Generation 3, starring Caleb Fairchild is an interesting one. It is the first to leave the Connecticut area and settle in the wilderness of New Jersey. He led an active and well-documented life until succumbing to smallpox, along with his wife and one of their sons in 1777. Smallpox took a heavy toll on the Revolutionary Army at the same time.
Caleb and Ann Fairchild
Caleb Fairchild was the son of Zachariah and Hannah Beach Fairchild. He was the fifth of nine children, the “middle child,” and was born September 10, 1693 in Stratford, Connecticut. He married Ann Sherwood Trowbridge on May 17, 1717.
Caleb and Ann had eight Fairchild children: Sarah (1719-1719), Matthew 1720-1790), Sarah (1722-1804), Joseph (1724-1804), Gershom (1728-1788), Ebenezer (1729-1808), Mehitabel or Mabel (1732-1795), and Ezra (1734-1777).
Caleb was the grandson of Thomas Fairchild and was the first ancestor to leave Connecticut. According to T.M. Fairchild, Caleb and Ann Fairchild moved from Connecticut to Whippany, New Jersey which is in Morris County (see following section describing migration from Stratford to New Jersey). It is probable that his son Matthew Fairchild was born in New Jersey.
Caleb was a farmer & mill owner of Fairchild Mills in Hanover, New Jersey. He was a respected member of the community where he and Anne settled, and raised her children, as well as the children that they had together.
Caleb, Anne, and Caleb’s brother Zachariah were among the founding members of the Morristown First Presbyterian Church.
Anne, Caleb, and their son Ezra died during an outbreak of smallpox (which also claimed the lives of several Continental soldiers) in the spring of 1777.
EXCERPT FROM “ALONG THE WIPPANONG: A HISTORY OF HANOVER TOWNSHIP” By Elizabeth R. Myrose and Claire B. Kitchell
The mills and forges were the lure that would bring settlers from the east and the north, and which would finally give Whippany (then part of Hanover, New Jersey) its reputation.
The mills also produced the leading families of the township. The first of these were the Fairchilds. The family patriarch, Caleb Fairchild, arrived in Whippany in 1735, with his brother Zachariah, and his wife Anne, and established a gristmill and a saw mill on the tract of the orignal forge and property now occupied by the International Paper Co. (now since gone).
A member of the Presbyterian Church in Hanover for a number of years, he and Anne were also founding members, along with Zechariah, of the Morristown First Presbyterian Church in Morristown. Caleb also served as Morris County Sheriff from 1746 to 1748. He died on May 1, 1777 at 84 years of age.
Caleb’s son Abner was a Captain in the Army. Abner had seven sons who were patriots. Abraham Fairchild, grandson of Caleb, also an Army Captain, followed in his grandfather’s footsteps.
On the site of Caleb’s saw mill, Abraham established a very successful woolen mill. On Stoney Brook in Malapardis, he built a carding machine and fulling mill (a step in the woolen cloth-making process which involves the cleansing of wool to eliminate oils, dirt and other impurities and to make it fuller), the first in this section of New Jersey.
Abraham Fairchild was a social as well as business leader of the township. His mansion on Jefferson Road drew notables from all parts of Morris County. Abraham’s son John sold the family interests in other plants, but retained the fulling mill and took over its management. John’s son, E.R. Fairchild, and grandson, A. K. Fairchild, carried on the operation of the company until 1890, a span of a century of family ownership. In the post-Civil War period, with machinery purchased from New York State Prison, the plant turned to the manufacture of woolens.”
Migration from Stratford, Connecticut to Morris County, New Jersey
According to New Jersey Archives, Caleb was in New Jersey as early as 1730. His last grantor deed in Stratford was 18 April 1722. One of Caleb’s descendants said he went from Stratford to Stonington, Connecticut, then to Hempstead, Long Island, New York, and then to New Jersey. He also at one point briefly lived in the New Haven, Connecticut area, and is on the deeds there. It is noted in Fairchild family history correspondence that several of Zachariah and Hannah Fairchild’s children relocated from Connecticut to New Jersey and settled near Whippany and Morristown and in the Berkshire Valley.
Revolutionary War Connections
Caleb’s oldest son Matthew fathered a son, also named Caleb (1743-1807). This Caleb was a fifth generation descendant of Thomas Fairchild and was a Revolutionary War soldier who served from New Jersey.
Another son, Abner, and Abner’s son Abraham, also fought in the Revolutionary War. He was a Captain in the Army. Abner had seven sons who were patriots. Abraham Fairchild, grandson of Caleb, also an Army Captain, followed in his grandfather’s footsteps.
One interesting note about this generation of Fairchilds is that while some of them and their descendants clearly fought on the side of the Continentals in the Revolutionary War others were Loyalists who supported the King during the War. The Loyalist contingent fled to Ontario, Canada after the War to avoid prosecution and imprisonment. Most of the Canadian Fairchilds hail from this line of the family.
Caleb as Sheriff
Most colonists were farmers and crops were their only source of sustenance and income. Few people worked for money in the form of wages. The barter system was the dominant form of exchange for most citizens because the King’s government prohibited colonial money and there was a short supply of English money in circulation.
Over time as demand for a fiat currency to replace bartering increased, colonists and businesses sought various solutions. The first strategy was use of South American Spanish coins, known as “Pieces of Eight” or “Spanish Dollars”. A second strategy adopted by some colonies was printing of paper money. However, there was significant distrust that the value of the notes would be backed by the colonial governments. Consequently, merchants in a colony that printed currency often did not honor it and neighboring colonies also did not recognize it.
The fiscal situation in the colonies added to growing distrust between colonists and Colonial governments. Government appointees often ignored fiscal matters leaving colonies in a financially difficult situation.
Counterfeiting in colonial America was common, especially in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania colonies from 1730 to 1770. It occurred in almost all colonies to some extent before the revolution. Causes included the general political situation and feeble colonial government efforts to control or stop the people involved.
Counterfeiting of Spanish coins and paper money was relatively easy. Coin counterfeiting required metal working skills and paper counterfeiting required ability to use ink and paper to replicate colonial script. The Kings government and its colonial representatives regarded counterfeiting as a serious crime subject to death. The colonists however viewed counterfeiting as less serious. Those in charge did not want to antagonize the citizens and intensify anti-Monarch sentiment so the death sentence was rarely enforced.
The crime of counterfeiting was usually committed by two different levels of society. The most skillful and persistent were small “gangs” of men who moved about and had only limited ability to produce counterfeit notes but a persistence that made it profitable and worth the risk. These were generally petty criminals who were known to local sheriffs and constables. They effectively recruited locals to get involved, struck quickly and moved on.
The second group was men of substance; family men, landowners, church members and small business owners; all were upstanding community members. Their involvement in counterfeiting is attributed to acts of civil disobedience which preceded the eventual rebellion against the King.
On the 25th Nov., 1746, Caleb Fairchild was appointed High Sheriff of Pequannock by Governor Belcher, of the Colony of New Jersey. He served as sheriff for two years. During this period counterfeiting was occurring with great frequency. A group of ten men were involved in counterfeiting activities and were discovered, indicted and arrested on September 20, 1748. The men were Timothy Conner, Seth Hall, Jonathan Hathaway, John Pipes, Job Allen, Andrew Morrison, Abraham Southerd, Samuel Blackford, Sylvanus Totten and David Brant.
According to accounts, Sheriff Caleb Fairchild allowed the counterfeiters to escape. It was later learned that Sheriff John Kinney had also assisted in the jail break. The men were later arrested again and tried before a Kings Court, given somewhat lenient sentences and released. They were again indicted in 1752 for escaping from jail and required to pay small fines.
CALEB FAIRCHILD DEED
Caleb Fairchild in Hanover Town, June 4, 1776, No. 1- pg. 75, plotted p. 106
All that certain tract of land lying in Hanover afore said. Beginning in the middle of the road that leads from Morristown to Hyberna furnace also being a corner of Mathew Ball’s land from thence running North by said Ball’s land seventy-three degrees along the said Ball’s line eleven chains & eighty links to Nathaniel Peck’s land now Jonathon Hathaway’s thence by his land South twenty degrees & fifteen minutes West twelve chains & eighty-five links to the land of Mathur Fairchild thence South seventy-nine degrees East twelve chains to the middle of the road thence South seventy-nine degrees East twelve chains to the middle of the road then North fifty-six degrees East two chains & twenty links along said road thence North eighty degrees five chains then North fifteen degrees East three chains to the beginning. Containing fifteen acres & fifteen hundredths of an acre strict measure.
Jonathon Hatheway
Ashur Fairchild
ABSTRACT FROM THE WILL OF CALEB FAIRCHILD
“1773, Oct. 4 – Fairchild, Caleb, of Hanover, Morris Co.; will of.
To wife, Anne, use of all real and personal estate, during her life.
To children, Matthew, and Joseph, Gershom, Ebenezer the following legacies: to Joseph 10 pounds; to Matthew 10 pounds; to Gershom 10 pounds; to Mehitabel, 20 pounds; to Sarah, 5 pounds. sons Joseph and Ezra, all real estate, and they pay legacies.
Executors- sons Joseph and Ezra. Witnesses-Ebenezer, Ezekiel Cheever, Sarah Cheever. Proved May 14, 1777”
FAIRCHILDS BURIED IN THE OLD PRESBYTERIAN BURYING GROUND IN
MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
(from “Whose Who in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Morristown, NJ”)
Fairchild, Catherine–17/44–Daughter of Ephraim & Gitty Fairchild, d. 26 Nov 1826, age 11 months 4 days. [Ed. Note: CR70 show Catharine Price Fairchild, Daughter of Ephraim & Gertrude “Gitty” (Oliver) Fairchild].
Fairchild, Catherine–20/37–Buried with David Fairchild–Erected by their Son S. F. 1821. [Ed. Note: This would appear to be the Catherine (Gregory) Fairchild which CR69 show b. 13 Mar 1735, m. David Fairchild 9 Nov 1757, and d. 18 Feb 1800. See Fairchild, David at Site 20/37].
Fairchild, Dabriat (Deborah)–25/12–d. 13 Apr 1757, age 50. [Ed. Note: Wife of Zachariah, the First Leading Elder of the Church upon separation of the Morristown Church from the Hanover Church in about 1737. Vail spells the name Dabriah. CR69 show Deborah, 1st Wife of Zachariah Fairchild of Morris Plains. Deborah & Zachariah were parents of two i.e., David and Abiel. CR69 show “Dabriat” on the headstone].
Fairchild, David–24/26–d. 13 Apr 1855, age 88.7.10. [Ed. Note: CR69 show David Fairchild, Son of David & Catherine (Gregory) Fairchild, b. 3 May 1767, m. Hannah Day 13 Sep 1794. David & Hannah were parents of eight i.e., Samuel, Lewis, Josiah, Franklin, Henry, David Day, Silas, and James].
Fairchild, David–20/37–Buried with Catherine Fairchild–Erected by their Son S. F. 1821. [Ed. Note: This would appear to be the David Fairchild which CR69 show was the Son of Deborah & Zachariah Fairchild, b. 6 May 1734, 1st m. Catherine Gregory on 9 Nov 1757. David & Catherine were parents of ten i.e., Abijah, Rhoda, Phebe, Samuel, David, Silas, Eunice, Mabel Silas, and Lewis. David 2nd m. Nancy Loper 3 Jan 1807. David d. 30 Aug 1807, age 73. The S. F. who erected the marker at this Site for David and Catherine probably was the 2nd Son named Silas who died 18 Feb 1852, age 75. The other possibility would be their Son Samuel, although he moved to Savannah, Georgia. His date of death has not been found].
Fairchild, Elizabeth–Reinterred at Evergreen No Date No Location Shown–Wife of William W. Fairchild, d. 23 Apr 1832, age 24.4.7. [CR72 show Elizabeth Jaggers m. 15 Feb 1830 to William Fairchild, d. 4 Apr 1832, age 24. Reinterment confirmed by Chambers at Page 62].
Fairchild, Hannah–24/25–Wife of David–d. 10 Jan 1851, age 82.7.5. [Ed. Note: See Fairchild, David at Site 24/27].
Fairchild, Phebe Briant–20/2–Wife of Silas Fairchild, d. 7 Sep 1846, age 70 [Ed. Note: Parker shows originally copied 1816 and corrected with Church Records. See Fairchild, Silas].
Fairchild, Rhoda–20/36–d. 27 Dec 1845, age 84. [Ed. Note: CR69 show Rhoda Fairchild, Daughter of David & Catherine (Gregory) Fairchild, b. 9 Sep 1860, d. 26 Jan 1845, age 84].
Fairchild, Sarah–29/23–Wife of Matthew, d. 6 Jan 1750, age 33. [Ed. Note: Parker shows originally copied 1756 and corrected with Church Records. CR71 show Sarah _______ was the 1st Wife of Matthew Fairchild. Matthew remarried two more times. He is shown Father of ten i.e., Caleb, Ruth, Ann, Sarah, Stephen, Asher, Jonathan, Theodocia, Rebecca, and Mehitabel. Based on the dates of Baptism, Sarah would have been the Mother of the first five. Based on the date of Matthew’s third marriage, the last two would have been by his third Wife. It is unclear which of Matthew’s Wives i.e., #1 or #2, was the Mother of which of the three remaining children i.e., Asher, Jonathan, and Theodocia].
EXCERPT FROM “A HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, EMBRACING UPWARDS OF TWO CENTURIES, 1710-1913”
Since 1735 the name Fairchild has been well known in Morris County. Thomas Fairchild, a native of England crossed the Atlantic to the Colony of Connecticut in 1639. Caleb Fairchild, the direct ancestor of the branch of the Fairchild family living in Morris County, located in Whippany, New Jersey, in 1735, and died in May, 1777 aged eighty-four years. His wife and he were members of the First Presbyterian Church as early as 1742. Mathew, the eldest son, born in 1720, died June 5, 1790, aged sixty-nine years. His ten children were all baptized in the First Presbyterian Church in Morristown. The seventh son, Jonathan Fairchild, was born November 3, 1751, baptized December 10, 1752. On September 8, 1783, he married Sarah Howell. He died August 5, 1813, aged sixty-three years.
Dr. Stephen Fairchild, their youngest son, was born in Littleton, Morris County, October 28, 1792. He was a man of strong mentality, possessing a very studious nature. After acquiring a common school education he prepared himself for the practice of medicine. He pursued his studies under the direction of Dr. Ebenezer and Charles E. Pierson, of Morristown, New Jersey; attended medical lectures in Philadelphia for a year, and engaged in practice in New York. Upon urgent solicitation of many friends he removed to Parsippany, New Jersey as the successor of Dr. Hartwell, who recently died. For thirty-six years he was successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen calling, and his pronounced skill and ability made him the leader of his profession. He was among the first to adopt Homeopathy and became a firm believer that practice. He was not only an eminent physician but was an earnest and devout Christian. Few physicians have ever been more loved or honored than Dr. Stephen Fairchild. Death came to him after a long illness, marked by the greatest suffering. He bore it with Christian fortitude. He died July 13, 1872, and was laid to rest in the cemetery of Parsippany.
Dr. Stephen Fairchild enjoyed an ideal home life. He was married May 18, 1818 to Miss Euphemia M. Brinkerhoff born in Mount Hope, New Jersey, September 1796, daughter of George D. Brinkerhoff and Euphemia Ashfield. Mr. Brinkerhoff retired from business, purchased a home in Parsippany, and removed his family in 1797. The residence had been a noted tavern in Revolutionary times. It became the birthplace of the children of Dr. Stephen and Euphemia Fairchild. It was destroyed by fire in November, 1874, but was rebuilt on the old site and continued to be the home of Mrs. Euphemia Fairchild through her last years. She died June 20, 1882. She was a lady of the old school – amiable, educated, refined, and a sincere Christian.
The children of Dr. Stephen Fairchild and his wife were: Richard Van Wyck, born February 22, 1819, and Eliza S., born October 19, 1820, but died in infancy. The only son followed in his father’s footsteps, and the two were associated in business for a number of years, a most ideal relationship existing between them. The son was prepared for college in the classical school conducted by Ezra Fairchild, in Mendham, New Jersey. In 1837 he entered the junior class at Princeton College, where he graduated in 1839. At Princeton he was the College wit, and thus with a strong vein of humor, combined with his power of imitation and representation, together with his wide and varied information, made him a most agreeable companion and entertaining gentleman. He was an able writer. His nature was not without the poetic side, nor did he lack in musical culture; he was fond of all the arts and interests that elevate humanity.
He studied medicine under the professional guidance of father, and subsequently under Dr. McClennan of Philadelphia, and Dr. Mott of New York. He entered upon practice with his father in 1843, and attained an eminence in professional circles, for his knowledge was comprehensive and accurate, possessing exceptional skill in the diagnosis of cases and the administration of proper remedies.
Dr. Richard Van Wyck Fairchild died very suddenly, February 24, 1874, and was laid to rest in the family plot in the burial ground at Parsippany. He survived his father hardly two years, and thus they were united in such ties of love and interested in life were not long separated in death.
American Generation #3
Caleb Fairchild and Wife and Children
| Caleb Fairchild | b: Sep. 10, 1793, Stratford, Fairfield, CT d: May 1, 1777, Morristown, NJ |
| Anne Sherwood Trowbridge Fairchild(Married in 1716) | b: 1691, Stratford, Fairfield, CT d: Apr 6, 1777, Whippany, Morris County, NJ |
Children
| Sarah | b: May 1719, Stratford, Fairfield, CT d: May 1719, Stratford, Fairfield, CT |
| Matthew | b: 1720, Morristown, NJ d: Jun 5, 1790, Hanover, New Jersey |
| Sarah | b: Jun 5, 1722 d: Oct 5, 1804 |
| Joseph | b: 1724d: Oct 5, 1804 |
| Gershom | b: 1728d: Nov 28, 1778, Somerset, NJ |
| Ebenezer | b: 1729d: Feb 5, 1806 |
| Mehitabel (Mabel) | b: 1732d: Jan 12, 1795 |
| Ezra | b: 1734d: Apr 14, 1777 |