Archibald Fairbairn1

#11318, (s 1760 - bef. 1859)
Archibald Fairbairn|b. s 1760\nd. bef. 1859|p11318.htm|Archibald? Fairbairn|b. s 1735|||||John Fairbairn|b. s 1705|p52709.htm|Bessie Flint|b. s 1705||||||||
FatherArchibald? Fairbairn2 (s 1735 - )
ChartsPaternal ancestors of Lorna
FAIRBAIRN
Relationship4th great-grandfather of Lorna Henderson.
     Archibald Fairbairn was estimated to have been born s 1760 prob. in ?Swinton, BEW, SCT.1
     Archibald Fairbairn and Alison Crosser are estimated to have married s 1782 prob. in ?BEW, SCT, (this date being assumed from the age of eldest child believed to belong to this family).3
     Archibald Fairbairn died bef. 1859 prob. in ?ROX, SCT; unsurprisingly, he was shown as deceased (an agricultural labourer) when his son Walter died.1
     
     Check out the neverending story for the tale of an 11 year research journey with, I think, a wonderful conclusion (not that I knew I was undertaking this particular journey all that time.).4,5,6,7

     Archibald Fairbairn and Walter Fairbairn at Swinton, BEW, SCT, c 1785 were possibly related as both Archibald and Walter had sons named Walter born Swinton, within 3 years of each other. Perhaps they are brothers?3
     John Fairbairn is likely to be the family patriarch for the families of Archibald? Fairbairn, Robert Fairbairn, Archibald Fairbairn, Archibald Fairbairn, William Fairbairn, David Fairbairn and William Fairbairn.
The Archibald with the ? after his name has to have existed, as the Fairbairn Surname DNA project provided a DNA match between a descendant of Archibald Fairbairn and Alison Crosser, likely first son Archibald born Whitsome, Berwickshire, and a descendant of Archibald Fairbairn and Mary Grierson/Giessen's, son George, baptised Bowden, Roxburghshire. These two families are contemporaries in time and fairly close by place.
I assigned the name Archibald? as father of the Archibald who married Alison Crosser from my assumption that the 1783 baptism of an Archibald to an Archibald, hynd of Whitsome Vaults, is their likely eldest child.
Prompted by this unexpected success I researched the other Archibald and have now convinced myself that his father was Robert, and grandfather John (marr. Bessie fflint), this all being from both naming patterns of the children, and the baptisms being in the right area and timeframe as there are no convenient wills left around for us to find. The extended family also end up in all the right places (Smailholm and Kelso). There's even an Archibald as a witness to one of the baptisms, and a Thomas Anderson.

Statistics on the Family Tree DNA site show that at a 36 out of 37 marker match ( exact matches at the 12 and 25 tests) there is a 90% probability that the common ancestor was no more than 8 generations ago, and 95% that it was no more than 10.
My calcs are that a grandfather to the two known to exist Archibalds would cover 8 generations in total, so this seemed good enough reason to join the families up in this way, it may however be a generation, or two, further back.

An additional line joined this extended Fairbairn family with an unexpected match between these Archibalds and a descendant of William Fairbairn and Jean Wanless, who had emigrated to Quebec. This 67/67 match between a descendant of the Archibald who married Mary Grierson, and a descendant of William Fairbairn and Jean Wanless. and the 64/67 match between the Crosser line and these two lines has led me to join up the families as per the linked charts.
You can read about this research journey on my Fairbairns page.3,2,8,9

Family

Alison Crosser
Children
  • Archibald Fairbairn+ (s 1783 - bt 1841 - 1851); no records exist (that I've yet found) to conclusively link this Archibald father/son. Another candidate for his parents would be Archibald Fairbairn and Mary Grierson, but they married a bit later, and were firmly based around Bowden, St Boswells, Southdean and would be hard pushed to fit a son of his 1841 census age in between the other known children. DNA results also support that he is related to Archibald and Mary, but not as closely as others, being a 36/37 match with a known descendant of Archibald and Mary, so I've taken that as further circumstantial evidence that I've placed him in the right family, which the naming pattern of his children supports10
  • Walter Fairbairn+ (c 1784 - 1859)1
  • James Fairbairn (1794 - )11
  • John Fairbairn (excluded)11
  • David Fairbairn (excluded)11
Last Edited13 MAR 2008

Citations

  1. Walter FAIRBAIRN (11277), DC FAIRBAIRN, Walter 1859, p/copy held.
  2. FamilyTree DNA, "FamilyTree DNA", FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, 36/37 marker match between descendants of two contemporary (time and place) Archibald FAIRBAIRNs, Dec 2007.
  3. "Lorna's Family History Musings", Dec 2007.
  4. "Lorna's Family History Musings", Apr 2008.
  5. Sanna Gaffney (22855), "EM FAIRBAIRN: Borders ex GAFFNEY," e-mail to L McIntosh & GenForum FAIRBAIRN, Marr. William FAIRBAIRN & Aylsie ELLIOTT, from Reby Dodds, "Who's Which?", rcvd c 2000?.
  6. G Roy FAIRBAIRN, "Corres. FAIRBAIRN/WANLESS, Quebec ex G Roy F.," e-mail to Lorna Henderson, 1983 visit Roy had had with Reby, taken from email to Sanna G from Roy, Jan 2003, copy rcvd Jan 2003, extracted Apr 2008, "I also visited Reby on 13 may 1983 at the retirement home in Perth, Ontario. It was a pleasant visit and I found her very warm and at the same time, really mentally active. Evidently she and her mother researched the book and brought it to publication.".
  7. GenForum, online at http://www.genforum.genealogy.com/my/, Thomas & Elspeth (Redpath) FAIRBAIRN, Rideau Canal, posted Aug 2001 by Karen GRANT, extracted Jan 2003.
  8. FamilyTree DNA, "FamilyTree DNA", FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, 37/37 marker match between descendants of Archibald FAIRBAIRN & Mary GRIERSON, and of William FAIRBAIRN & Jean WANLESS, Mar 2008.
  9. EKA FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project Results (see http://worldfamilies.net/surnames/f/fairbairn/results.html), 67 marker results for the three matching participants, rcvd Apr 2008.
  10. "Lorna's Family History Musings", Feb 2003, Dec 2007 & Mar 2008, (assumed to be son of Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN purely from naming pattern of children and places. Another researcher has Archibald's parents as Archibald F and Mary GIESSEN. As he appears to have died between 1841 and 1851, we are unlikley to uncover the truth now, but with children called Archibald, Alison, Walter I think there's a fair possibility he "belongs" to my lot, especially his age in the 1841 census makes his birth year somewhat later than that of the son of Archibald and Mary, even allowing for the rounding in that census).
  11. Ann COSSAR, "EM FAIRBAIRN/CROS(I)ER ex Ann C," e-mail to L McIntosh (1), Mar 1996 ex OPR index.

E. & O. E. Some/most parish records are rather hard to read and names, places hard to interpret, particularly if you are unfamiliar with an area. Corrections welcome