Background
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.
Governor of Vermont politician
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.
They had three children. Fairbanks was the brother of Franklin Fairbanks. In 1840, Fairbanks became confidential clerk of East. & T. Fairbanks & Company, 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 Saint 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 Saint Johnsbury the Saint 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. Fairbanks died in New York City four days before his 68th birthday. He is interred at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Saint Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont.