Horace Fairbanks

Horace Fairbanks (21 March 1820 – 17 March 1888) was Governor of Vermont from 1876 to 1878. He 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 became confidential clerk of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. at age twenty, eventually becoming partner and then president. He was elected ... more

Horace Fairbanks (21 March 1820 – 17 March 1888) was Governor of Vermont from 1876 to 1878. He 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 became confidential clerk of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. at age twenty, eventually becoming partner and then president. He was elected to the Vermont State Senate. He was manufacturer of the world’s first platform scale. He promoted the construction of a railway line from Portland to Ogdensburg via the White Mountain Notch, and became president of the Vermont division of the railroad, as well as president of the First National Bank of St. Johnsbury, Vermont. He married Mary E. Taylor on 9 August 1840. They had three children. In 1871 he presented to St. Johnsbury the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, incorporating a free public library containing 8,000 volumes and an art gallery. He... less