Class of 1853

Rev. Henry Fairbanks died June 8 at his home in St. Johnsbury, Vt., after several years of declining health.

He was born in St. Johnsbury, May 6, 1830, the son of Sir Thaddeus and Lucy Peck (Barker) Fairbanks. His father, the inventor of the Fairbanks scales, was knighted by Queen Victoria. He fitted for college at St. Johnsbury Academy and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa rank.

After graduation he entered Andover Theological Seminary, leaving in March, 1856, to make a European trip. On his return he completed the course, and graduated in 1857. For the next two years he was in the service of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society, superintending its itinerant department and preaching for longer or shorter times in most of its missionary fields in the state.

From 1859 to 186S he was Appleton professor of natural philosophy at Dartmouth, and then to 1868 professor of natural history. On leaving the College he gave to it his cabinet of the birds of New England. He then returned to St. Johnsbury to enter the scale manufacturing business of E. and T. Fairbanks and Company, being first secretary of the corporation and later director and vice-president. Beginning with 1869, he was granted patents for fifteen or more inventions connected with the business. Advanced age led to his retirement some years since.

While early leaving the active work of the ministry, he was closely connected with religious work in his native state throughout his active life. In the seventies he was actively engaged in the evangelistic work then carried on by the Young Men's Christian Association. From 1884 to 1914 he was president of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society, and long a leading figure in the affairs of the Congregational churches of the state.

From 1870 to 1905 he was a trustee of Dartmouth, and was given the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1880. For many years he was president of the trustees of St. Johnsbury Academy and a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

April 30, 1862, Professor Fairbanks was married to Annie S., daughter of Prof. Daniel J. Noyes of Dartmouth, who died September 11, 1872. A second marriage, May 5, 1874, was to Ruthy 8., daughter of Phineas and Jacintha B. Page of Newport, A t., who survives him. There are four children of the first marriage, who are all living, two of them being Arthur (Dartmouth '86) and Robert Noyes (Dartmouth '88). Of the four children of the second marriage, two daughters survive.