Name Horace Fairbanks Succeeded by Redfield Proctor Spouse(s) Mary E. Taylor | Parents Erastus Fairbanks Role American Politician | |
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Born March 21, 1820Barnet, Vermont ( 1820-03-21 ) Profession industrialist / politician Died March 17, 1888, New York, United States Similar People Erastus Fairbanks, Franklin Fairbanks, Thaddeus Fairbanks | ||
Horace Fairbanks (March 21, 1820 – March 17, 1888) was an American politician and the 36th Governor of Vermont from 1876 to 1878.
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Biography
Fairbanks was born in Barnet, Vermont, the third of nine children of Erastus Fairbanks (who had been a Republican Governor of Vermont) and his wife Lois Crossman. He was educated in the county schools and Phillips Andover Academy. He married Mary E. Taylor on August 9, 1840. They had three children. Fairbanks was the brother of Franklin Fairbanks.
Career
In 1840, Fairbanks became confidential clerk of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co., makers of the first platform scale, eventually becoming partner and then president.
In 1869 he was elected to one term in the Vermont State Senate. He promoted the construction of a railway line from Portland, Maine to Ogdensburg, New York via the Crawford Notch, and became president of the Vermont division of the railroad, as well as president of the First National Bank of St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
Fairbanks was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1864, 1868 and 1872, and was a presidential elector in 1872.
In 1871 Fairbanks presented to St. Johnsbury the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, which incorporates a free public library containing 8,000 volumes and an art gallery. He was a trustee of the University of Vermont and Andover Academy.
Elected Governor of Vermont in 1876, Fairbanks served a two-year term. During his administration, a Board of Agriculture was established, and provision was made for the licensing of physicians.
His brother Franklin was Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives, and their philanthropic activities in St. Johnsbury and throughout Vermont led to creation of the Fairbanks Museum and the endowment of numerous libraries and other institutions.
Fairbanks died in New York City four days before his 68th birthday. He is interred at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Saint Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont.