mr. Fairbanks built upon this plan to weigh hemp worked so well that his brother thought that some might be sold as town scales, and an agent was to take the early morning stage and make the attempt. Mr. Fairbanks says : "While sitting up watch- ing for the time to call him, the principle upon which we now build our scales sud- denly came to my mind. I told the agent that he must wait a few days until I could make plans and patterns in accordance with my new discovery, and said to my wife that I had just discovered a principle that would be worth more than a thousand dollars." If such an arrangement of compound levers had ever been suggested before Mr. Fair- banks did not know it, for it had not been put into practical use, and he obtained a patent for it early in 1831, as his invention. His was the first real improvement upon the scales buried in the destruction of Pompeii. The first hay scale was rude, having wooden levers with cast iron bearings, but it was vastly better than anything before made, and in a few weeks several were sold.
Mr. Fairbanks at once saw that the com- bination of levers in the hay-scale, in which the four pivots upon which the platform rested should all stand in the same relation
Thaddeus Je wks
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of leverage to the indicating beam from which these levers hang, would be equally adapted to seales of other sizes for other uses. He at once set about making plans and patterns with his own hands for store scales. These and the counter scales, as well as the railway and canal boat scales which he designed later were new articles of manufacture, and everything about them must be originated. He says : "] had to consider the strength of material, the shape that would secure the greatest strength with the least material, and the symmetry and beauty of outside appearance. These, es- pecially the last, required a great amount of study. No one can be sure beforehand what the taste of the public will approve. That I succeeded in what 1 aimed at is shown by the fact that now after the lapse of fifty years the scales are made after the same design and all other makers follow the same. My evenings and sometimes nights were spent in this study, for I must be at the shop all day. My habit was to make the plans complete in my mind before com- mencing to put them upon paper."
The scale was a comparatively simple in- vention, but many of the machines invented by Mr. Fairbanks for facilitating the man- ufacture were exceedingly ingenious, one for engraving the sides of the scale-beams being capable of so many adjustments that the old foreman used to say that it could do every- thing but talk. Invention was not laborious -to see a result desirable was to devise a mechanism for accomplishing it. The real struggle was with poverty, and unskilled help and with ill-health. The demands of the business growing so rapidly could not be met from its earnings, and he made scales for fifteen years with only the rude tools which he fitted up himself, and for fifteen more bought only a little machinery. Trained mechanics could not be hired in the country, and he had only such assistants as he could educate himself. No business was ever carried on at greater disadvantage, or by its success attested more manly quali- ties in its manager.
The invention of the scale met at once a great want, and gradually changed so en- tirely the methods of doing business, that now it is as essential as the steam engine or the telegraph. Almost nothing is measured or counted, everything is weighed, from the minute prescription of some potent drug to the loaded freight train or canal boat. And Mr. Fairbanks lived to see scales de- manded for such a variety of uses that some five hundred modifications were sent out from St. Johnsbury. The scale has become a most potent factor in modern civilized life, the arbiter between buyer and seller, and by its accuracy is always teaching ex-
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