My earliest proven FAIRBAIRN ancestors are Archibald FAIRBAIRN & Alison CROSSER. He's a mysterious chap supposedly from Swinton & Simprin, Berwickshire, where his son Walter was baptised. Said son appears to have had an aversion of the Established Church of Scotland. How else to explain the children who occasionally pop out of the woodwork with no baptism found?

My Fairbairns

  • FAIRBAIRN Descendants of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Alison CROSSER: Other surnames - SCOTT, DAVIDSON, ROBERTSON (or ROBISON), FORSYTH, HERD
  • The neverending story The tale of a Fairbairn mystery that dna testing has "solved" - well the immediate questions possibly, but there's always one more ...
  • Fairbairn family photos (many thanks to those who have shared these with me and allowed them to be published )
  • FAIRBAIRN relations a list of all the FAIRBAIRN descendants (and spice) included on this site

DNA matched Fairbairns

The following families have been now been DNA matched with "my" Archibald's family above. Although I have now incorporated them all into the one tree, I'm leaving the separate lines here for easy access. For the dna evidence, check out the FAIRBAIRN pages on the DNA Projects Portal

  • John & Elisabeth (MILLER) FAIRBAIRN A descendant of John & Elisabeth (MILLER) FAIRBAIRN (John known to be the son of a Walter of Roxburghshire), has proven to be a DNA match to a descendant of Archibald & Janet (SCOTT) FAIRBAIRN
  • Archibald & Jane (BLAKEY) FAIRBAIRN A descendant of Archibald & Jane (BLAKEY) FAIRBAIRN has proven to be a 35/37 (so far) DNA match to a descendant of Archibald & Janet (SCOTT) FAIRBAIRN
  • The other Archibald FAIRBAIRN Descendants of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Mary GRIERSON/GIESSEN
    A descendant of this family has a DNA match with a descendant of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Alison CROSSER, 64 out of 67 markers. My assumption is that the two Archibald's share a grandfather (given Martin is 8 generations down).
  • The Quebec Connection Descendants of the Quebec brothers, William & David FAIRBAIRN.
    Newly (Mar 2008) found to be a 37/37 match with a descendant of Archibald FAIRBAIRN & Mary GRIERSON and 36/37 with a descendant of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Alison CROSSER.
    Apr 2008 update: the matches are now 67/67 and 64/67 respectively.
  • The top part of the Fairbairn tree Descendants of the likely shared grandfather of the two Archibald FAIRBAIRNs.
  • The Cousins of the Quebec Cousins "Cousins" to the Quebec cousin connection

Less closely DNA matched Fairbairns

In addition the following families have also shown to be a dna matched with "my" Archibald above. Anyone with any proof of how these are connected? Theories even? The trees shown are by no means complete, just data I've collected over the years, or has been shared with me. More information may be available on the lineages section of the dna project.
  • Thomas & Elspeth (REDPATH) FAIRBAIRN Some descendants of Thomas & Elspeth (REDPATH) FAIRBAIRN.
    Thomas went to Canada to work on the Rideau Canal, as did the William who married Jean WANLESS. Reby DODDS book "Who's Which" assigns a brother Thomas to William (although she marries Thomas off to the wrong wife).
    The dna project has shown there is a relationship, but it looks unlikely that William and Thomas are brothers.
  • George & Janet (MURRAY) FAIRBAIRN Some descendants of George & Janet (MURRAY) FAIRBAIRN.
    (The assumed parents of James and Helen (GOODFELLOW) FAIRBAIRN)
  • Trotter & Jean (FAIRBAIRN) FAIRBAIRN Some descendants of Trotter & Jean (FAIRBAIRN) FAIRBAIRN.
    Married at Ladykirk, moved to Kelso thence to Sunderland
  • John & Jessie (JOHNSTON) FAIRBAIRN Some descendants of John & Jessie (JOHNSTON) FAIRBAIRN.
    Lived Greenlaw, descendants world-wide
  • James & Agnes (LINDSAY) FAIRBAIRN Some descendants of James & Agnes (LINDSAY) FAIRBAIRN
At the bottom of this page is a map showing where some of the hatch/match/despatch events happened for the extended FAIRBAIRN tribe, and spice. More to come. Some coordinates are very precise and end up with wonderful aerial views of actual places, others are more generic.

Potentially related families

It would be great to find male FAIRBAIRN surnamed descendants of the following families to join the FAIRBAIRN DNA project.
  • Walter and Agnes (RENTON) FAIRBAIRN This Walter's son Walter may be a contender for the father of the above John in New York. Both the son Walter, and my Walter were supposedly born Swinton, and about 3 years apart. To date, DNA will not help (as the only known descendants still bearing the surname FAIRBAIRN descend from an illegitimate son of the daughter Elizabeth).
    The elder Walter is of an age to be a brother to one of the Archibalds above - more conjecture!
  • James & Mary Bell/Mabel (THOMSON) FAIRBAIRN The following family have Eckford connections, and as such may well be related to Archibald & Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN.

Assorted external links that may be of interest

  • Fairbairn surname One Name Study Fledgling attempt to put some method into my FAIRBAIRN research, and get the data I have collected over the years published and available to others
  • Fairbairn surname DNA project male FAIRBAIRN descendants would be most welcome to join this group to aid the investigation of possible linkages between the identified lines.
    All FAIRBAIRNs welcome, the project isn't just for me to prove my pet theories, although, if perchance your research overlaps with mine I'd particularly love to hear from you.
    Included on the patriarchs page is a brief tree as per Reby (JOHNSTON) DODDS's "Who's Which" (1970), the early portion of which is currently looking in need of revision, given the DNA results in for a descendant of William & Jean (WANLESS) FAIRBAIRN.
  • Related DNA lineages and supplementary information, including assorted Fairbairn related links
FAIRBAIRN Descendants (and spice): BDM Events
Where assorted FAIRBAIRN descendants (and spice) were hatched matched and despatched
 
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