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Willard Fairbanks (1795-1848)
Azubah Fuller Fairbanks (1796-1873)
Francis E. Fairbanks (1821-1845)
Willard Fairbanks (1795-1848)
Azubah Fuller Fairbanks (1796-1873)
Francis E. Fairbanks (1821-1845)
Willard Fairbanks was born in 1795 to Benjamin Fairbanks, Jr. and his wife Hannah Dean Fairbanks. On January 5, 1817, he married Azubah Fuller (1796-1873) in Dedham. Azubah, the daughter of Seth Fuller and Rebekah Morse Fuller, was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, a place well-known to South Dedham residents. Between 1763 and 1793, young people from South Dedham families, seeing little future in an area where most farmland had already been taken, moved to the forested land of New Hampshire to start a new life. Local historian Win Everett called it the “Francestown Migration” and contended that one young couple from every family in South Dedham made the move. Yet, the connections between the communities remained strong, as the marriage of Willard Fairbanks and Azubah Fuller demonstrates.
Willard and Azubah Fairbanks were the parents of four sons: Jarvis, Abijah, Francis, and Willard. Jarvis and Willard, Jr. became cabinet makers, Abijah was a leather currier, and Francis became a blacksmith.
Francis E. Fairbanks, born in 1821, was their third child. Unlike the others, Francis did not marry. He died on August 16, 1845 at the age of 24. The cause of his death was consumption (tuberculosis).
Almost three years later, Willard Fairbanks died on January 21, 1848, of the same disease. He was 53. Azubah Fuller Fairbanks lived until 1873. She died in Norwood on July 4, 1873 at the age of 77 of old age. She had been residing with her son, Willard, and his family until her death.