Edmund Burke Fairfield

Edmund Burke Fairfield
12th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
In office
1859–1861
Governor Moses Wisner
Preceded by George Coe
Succeeded by Joseph R. Williams
Personal details
Born August 7, 1821
Parkersburg, West Virginia
Died November 7, 1904 (aged 83)
Oberlin, Ohio
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Lucia Ann Jennison Fairfield
Mary A. Baldwin Fairfield
Mary Allen Tibbitts Fairfield
Parents Micajah Fairfield
Hannah (Wynn) Fairfield.
Alma mater Denison University
Marietta College
Oberlin College
Colgate University
Indiana University.
Profession Minister
Educator
Politician
Religion Baptist

Edmund Burke Fairfield (August 7, 1821 – November 7, 1904) was an American minister, educator and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He served as the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan and as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska.

Early life

Fairfield was born in Parkersburg, Virginia, now West Virginia.[1] He moved with his family to Troy, Ohio when he was a young boy. He received an early education at Denison University of Granville and in 1837 he attended Marietta College of Marietta. He graduated from Oberlin College of Oberlin in 1842.[2] He then worked as a tutor at the college teaching Latin and Greek.

He spent two years as a Christian minister in New Hampshire, and two in Boston as pastor of the Ruggles Street Baptist Church. Then, in 1848, he became President of the Michigan Central College, renamed Hillsdale College in 1853, and remained in this office until his resignation in 1869.[3] In 1857, Fairfield received LL.D. degree from Madison University (now Colgate University) in New York.

Politics and further academics

Fairfield served as a Republican in the Michigan Senate (14th district) from 1857-1859.[4] He was elected to serve as the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan from 1859 to 1861,[5] and made a widely published speech on the "Prohibition of Slavery in the Territories".[6]

In 1863, Fairfield received a D.D. degree from the Indiana University.[7] The following year he received an S.T.D. degree from Denison University of Ohio.[8] He received a number of honors in the academic world before being elected Chancellor of the University of Nebraska in 1876. The Board of Regents dismissed him in 1882, after a disagreement over religion and its place in education.[9]

Retirement and death

In the theological field, Fairfield, having been a Baptist pastor, became convinced that the doctrines of Baptists were without sufficient foundation for him to remain a minister in any Baptist denomination. He delineated his views in his Letters on Baptism (1893).[10] He died on November 7, 1904 in Oberlin, Ohio at the age of eighty-three in Oberlin, eleven years after its publication.[11]

Family life

fairfield was the son of Micajah Fairfield and Hannah (Wynn) Fairfield.[12] He was married three times. He married his first wife, Lucia Ann Jennison, daughter of Dr. Charles Jennison and Betsy Mahan, on August 27, 1845. They had three children together. He married his second wife Mary A. Baldwin on August 22, 1859 and had seven children together. He married his third wife Mary Allen Tibbitts on June 16, 1883; they had no children together.[13]

Fairfield was descended from a Frenchman by the name of Beauchamp, at some point the name was anglicised to Fairfield.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Onofrio, Jan (1999). West Virginia Biographical Dictionary. North American Book Dist LLC. p. 72. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  2. ↑ Morton, Julius Sterling (1913). Illustrated History of Nebraska: A History of Nebraska from the Earliest Explorations of the Trans-Mississippi Region, Volume 2. J. North. p. 701. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "Finding aid for Edmund B. Fairfield pamphlets and sermons, 1958-1899". Michigan Historical Collections Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan . Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Finding aid for Edmund B. Fairfield pamphlets and sermons, 1958-1899". Michigan Historical Collections Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan . Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ Western Publishing and Engraving Co (1890). Cyclopedia of Michigan: historical and biographical, comprising a synopsis of general history of the state, and biographical sketches of men who have, in their various spheres, contributed toward its development. Western Publishing and Engraving Co. p. 62. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  6. ↑ Fairfield, Edmund Burke (1857). Pamphlets and Sermons. p. 3. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Indiana University (1911). Register of the Graduates of Indiana University. Indiana University. p. 22. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Morton, Julius Sterling (1913). Illustrated History of Nebraska: A History of Nebraska from the Earliest Explorations of the Trans-Mississippi Region, Volume 2. J. North. p. 701. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  9. ↑ "Fairfield, Edmund Burke". The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  10. ↑ General Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States (1905). The Year Book of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States. United States. Executive Committee. p. 19. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  11. ↑ Indiana University (1911). Register of the Graduates of Indiana University. Indiana University. p. 22. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  12. ↑ Congregational Pub. Society (1905). The Congregational Year-book, Volume 27. Congregational Pub. Society. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  13. ↑ General Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States (1905). The Year Book of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States. United States. Executive Committee. p. 19. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  14. ↑ Menchen, H.L (2011). The American Language. Inktree. p. 1. Retrieved 6 June 2014.

External links

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Political offices
Preceded by
George Coe		 Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
1859–1861 		Succeeded by
James M. Birney