In the spring of 1818, after four years of moderate success in Wheelock, Mr. Fairbanks sold out his goods, and moved to East St. Johnsbury, a place some five miles by road then from St. Johnsbury, and the center of quite a farming community. Here he entered into trade, and remained a year and a half. The movement was not a success. He lived in an uncomfortable house, and was subjected to expenses which absorbed all his profits. But he did not forget his religion. There being no church in the place, he started and maintained neighborhood meetings for prayer and conference, and on the Sabbath rode over the hills to St. Johnsbury for worship at the church with which he had first become connected. In the autumn of 1819, Mr. Fairbanks removed to Barnet, a little village ten miles south of St. Johnsbury. He was induced to make this change by a leading merchant in St. Johnsbury, whom he had confidence in, and who having purchased a store in Barnet, and established a clerk there, was very desirous that Mr. Fairbanks should go in with him. Promising well, it proved a great misfortune. The goods were old and unsalable. The clerk, his partner, became very unpopular, and was thought by the people to be dishonest. The customers forsook the store. There was nothing but loss. Mr. Fairbanks finally made arrangements which gave him the sole management of the business. The old customers returned, cordially wishing him success. He was, as he ever had been, industrious, attentive to business, leaving nothing at loose ends, strictly upright, and practiced the closest economy. He found time also for the Lord's work. There was a small, weak church, partly in Barnet and partly in Lyman across the Connecticut River. It had been planted by missionary effort, and being without a pastor, it was declining, and its congregation scattered. Mr. Fairbanks called the people together, commenced" reading meetings," and the hope of the church revived. on. begin to brighten, than his health failed, and he was brought into severer trial. In August he was prostrated by a typhoid fever, confining him several weeks. From a too early exposure a relapse was brought After he had begun to recover again, from overwork and fatigue, he experienced another relapse, resulting in a dangerous cough and affection of the lungs, confining him to the house the entire winter and spring, and from which he was not freed for several winters. He had three little children, and during the sickness of that winter, a fourth was born. Both parents were ill, and each unable to extend to the other that aid and sympathy so much needed. The care of the four little children was put into other hands. The store was left to provide for itself. The assistance in the house was kept at the lowest point possible, from motives of economy. Thus in suffering, and in the trial of hope deferred, the long, cold winter wore away. But with the spring came returning health and cheer. The memory of this sad winter lingers still in the traditions of the family. "It pleased an all-wise Providence to chasten me," writes Mr. Fairbanks, "and to interrupt the tide of my prosperity. The illness of the mother, my own feeble state of health, the necessity of intrusting the business of the store to a clerk at a time when the support of my family seemed to depend solely on my personal labor, conspired to render that winter a season of great anxiety and gloom." After a residence in Barnet of about six years, Mr. Fairbanks closed his business, and removed again to St. Johnsbury. This was, as it would seem, the charmed center about which he revolved for years, and at which at last, after he had been tried as by fire, and proved, he was destined to attain a success as marked as the way to it had been circuitous and difficult. He had first come to the place thirteen years before as a boy of nineteen, making trial of himself, but was turned from his But no sooner did his business prospects purpose from ill health. Visiting his home in Brimfield, he had returned again with horse, wagon, and harness, his entire estate, and finding no opening, he turned reluctantly away the second time. At this time, however, he found his Saviour here. After an absence of eleven years, spent in Wheelock, East St. Johnsbury, and Barnet, he again returned at the age of thirty-two, with a family of five children, and with a property of less than a thousand dollars. Now he was to find his life-work here. What he had passed through was the necessary process of preparation. Each seeming failure had been strengthening him for a greater final victory. He had taken up the duties of life at their humble beginning, and followed faithfully as God led the way. "I am touched with the vigor and steadfastness of that early service. He endured hardness as a good soldier. Amid the solicitations of urgent enterprise, domestic cares, and young ambition, he was not looking on his own things alone, but on the things of others also; and most of all, he studied the claims of God's kingdom. Everywhere he was intent on doing a Christian man's work. Just where God 'placed him, he stood. Calmly he listened to the voice of duty, whether stern or winning. Resolutely he handled the simple and obvious elements of his destiny. He shrunk from nothing, complained of nothing, but tried his young strength on the objects and opportunities that met him, wrestling for the prizes of life in a confident, brave way, all unconscious that he was wrestling with the angel of God, little thinking that even then he had power as a prince, and prevailed."1 In the midst of straitened circumstances, it had been made plain that he was a faithful steward of God, and that, more than wealth or honor or ease, did he desire the extension of His kingdom, and so had he proved himself fitted to become one of the almoners of the Divine bounty. By his varied experience he had ob 1 Funeral Discourse by Rev. E. C. Cummings, published under the title of "A Man in Christ." tained a knowledge of business, habits of industry and economy, and practiced wisdom in dealing with men, and so had become qualified to achieve that business success, which, when achieved, he was to use for the good of his fellows. And out of prolonged struggles had come a strength and maturity of character which would adorn any station he might fill. Thus tested through years of adversity, God was to honor his fidelity, and commit to him new and responsible trusts on the very ground upon which his heart had been set from the first, and from which he was to be called home at the last. There must, however, be more trial still. In 1815, the parents of Mr. Fairbanks, and his two brothers, having disposed of their homestead at Brimfield, packed up their household goods, and followed their oldest son into the new country. A clergyman, at that time a boy in Brimfield, writes: "It was one of the tender touches of my childhood to have gone with my mother to the house just before the family left our neighborhood; as it was to see the goods pass my father's store the next day, and hear his regretful remark to other neighbors."1 The family settled in St. Johnsbury, and built a grist mill and saw mill. Mr. Thaddeus Fairbanks, the brother next younger, also erected a carriage shop. When Mr. Fairbanks removed from Barnet to St. Johnsbury in 1825, he engaged in business with his brother Thaddeus. At first they rented and afterwards purchased a trip-hammer and pocket furnace on the stream opposite the mills, and engaged in the manufacture of stoves, cast-iron plows, and clothiers' screws. Their shop took fire and burned to the ground, with a loss of one thousand dollars. While they were in the process of rebuilding and enlarging, a freshet came and swept away their works at a loss again of one thousand dollars. The fire was in March, and the freshet in September, of 1828, and all within three 1 Rev. A. J. Sessions, Scituate, Mass. years after they commenced. Preparing a statement of their affairs, they laid it before their creditors, asking for an extension of credit for two years. It was cheerfully granted, and nothing daunted, yet exceedingly crippled in means, they commenced a third time to rebuild, and soon gained a wide local reputation in the manufacture of stoves and cast-iron plows. It was at this time that circumstances led to the invention and subsequent manufacture on an extensive scale, of one of the most important instruments in the mercantile world, one which has done more to correct the standards and to produce uniformity in the measurements of weights in the United States, than all other agencies combined, the Platform Scale. Mr. Fairbanks gives the account of its invention in the following words, which, since they have a general interest, will be quoted entire. "About the years 1829 and 1830 considerable excitement existed in the State of New York, and Western Vermont, among the farmers, in regard to the profits of the hemp culture. A machine for dressing hemp had been invented and patented, and parties interested in the patent published glowing accounts of the success of those who had raised hemp for the market. The machines were expensive, and establishments for the manufacture of these were not everywhere to be found. A company which had been organized in Lamoille County applied to us to construct one of these machines, and we undertook the work for eleven hundred dollars. After completing the machine, we got up a company for dressing hemp in St. Johnsbury, for which company we built another machine. The management of the company devolving principally upon us, we induced the farmers to grow the hemp in sufficient quantities to stock the works. We had contracted to purchase the article of them by weight, and it became necessary to construct some kind of an apparatus for weighing wagons loaded with hemp in the rough state. Accordingly, my brother Thaddeus constructed a rude apparatus, suspended in a framed building, which answered the purpose, but which was essentially unlike the article we afterwards manufactured. But my brother having had his attention directed to the science of weighing, continued to exercise his inventive powers until he hit upon the principle, essentially, of our present weighing machines. He exhibited to me the plan, and I discovered at once that it embraced a valuable improvement, and advised to apply for a patent to secure the exclusive right to the invention. This was the commencement of the scale business, which has grown into a world-wide notoriety. "Our first operations, however, contemplated only the manufacture of hay scales. We had no idea then of adapting the instrument to all the requirements of transactions by weight in the manufacturing and mercantile community. Our first patent was dated in 1830. Another was obtained in 1831, since which several improvements have been patented at different dates. Our principal business continued to be for several years after 1830, the manufacture of plows, although from small beginnings the scale business increased from year to year continuously, until it ultimately superseded all our other manufacturing operations. From the simple wooden hay-scale which we first introduced, we have adapted the principle to every required service, until at the present time we have more than one hundred different modifications." It is interesting to remark that the hemp business proved a failure; but it created the necessity which gave birth to the invention which has been of so much service to the business world. In 1834, the third brother, Joseph Paddock Fairbanks, became a partner in the firm.1 From that time on, the three brothers, who were one as entirely in 1 This brother, Joseph P., afterwards so widely known and universally beloved, was removed by death May 15, 1855, at the age of forty-nine. Christian sympathy, and in the spirit of benevolence as in their business relations, seemed to live to see what good they could accomplish with the means God was put ting in their hands. Their beautiful homes were near each other. Their families were much together in reading-circles for the mutual improvement of the children, as well as for kindly social intercourse; and for many years together they were permitted to enjoy, in the clear bright sunshine of their prosperity, a happiness as nearly complete, it would seem, as is ever afforded in this life. The duties and responsibilities of the three brothers were subsequently shared by the sons of Governor Fairbanks, who became active members of the firm, and by whom, in connection with Mr. Thaddeus Fairbanks, the surviving brother, its business is now conducted. From the commencement of the financial prosperity of this firm, the cause of good order, education, and religion has fully shared in that prosperity. If the growth of the business in St. Johnsbury could be photographed, in its moral as well as physical aspects, for the last thirty years, it would afford a picture of exceeding interest. Beginning with the "pocket furnace," the demand for scales constantly increased, shops were enlarged, and more men were hired. All other business by degrees gave place to this. Greater care was taken to make each scale perfect. None were allowed to leave the manufactory which were not so. Attention to the business was unremitting. "During these years, and commensurate with our scale business, I was accustomed," says Mr. Fairbanks, "to devote myself almost incessantly to the management of our business. As it was continuously on the increase, it was almost a matter of necessity that I should be more and more industriously occupied with its cares. I did not, however," adds Mr. Fairbanks, "neglect my religious duties, nor the interests of the church." an interest taken in them and their families. None but the temperate and Sahbath-keeping were employed, and to this end work closed earlier on Saturday afternoon. Modern schoolhouses took the place of old ones in the village. New churches were constructed for comfort and convenience. An academy was built and supported by the firm. A reading-room, with a library. was opened for the workmen and young men of the village; institutions of learning were assisted; the treasuries of benevolent societies were constantly enriched. The whistle of the locomotive began to be heard in that part of the State, opening increased facilities for transportation. The community round about was astir with new life, the value of real estate increased, taste came, and culture. Orders for scales multiplied, coming in from an everwidening circuit. More workmen were employed; new workshops arose; warehouses were established in the leading cities of the Union. Scales were sent to foreign countries. Public benefaction was increased. More attention was paid to the good order and well-being of the community, to temperance, to education, to Sabbath-keeping, and religion. And so the circle of good influence extended year after year. The one shop grew to a village of shops. The four or five workmen employed at first were increased to as many hundred. For the four scales per month at first constructed, as many thousands were made in that time. Drunkenness and disorder were things unknown. unknown. Industry, intelligence, and thrift were universal. The town became the shire town of the county, and the business center of all that part of the State. It was visited by good men living far and near, who desired aid in some benevolent work, and to know when wisely to give, and when to withhold, became a difficult duty. To trace those thirty-four years of the The workmen were paid liberally, and life of Governor Fairbanks, commencing with the beginning of his financial prosperity in 1830, when he had just turned the first half of his life, and ending with his death in 1864, at the age of seventytwo, is to record the daily acts of a life devoted to every good and noble work. Rare must be the talent which could organize and direct such a business in the face of so many obstacles, in an inland town remote from business centers, and guide it safely through all the financial embarrassments to which the country has been subject. But a fact far more rare and interesting is, that in the midst of so many cares, time abundant was always found, and means equally abundant, not only for aiding in every good work, but for leading in new benevolent movements, for which many, with far less to do, thought they could find no time. It is not strange that such a man, becoming more widely known with every year, and always for good and not evil, should be sought out and asked to fill high offices of honor and trust. By his energy, efficiency, and practical wisdom, and untiring devotion to every worthy interest of the community, he had come to be thought of as obviously the man for difficult and responsible trusts, and to lead in benevolent efforts. In 1828, three years after his settlement in St. Johnsbury, Mr. Fairbanks was chosen Deacon of the Second Congregational Church at that place, which office he held until his death, purchasing to himself" a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." He was constant in his devotion to the interests of the church, visiting the sick, remembering the needy, calling upon the stranger, gently counseling those astray, and in countless silent ways strengthening the hands of the pastor. He remembered the church daily, in the closet and at the family altar. When in town he was always present at the prayer-meetings of the church, was a teacher in the Sabbath School, and did much to give interest to the monthly missionary concert. In re ligious meetings, as everywhere, his man ner was very quiet, and his words weighty, revealing a heart near to God. By nature he was a leader. It was characteristic of him, in business and elsewhere, to plan and incite others to effort. It was deeds, not words, with him everywhere. The spirit of Christ was so manifest in him, that even in his gray hairs, some of his younger children carried the impression, for a long time, that he would certainly be a minister. The Rev. James Johnson had been installed pastor of this church the year before Mr. Fairbanks was chosen deacon, the church in its feebleness having depended until that time upon chance supplies. At the council called for the installation of Mr Johnson, the church being present, Mr. Fairbanks introduced this resolution: "Resolved, that we are too weak as a church to attempt to get on hereafter without a settled minister," which was unanimously carried. "Of this long service as deacon," says Mr. Cummings, in his funeral discourse, "I judge from what he has been to me. His candor, his zeal, his judgment, his promptness and recollection in the midst of most absorbing civil occupations, were too conspicuous for commendation, and blended so gently with precious friendships and fine liberality of spirit as to leave me but one memory for all, while for all I am personally his debtor. He knew how to be stanch in faith and free in thought. He could be uncompromising in principle and cautious in deliberation. He was both strenuous and patient, frank and reserved, sincere and wary. In haste to arrive at truth, he searched for it as for hid treasures, but he did not hurry to his opinion, for what was an opinion to him if it lacked the evidence to constitute a belief?" Professor Noyes, of Dartmouth College, thus speaks of his Christian spirit as he met him in his home and in the church: "I was greatly interested in his simple faith in the teachings of Revelation. He was firm in his belief of the doctrines which have been so much loved by the good men and women of New England in its best days. |