Calvin Fairbank
Rev. Calvin Fairbank was born in Pike in western New York State on November 3, 1816. He was greatly influenced by the strong religious conviction of his family and the evangelism of the Second Great Awakening, which led him to begin study at a seminary in Lima, NY. He was ordained as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1842. Fairbank continued his education at Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Ohio, now Oberlin College, and graduated in 1844.
As a young man Fairbank became a staunch abolitionist after listening to the stories of escape from slavery by two freedom seekers whom he met at a Methodist meeting. In 1837, at the age of twenty-one, he became active in the Underground Railroad by ferrying a fugitive across the Ohio River to free territory. He repeatedly took escapees across the Ohio to freedom, and on one occasion, was pursued by slave catchers.
While a student at Oberlin, Fairbank began traveling to Kentucky in order to work against the slave system. A young enslaved woman named Eliza was to be sold at an auction in Lexington. This was a highly publicized event. Fairbank visited Eliza while she was imprisoned and promised to help her. With the financial support of abolitionists Salmon P. Chase and Levi Coffin, Fairbank was able to outbid everyone at the auction and purchased the young woman in order to secure her freedom in Cincinnati.
Fairbank continued to go to Kentucky to aid in the escape of enslaved people, working with Delia Webster, a teacher and abolitionist from Vermont. One of those they helped to escape was Lewis Hayden, who settled in Boston and became a noted abolitionist and political figure. It is believed that Fairbank helped forty-seven people escape to freedom.
Upon returning to Kentucky, Fairbank was arrested and charged with aiding slaves escaping from bondage. He was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Friends tried to secure a pardon and Fairbank’s father went to Kentucky to speak with the Governor. His father died from cholera, and two months after his death, the Governor had Fairbank released from prison after serving five years of his sentence. Upon his release, Fairbank lectured against slavery in cities and towns across the country. He came into contact with leading abolitionists such as Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and Gerrit Smith.
After going to Kentucky in 1851 to aid in another escape, Fairbank was successful in helping an enslaved woman get to Indiana. There, he was apprehended by Kentucky state marshals, who took him back to Kentucky to stand trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. He was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in prison, where he was singled out for exceptionally harsh treatment. Fairbank was whipped on a regular basis, and he calculated that over the duration of his imprisonment he received over 35,000 lashes. His health suffered greatly. When he was finally released he weighed only one hundred-seventeen pounds. He was released from prison in 1864, after Abraham Lincoln intervened with the Kentucky authorities. He had served two prison sentences for his anti-slavery activities, totaling over seventeen years behind bars. Fairbank lectured around the country, did missionary work in Richmond and New York City, and married Mandana Tileston, to whom he had been engaged during his brief time of freedom. His memoir, REV. CALVIN FAIRBANK DURING SLAVERY TIMES: HOW HE “FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT” TO PREPARE “THE WAY” was published in 1890. His health never fully recovered from his years of hard work, physical abuse, and disease, as a result of his imprisonment. He died on October 12, 1898, in Angelica, New York.
Thomas Bennett, National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum Induction Committee
As a young man Fairbank became a staunch abolitionist after listening to the stories of escape from slavery by two freedom seekers whom he met at a Methodist meeting. In 1837, at the age of twenty-one, he became active in the Underground Railroad by ferrying a fugitive across the Ohio River to free territory. He repeatedly took escapees across the Ohio to freedom, and on one occasion, was pursued by slave catchers.
While a student at Oberlin, Fairbank began traveling to Kentucky in order to work against the slave system. A young enslaved woman named Eliza was to be sold at an auction in Lexington. This was a highly publicized event. Fairbank visited Eliza while she was imprisoned and promised to help her. With the financial support of abolitionists Salmon P. Chase and Levi Coffin, Fairbank was able to outbid everyone at the auction and purchased the young woman in order to secure her freedom in Cincinnati.
Fairbank continued to go to Kentucky to aid in the escape of enslaved people, working with Delia Webster, a teacher and abolitionist from Vermont. One of those they helped to escape was Lewis Hayden, who settled in Boston and became a noted abolitionist and political figure. It is believed that Fairbank helped forty-seven people escape to freedom.
Upon returning to Kentucky, Fairbank was arrested and charged with aiding slaves escaping from bondage. He was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Friends tried to secure a pardon and Fairbank’s father went to Kentucky to speak with the Governor. His father died from cholera, and two months after his death, the Governor had Fairbank released from prison after serving five years of his sentence. Upon his release, Fairbank lectured against slavery in cities and towns across the country. He came into contact with leading abolitionists such as Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and Gerrit Smith.
After going to Kentucky in 1851 to aid in another escape, Fairbank was successful in helping an enslaved woman get to Indiana. There, he was apprehended by Kentucky state marshals, who took him back to Kentucky to stand trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. He was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in prison, where he was singled out for exceptionally harsh treatment. Fairbank was whipped on a regular basis, and he calculated that over the duration of his imprisonment he received over 35,000 lashes. His health suffered greatly. When he was finally released he weighed only one hundred-seventeen pounds. He was released from prison in 1864, after Abraham Lincoln intervened with the Kentucky authorities. He had served two prison sentences for his anti-slavery activities, totaling over seventeen years behind bars. Fairbank lectured around the country, did missionary work in Richmond and New York City, and married Mandana Tileston, to whom he had been engaged during his brief time of freedom. His memoir, REV. CALVIN FAIRBANK DURING SLAVERY TIMES: HOW HE “FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT” TO PREPARE “THE WAY” was published in 1890. His health never fully recovered from his years of hard work, physical abuse, and disease, as a result of his imprisonment. He died on October 12, 1898, in Angelica, New York.
Thomas Bennett, National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum Induction Committee