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William Fairbairn (1790 - 1872)

William Fairbairn
Born in Scotlandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of DNA confirmed and [uncertain]
Brother of
Husband of — married 25 Dec 1813 in Yetholm, Roxburghshire, Scotlandmap
Descendants descendants
Father of , , , , , and
Died at age 81 in Wakefield, Quebec, Canadamap
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Profile last modified | Created 4 May 2014
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Contents

Biography

William Fairbairn [1][2]

Born Apr 1790 Scotland

Note: Roy advises that census records all say born Scotland, and that burial record has William Fairbairn Wakefield Quebec d- 6 b- 8 Feb 1872 in his 82nd year, so 1790 Scotland seems to be accurate. The April comes from Reby's death date, which, although it has the incorrect year, would fit with William not yet being 82 when he died in Feb.[1][3]

Died 06 Feb 1872 Wakefield, Quebec, Canada

NB this contradicts a previously published (by Reby DODDS) date of Apr 1867. Reby both wrote the book and erected the tombstone, but William's burial record clearly places his death in 1872.[4]
"William Fairbairn, a Scot from Roxburghshire and a millwright by trade, came to Canada in 1820. (actually a little earlier than that) With his mason's skills, he found ready employment in the construction of locks on the Rideau Canal. In 1838, Fairbairn asked permission to establish a mill on the 'petite riviere Lapeche'. There was no grist mill within sixty kilometres of the farming community in the new township. The substantial waterfall on the Lapeche was a perfect site. It was two kilometres south to the farm Fairbairn had established four years previously on the Gatineau River"[5][6]

Lived:

Dec 1813 Par. of Alderton (Ilderton?), Northumberland, England

Note: Alderton is assumed to be Ilderton, NBL[7]

after 1817 St Andrews East, Quebec, Canada[8]

after 1819 Up the Ottawa River, Canada

"moved up the Ottawa River from project to project"[8]

after 1828 Bytown, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada[9]

1838

Note: By 1838 William was farming in the same area, with his son William. He was living with 2 of his sons, and 7 grandchildren. They built a frame house on the west side of the river. The family occupied this house till the early 1900's. Several descendants, including a William, live in Wakefield to this day"[10]
Note: "It is said he may have lived on the site where the Supreme Court of Canada now stands but he does not appear on any list of lot holders in Upper Town. However, William Fairbairn may not have been a landowner at this time, he may have rented his accommodations instead. It is known that he was a member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church and that he was employed as a builder of the locks of the Rideau Canal.
William Fairbairn learned the trade of milling in Britain with his cousin who was also named William Fairbairn. The latter Fairbairn became known for his text, "Treatise on Mills and Millwork" (1878) that was said to be only second to Oliver Evan's "The Young Millwright and Miller's Guide", as a bible for millers in Britain, Europe and North America.
(NB this "cousin"-ship has been disproved) After his work on the Rideau Canal, William Fairbairn purchased farmland north of the village of Wakefield, being Lot 1, Range 3."[11]
"He (William) and others of the Fairbairn name found work building the locks of the Rideau Canal in Bytown, now Ottawa.... In Bytown they lived in a house near where the Justice Building stands today. The cows were pastured on what is now Parliament Hill, and their drinking water flowed from a spring where the "Hill" slopes to the Ottawa River."

Buried Wakefield, Quebec, Canada

Tombstone:
"In honored memory of the pioneer William Fairbairn, millwright, and his wife Jean Wanless, nurse of Roxburghshire, Scotland 1790-1867 - They builded better than they knew who builded for posterity."
Burial Cert (from Roy):
Jean (Jane) Fairbairn (Wanless) Wakefield Quebec d-3 Jun b- 5 Jun 1868 aged 78 years 21 days and signed by her husband William Fairbairn.[8][4][12]

Family

Husband: William Fairbairn
Wife: Jean Wanless

Married 25 DEC 1813 Yetholm, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Entry for Dec 25th 1813 reads: William Fairbairn parish of Alderton, & Jean Wanless of this parish were married irregularly. Janry 9th 1814 confirmed by the Session"[1][7]

Children:

Archibald Fairbairn (1815-1883)
John Fairbairn (1819-1908)
Ellen (Fairbairn) Hudson (abt.1821-abt.1902)
George Fairbairn (1823-1907)
Alice (Fairbairn) Hudson (abt.1829-abt.1868)
Frances (Fairbairn) Lovett (1829-1915)
William Fairbairn (1832-1907)

Census:

1852 Wakefield, Ottawa Co, Quebec, Canada

FAIRBURN: Willm, carpenter, 60; Jane 62, both b Scotland; Willim Jnr, labourer, 24, Mary 20, both b Canada; All Presbyterian (no date on page, or first page, census not completed until 1852, often known as "the census of 1852"[13]

1861 Wakefield, Ottawa Co, Quebec, Canada

FAIRBURN: William 69 farmer; wife Jane 71 both b Scotland; Willm 30 farmer b U.C.; wife Martha Jane 25 b Ireland; William 7, Mary Anne 5, Martha Jane 3, James 1 (born 1860), all b L.C.; Ellen 37 "wife of John Fairn b SCT; Frances 13, William 11, Jane 9 all b L.C. All Presb. F.C. Living in a "tide? log" building, 3 families, 1 hse being built[14][15]

Research Note

Parents:

Note: Although William was supposedly born Scotland to William FAIRBAIRN & Ayslie ELLIOT, this baptism is yet to be found, as is any trace of a couple of this name. Henderson-2297 12:34, 27 July 2021 (UTC)
Another candidate is the William baptised over the border in Wooler, William to William and Ann (BROWN) FAIRBAIRN, which parish coincides with the baptism of eldest son Archibald in Wooler (as well as in Yetholm) Henderson-2297 12:34, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[16]

Date of death

Note Burial cert. and headstone discrepancy.

DNA

yDNA

Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA testing. Martin Fairbairn, FTDNA kit #105175, and his 5th cousin once removed, Anonymous Fairbairn, FTDNA kit #149873, BigY exact match thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their MRCA Archibald Fairbairn (abt.1760-aft.1800).
The Fairbairn Surname DNA project has BigY testers representing both Archibald Fairbairn (abt.1760-aft.1800) and the two known sons of William Fairbairn (abt.1763-1809). They share I-BY21381

Pushing this back to the earlier generations:

To date [Fairbairn-40|Robert Fairbairn (abt.1729-aft.1771)]] is only represented by a y67 test, unable to be upgraded to anything. (Tester wanted! Henderson-2297 10:44, 6 December 2023 (UTC) )
But, this candidate is a close y67 match to the 4 BigY testers, which leads to this confirmation:
Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA testing. Gordon Roy Fairbairn (1929-2013), FTDNA kit #110935, and his 5th cousin once removed, Earl Millard Fairburn (1924-2007), FTDNA kit #87728, match at a Genetic Distance of 0 on 67 markers thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their MRCA John Fairbairn (abt.1705-aft.1742).
Between the BigY timeframes, and the y67 exact match estimates from FTDNA a common ancestor born around 1700 is certainly in the right timeframes currently estimated.[17]
It would be fantastic to confirm more of this with a BigY test of a descendant down from Robert Fairbairn married Landreth.

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Corres. FAIRBAIRN/WANLESS, Quebec ex G Roy & Pat F. (BRC, CAN), Recipient: Lorna Henderson (NZ)
  2. ↑ Correspondence re FAIRBAIRN/WANLESS ex Janis ULSTEIN (USA), Recipient: Lorna (NZ) , rcvd Jun 1996
  3. ↑ FAIRBAIRN Analysis, for the Fairbairn One Name Study (ONS) Author: Lorna Henderson, Apr 2009
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bur. William FAIRBAIRN (8 Feb 1872) Jean WANLESS (Jun 1868), Hall's Cem, Wakefield, rcvd in corres. re FAIRBAIRN/WANLESS, Quebec ex G Roy & Pat F. (BRC, CAN), Recipient: Lorna Henderson (NZ)
  5. ↑ Source: #S1700 From Descendant List for Wm F/Jean WANLESS rcvd Jan 2003 Sourced from Wakefield and its People - Tours of the Village by Norma GEGGIE
  6. ↑ Source: #S1961 Wakefield Mill and Village, (with c 1860 painting of mill), from ..outaouais.quebecheritageweb.com/article_details.aspx?articleId-202 (extinct site), extracted Mar 2008
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Marriage 25 Dec 1813 William FAIRBAIRN (Par. of Alderton) & Jean WANLESS (Yetholm), Yetholm Dist 811, from ScotlandsPeople
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 From web page ex Who's Which (...riverduck.com/wanlessweb/riddell/D4.htm#g4 - defunct website) From Janice Ulstein to LornaHen
  9. ↑ Article by Gordon Roy FAIRBAIRN "A Tale of Two Sisters" Issue #49 Jun 2002 Borders Family History Society Journal, extracted Jan 2003
  10. ↑ Source: #S2713 Rcvd Oct 2007
  11. ↑ Source: #S1700 Descendant List for Wm F/Jean WANLESS rcvd Jan 2003 (was this ex Reby DODDS book Who's Which?) ~~~~
  12. ↑ Source: #S1961 William FAIRBAIRN (1790-1867), from H/stone Halls Cem, sth of Wakefield, Quebec, online at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~snaylor/GatineauCounty/WakefieldTownship/Halls/HALLCEM.HTM, extracted Sep 2009
  13. ↑ 1851 Wakefield, Ottawa Cty, Canada East (Quebec), Dist 20, Sub Dist 278 Pg 15 Roll: C_1132 Sched A, from the Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, via ancestry.com, hsehold of William & Jane FAIRBAIRN, image via Ancestry.com
  14. ↑ 1861 Census, Canada, hsehold of William & Jean FAIRBAIRN, Article by Gordon Roy FAIRBAIRN"A Tale of Two Sisters" Issue #49 Jun 2002 extracted Jan 2003
  15. ↑ 1861 Ottawa, Quebec; Roll: C-1304, hsehold of William & Jane FAIRBURN, image via Ancestry.com
  16. ↑ Source: #S1597 Birth 4th Feb Bap. 15 Feb 1815 Archibald s/o William & Jane FAIRBAIRN, WUnited Presb. Cheviot St, N(on) C(onformist), Wooler, Northumberland, from England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 batch P00454-1 film 87986, re-checked Mar 2012
  17. ↑ FTDNA timeframes: At a GD of 0 at y67 FTDNA indicates, with a 95% probability, that the probability the two share a common ancestor born between 1700 and 1950 CE. The most likely year is rounded to 1850 CE.
    However, factor in that BigY matches between descendants of the common ancestor for one side of this match show the common haplogroup has an estimated formation of 1770 give or take, where the next branch back on the tree is estimated to have been formed about 1550, with an upper end range of around 1700.
  • Fairbairn-651 was created by Lorna Henderson through the import of HendRichFBDNA4WTMay2014Final.ged on May 3, 2014. (Reference: 15531)




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with William by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree: It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with William:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.

Images: 1
Total Shared DNA segments between descendants of John & Bessie (FLINT) FAIRBAIRN
Total Shared DNA segments between descendants of John & Bessie (FLINT) FAIRBAIRN


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Rejected matches › William Fairbairn (abt.1794-abt.1868)

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