Sonoma-Sacramento-San Francisco County CA Archives Biographies.....Fairbanks, Hiram Talbert 1845 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 28, 2006, 8:20 pm Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880) Fairbanks, Hiram Talbert. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, was born on December 29, 1827, in Manchester, Dearborn county, Indiana. His father being a farmer, he was educated in the English branches usually taught in the country schools of that day. In 1846, then but nineteen years old, he emigrated to Iowa, settling in Augusta, Des Moines county, where he made his home with the Honorable Levi Moffet. In 1847 he enlisted in the United States army, and served in the Mexican war. Returned to Indiana in 1849, and the following year crossed the plains to California, where he followed mining, in company with his brothers, at what was then known as Mormon island, on the south fork of the American river, about twenty-five miles from Sacramento. Meeting with good success in his mining operations, he returned to Indiana, via Panama, in 1851, and the same year went to Iowa, where he followed merchandising, and there married Miss Lucinda, daughter of the Honorable Levi Moffet, on July 14, 1852. In connection with his mercantile pursuits, he was also engaged in milling, both of which he followed till 1859, when he again crossed the plains to this State, bringing his wife and four children. They arrived in Petaluma during the Fall of that year, where Mr. Fairbanks followed farming, in connection with the lumber trade, until the Fall of 1861, when he abandoned the agricultural business, from the fact that this pursuit was not his forte. He next established himself as one of Petaluma's merchants in 1862, successfully maintaining this branch of the trade, together with a commission house in San Francisco, but retired from the mercantile trade in Petaluma in 1869, and with his family went East on a visit, and returned to Petaluma in the Fall of that year. During 1870 he also retired from the commission business in San Francisco, and in the Winter of 1870-1 he again embarked in the mercantile trade, in company with Honorable A. P. Whitney, of Petaluma. Mr. Fairbanks was one of the founders of the Petaluma Savings Bank, which was organized in 1870, and since that time has been its manager and President, which position he has continuously held to the present writing, and he is also President of the city Board of Trustees of Petaluma, having been elected and served three terms in the last eight years. Mr. Fairbanks has achieved his business success by always being prompt in his engagements, and this quality, coupled with excellent judgment and a thorough master of his business, has given him his present position. Belle, Dolpher B. (now cashier of the Petaluma Savings Bank), Augustus (now residing in Oregon), Frank, Nettie, Hattie, Lizzie, William, Zoe and Dacie, are the names of his children. Additional Comments: Petaluma Township Extracted from: HISTORY —OF- SONOMA COUNTY, -INCLUDING ITS— Geology, Topooraphy, Mountains, Valleys and Streams; —TOGETHER WITH— A Full and Particular Record of the Spanish Grants; Its Early History and Settlement, Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources; the Names of Original Spanish and American Pioneers; a full Political History, Comprising the Tabular Statements of Elections and Office-holders since the Formation of the County; Separate Histories of each Township, Showing the Advancement of Grape and Grain Growing Interests, and Pisciculture; ALSO, INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE; THE RAISING OF THE BEAR FLAG; AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN; —AND OF ITS— Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc., Etc. ILLUSTRATED. SAN FRANCISCO: ALLEY, BOWEN & CO., PUBLISHERS. 1880. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sonoma/bios/fairbank747bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 4.2 Kb