Fairbanks House, Dedham, MA: Country's Oldest?

Notes on Fairbanks Family and Its Historic House

Sep 28, 2008 Rosemary E. Bachelor

The Fairbanks House in Dedham, MA, which carries the date 1636 on its chimney, is believed to be the "oldest frame house" in the United States.

There are other houses which make a similar claim, each unique in its own way and in the traditions that accompany its claim.

The Fairbanks house was built by immigrant Jonathan Fairbanks, born ca. 1595 at Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England, son of George and Mary (Farrer) Fairbanks. Jonathan and his wife, Grace, came to America aboard the ship Speedwell, arriving in Boston in 1633.

Fairbanks One of Dedham’s Founders

In 1636, Jonathan moved his family to Dedham. He was one of its earliest settlers and among those who signed the covenant by which the town was established and named.

Jonathan Fairbanks appears to have been a man of more than average education and means. He brought with him to Boston a ship’s timber to be used as the main beam of his house, plus the windows to be installed in it.

The house, now a museum open to the public, has been designated an official National Landmark and contains numerous mementoes of the Fairbanks family. It has not been modernized, but a “new” wing was added about 1650.

One room of the home was nearly destroyed by an out-of-control car, but has been carefully restored. An addition on the north side is believed to have been made in the latter 1600s. The east and west wings were probably added between 1780 and 1800.

Fairbanks Descendants Lived There 268 Years

In spite of their great age, the home and accompanying property have one of the shortest deed histories on record, never having been mortgaged and never passing out of the family.

The house went from Jonathan to his oldest son, John. John died in 1684 and his sons Joseph and Benjamin inherited the house and property. They divided the inheritance and Joseph got the house. Joseph died in 1734, leaving the house to his son Joseph. It next passed to his son, the third Joseph in a row, and he sold it to his brothers John, Israel, Samuel and Ebenezer in 1755.

Ebenezer Fairbanks bought his brothers’ shares and lived in the house until his 1812 death, whereupon it passed to his son, Ebenezer Jr. When he died in 1832 he willed the house to his wife, Mary, and she, in turn, left it to her three unmarried daughters, Prudence, Sally and Nancy. When Nancy, the last surviving sister, died in 1879, she left the house to her unmarried niece, Rebecca, the last family member to live in the house.

Last Fairbanks Moved in 1904

When Rebecca moved out in 1904, the Fairbanks Family in America, Inc., made up of descendants of immigrants Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks, opened the house as a museum.

One of the many illustrious descendants of Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks is Charles Warren Fairbanks (1852-1918), for whom the city of Fairbanks, Alaska is named. A Senator from Indiana, he was Vice President during Teddy Roosevelt’s first term as president.

The Fairbanks organization has now owned and maintained the house for more than 100 years. The definitive family genealogy is Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks’ 1897 Fairbanks Genealogy. The 106th annual Fairbanks Family Reunion was held there on July 19, 2008.

A companion article is about the Balch House in Beverly, MA, long considered the oldest remaining frame house in America.

SOURCES: Yankee Magazine, July, 1976; information contributed by Fairbanks family descendant Carolyn J. Flagg of Novato, CA; website of the Fairbanks House Historical Site.

The copyright of the article Fairbanks House, Dedham, MA: Country's Oldest? in American History is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Fairbanks House, Dedham, MA: Country's Oldest? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.