John Fairbairn

     
     John Fairbairn was born cir. May 1797 at Grahamslaw, Par. of Eckford, ROX, SCT.² He was baptized on 14 May 1797 at the Gateshaw Assoc. Session, Morebattle, ROX, SCT; the entry showing that Archibald and Alison were at Grahamslaw, in the Parish of Eckford at the time.^1,2
     
     John Fairbairn is a potential duplicate of John or David Fairbairn; one John, s/o Arch & Alison chr 1797, in SCT, the other John, father of the John who married Sarah Daughterty, Prescott Co, ONT in 1862.
This theory has swung in and out several times over the years, but is currently swinging back IN.
I thought that John son of Archibald and Alison was at the outer limits of guessed age range for a John, father of the John who married Sarah. This latter John has his parents as variously foreign born, or born in Canada East, so a Scottish birth is not precluded, and now we have an accurate date for John, it would only make his father in his mid 30s when he was born.
One revival of the initial 1996 theory was when it was squashed as David son of Archibald and Alison was accounted for elsewhere, having found (Jun 2008) that he had emigrated to Ontario about 1833, but had moved to Wisconsin in 1848 and was documented as marrying Jane Herd.
It was reviewed again Jan 2009 with dna results meant I finally placed the John who married Sarah Daughterty, as the son of David & Jane (Williamson) Fairbairn instead, despite this latter John's marriage and death certificates stating that his father was a John (the dna results show a close match between descendants of John and of his assumed uncle, the William who married Jean Wanless).
The latest review (Dec 2009) however has come full circle with the finding of the 1834 baptism (born Sep 1833) of John, "son of John Fairbairn of Grenville", and has caused Ross and I to completely review how we know what we know about Jane Fairbairn nee Williamson and her family.
The name of her husband does not appear in official records, and had been derived from a chart a descendant (Doug) had which showed his ancestor David (married to Charity Walker), Jane's son, as David II, which implied there had been a David I. This could simply be a reference to another nearby family member as both his father-in-law, and brother-in-law were named David (Williamson), or even because he overlapped in time and place with his Uncle David, son of Archibald and Alison?
Reby Dodds' "Whos which" is believed to give both a John and David Fairbairn as being in the area (still being re-checked as to whether or not this reference is actually in conjunction to wife Jane or not, and if so which Jane, and exactly which place, Hawkesbury, Grenville or ?).
Nora Carlow's pre 1994 document in the Fairbairn file of the Archives for Wellington County, Ontario, show David and Charity (Walker) as belonging to a John Fairbairn and Jane Williamson, with John dying in 1847 from a fall from a horse.
Jane Williamson's name and identity as mother of Agnes, James and John, and highly possibly Archibald and William, is not in doubt, and fits with the data in Nora's document.
Reby only knew that William (of Wakefield) had a brother with two sons, Archibald and William.
Initially I picked Archibald and Alison as William and "David''s parents because of the Scottish naming pattern, "David" likely to be of an age to be the 1800 baptism to Archibald and Alison, and William fitting in a gap in the known children. Both had an eldest son Archibald and William also had a 2nd daughter whose name could be interpreted as Alison.
I can easily be persuaded back to this theory, now that I'm fully convinced that the father of the John who married Sarah Daughterty was indeed a John, and a descendant of John and Jane (Williamson) has explicitly named her (presumed) ancestors as John and Jane.
Further evidence is however lacking, but would be good to find.
Failing any paper trail, what we really need are confirmed descendants of John and Jane (Williamson), and of David and Jane (Herd), and of Walter and Agnes (Robison) to join the dna project and see what that tells us.^3,4,5,6