Dr. John M. Fairchild was perhaps the most distinguished of our lineage since the original Thomas Fairchild came to Connecticut in 1640. Before discussing the known facts about him, however, it is essential to correct a number of facts that are embedded an many family trees and histories that are available on the Internet.
First and most significant, although most family trees list John’s mother as Sarah (Sally) Caudill Fairchild, his birth mother according to Jean Fairchild Gilmore’s book, Early Fairchilds in America and Their Descendants, was Lucinda (Lucy) Bolling, who died during his childbirth. Second, within the family it was said that his middle name was Milton, but according to Ms. Gilmore and her book, his middle name was Madison. John’s grandson, John Milton Fairchild (son of Thomas Nelson Fairchild) registered for World War II and printed and signed his name as John Milton Fairchild. It is likely that he was named after his grandfather, strongly suggesting that Dr. Fairchild’s middle-name was Milton.
John was born on May 26, 1849 in Tazewell County, Virginia. His mother was Lucinda Bolling Fairchild who died during his childbirth. Likely as a consequence of losing his first wife, John’s father, Benjamin relocated with his newborn son to Whitesburg, Kentucky where his father had relocated years before. He met and married 16-year-old Sally Caudill the same year that John was born.
More than one historical record indicates that John was a medical doctor. His great granddaughter, Sue Kate Fairchild recounted that he attended the University of Louisville, majoring in medicine. However, he is not listed in a directory of Kentucky medical school students from 1838 to 1908, which includes the University of Louisville, Hospital College of Medicine, Kentucky School of Medicine, Kentucky University Medical Department and Louisville Medical College. No similar directories were available for Tennessee or North Carolina where he may have attended medical school, so at present it is unknown where he received his medical training. Another alternative is that John, like many physicians in the mid-1800s was self-taught. Often students were apprenticed to doctors and learned directly from them. “In the early 1840s most doctors learned through apprenticeships, and many did not attend medical school. Anyone could work as a doctor, with or without a medical license.[1]”
John was only 17 years old when the Civil War ended in 1865 and it is therefore unlikely that he was educated or practiced medicine during the Civil War. However his interest in medicine may have stemmed from eye witness accounts of wounded soldiers and civilians that he saw as a teenager. It is entirely likely that the he witnessed extensive battle-related injuries and bloodshed and this could potentially have motivated him to pursue medicine as a career. It is also not clear how he could afford to attend medical school – it is possible that his step-mother’s Caudill family helped since they were entrepreneurial and successful.
As discussed in the preceding Chapter, sometime after 1860 John’s father Benjamin moved the family from battle torn and violent Whitesville, Kentucky to Russell County, Virginia, likely to escape the hostilities taking place in and around Whitesburg. Kentucky. According to the 1860 U.S. Census the family was living in Whitesburg, but according to the 1870 U.S. Census they had moved to Russell County, Virginia and Benjamin was still working as a blacksmith.
John married Mary A. (Mollie) Kincheloe in Jonesboro, Washington County, Tennessee on January 25, 1875. Virginia. Mollie was born in 1858 so she was about 17 years old when they married. Their first son, Robert Eldridge Fairchild was born on December 4, 1879 in Flag Pond, Tennessee, but the remaining children were born in Yancey County, North Carolina[2].
It is not known how he met her or why he was in Tennessee. Washington County, Tennessee is about 128 miles from Whitesburg, Kentucky which was a substantial distance in the travel-by-horse era. It is also not known why or how they relocated from Flag Pond to Mars Hill, North Carolina, but the distance between those two locations is only 17.5 miles.
In addition to working as a medical doctor, John was also actively involved in the church. His 1880 marriage certificate to Polly Kincheloe lists his name as Rev. J. M. Fairchild. There is some conflict regarding when their first son, Robert Eldridge Fairchild was born. Robert’s death certificate states that he was born on December 4, 1879 even though his parents were not married until January 1880. If this is the case then the wedding may have taken place after Robert was born. However, Robert’s World War I draft registration card lists his birth as December 4, 1850.
During his life Dr. Fairchild encountered a wide range of experiences as a medical doctor. Certainly he was involved in the delivery of hundreds of babies over the years. He also was involved in deaths, sometimes tragically involving family members. In one such case he testified to the death of one of his daughter-in-laws, Laura Victoria Fairchild, wife of his son Thomas. She died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage.
The 1900 U.S. Census shows that Dr. Fairchild and family had relocated from the Tennessee and Kentucky area to Madison County, North Carolina at Middle Fork Township. Family members included Mollie A., Robert E., Janie (Sarah), Thomas N., Roscoe C., Lillie K., and Joseph W. By 1910 all of the children except for Joseph W. had left home. The family lived in South Toe, Yancey, North Carolina. By 1920 John Fairchild was well into old age. The family is still living in South Toe Township, Yancey, N.C. His occupation is listed as farmer. His son Thomas N. and daughter-in-law Hattie Fairchild are living with John and Mollie as well as their grandsons Samuel and John. He died in 1932 at his home in South Toe Township, Yancey, North Carolina.
American Generation #6
Dr. John M. Fairchild, Wife and Children
| John Milton Fairchild, M.D. | b: May 26, 1849, Tazewell County, Virginia d: Jan 2, 1932, South Toe Township, Yancey, NC |
| Molly A. (Molly) Kincheloe Married Jan. 25, 1880 | b: May 10, 1861, Washington, Tennessee d: May 28, 1923, South Fork, Yancey, NC |
Children
| Robert Eldridge Fairchild (Married Amanda Smith) | b: Dec 4, 1879, Flag Pond, Tennessee d: Jul 4, 1922, South Fork, Yancey, NC |
| Sarah Jane (Janie) Fairchild (Married …) | b: 1884, Yancey, NC d: Aug 28, 1977, McDowell, NC |
| Thomas N. Fairchild | b: May 23, 1884, Yancey, NC d: Jun 22, 1954, Marion, NC |
| Roscoe C. Fairchild | b: Jul 4, 1888, Yancey, NC d: May, 1963, Sykesville, Carroll County, Maryland |
| Lillie K. Fairchild (Married Ballew) | b: Jan 1890, Ivy, Madison, NC d: Jun 22, 1954, Yancey, NC |
| Joseph W. Fairchild (Married …) | b: Sep 19, 1893, Yancey, NC d: May 22, 1973, Asheville, NC |
MATERNAL ANCESTRY: MARY A. (Molly) KINCHELOE
Molly Kincheloe descended from a family that immigrated from England to America in the 1600s. Her parental line was:
- Eldridge Forrest Kincheloe (1829-1897) and Mary Jane Baxter Kincheloe (1833-1915)
- James Horace Kincheloe (1795-1874) and Mary Louise “Polly” Kincheloe (1796-1848)
- George E. Kincheloe (1761-1893) and Sarah Buckner (1761-1811)
- John Kincheloe, Jr. (1728-1809) and Mary “Polly” Wickliffe (1725-1794)
- John Kincheloe, Sr. (1694-1746) and Elizabeth Canterbury (1698-1777)
- Cornelius Chencello Kincheloe (1661-1722) and ? Shadrack (1672-1722)
- Hugh Kincheloe (1620-1690) and Marion Kaley (1640-1737)
During the 1640s and 1650s England experienced a civil war between two factions, one led by King Charles I and the other led by Oliver Cromwell and the English Parliament. Cromwell convinced parliament to establish a professional army which won the decisive victory over the King’s forces at Naseby (1645). Charles I was tried and executed in 1649.
Hugh Kincheloe supported Charles I and his son Charles II. Cromwell defeated the supporters of Charles II at Dunbar in 1650 and Worcester in 1651, effectively ending the civil war. Those who supported the Kings were persecuted for that support and forced, in some cases, to flee for the New World as Hugh Kincheloe did in 1658.
Hugh Kincheloe and family fled to and settled in Prince William County, Virginia. His son, John Kincheloe Sr. moved from Prince William to Fauquier County, Virginia in 1761. Fauquier County was described as a wilderness, but one of the beauty spots of Virginia. John Kincheloe Jr. was the founder of the Kincheloe family in east Tennessee, arriving there with his family and all children and the families of his married children in the autumn of 1789. He homesteaded near Kendrick’s Creek, seven miles west of Jonesboro in Washington County.
John Kincheloe Sr. was married to Elizabeth Canterbury, a descendant of the English Canterbury family dating back to 1066 and the Norman Conquest. His son, John Kincheloe, Jr. married Mary “Polly” Wyckliffe, a descendant of John Wyckliffe, a famous theologian known for translating the Holy Bible into English.
The next several generations of Kincheloe families resided in this location. James Horace Kincheloe (John Jr.’s grandson) lived nearly 80 years in the same homestead on Kindrick’s Creek in Washington County, Tennessee, his home being the same as his father, George Kincheloe. He, his father George, grandfather John Jr. and his children, grandchildren and slaves are buried on his farm.
James Horace Kincheloe served as a private in Bunch’s Regiment of East Tennessee Militia in the War of 1812, serving from January 4 to July 14, 1814. He engaged with the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa in east central Alabama and at Hickory Grounds. During the Civil War he was active in pursuing secession in Washington County, Tennessee and was paid after the war for grain he gathered for the Secessionists. Consequently, his pension for serving in the War of 1812 was suspended in 1873 on charge of disloyalty because of his secessionist efforts in the Civil War. He served as a private in the Local Confederate Defense Troops in Trevitt Sullivan’s Company, Tennessee Reserves.
Polly Kincheloe Fairchild’s father, Eldridge Forrest Kincheloe served as a private in McKenzie’s Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, became a Baptist minister, and served as missionary to the poor mountaineers of his section of east Tennessee. He lived on his farm near Fall Branch, Washington County, Tennessee. He married Mary Jane Baxter and they are buried on their home tract, three miles south of Fall Branch. He is listed as a farmer in the 1870 Census and their home was near Cox’s school.
In the early stages of family research my brother, Edgar Kessler believed that because of the Kincheloe name we were descended from either Cherokee or Black Dutch lines. However, as illustrated here, the Kincheloe family has been in America since the earliest times and before that resided in England and Scotland.
[1] American Medical Association
[2] Records list the children being born in Yancey County, North Carolina, but in 1851 Madison County was created from part of Yancey County. The family actually lived in Mars Hill, which ultimately resided in Madison County.
