Jonathan Fairchild

“A fuller and cloth-dresser, of Norwalk” (source), the youngest son of Samuel Fairchild and Mary Wheeler of Stratford. He sold his Stratford land between February 1714 and 1715 and first bought land at Norwalk in 1717 (source), the year he married Eleanor Whitney, whose father John Whitney, the town miller, had built Norwalk’s fulling mill. He owned a £50 right in the commonage of Norwalk on 4 December 1721; he and Eleanor were members of the First Congregational Church in 1725; he gave a deed to the town in 1730, and in 1735 bought land from his wife’s nephew John Whitney.

His will, dated 2 June 1769 and proved 2 December 1772, “disposed of his home-lot, buildings, and fulling-mill, at the upper end of Norwalk, on Mill Brook, which, in the inventory of 12 Dec. 1772, were prized at £100; with fifteen acres of land at Toilsome, prized at £40; and four acres at New Dam Bogs. He died at Norwalk, 28 Nov. 1772” (source). The will names his widow and six children; Ezekiel is not among them. His son Samuel, a fuller and weaver, took over the homestead and the fulling mill. Children, all born at Norwalk: Thomas, 3 June 1718; Abraham, 10 January 1720; Sarah, 4 October 1722; Ezekiel, 7 March 1725; Daniel, 21 August 1727; Eleanor, 18 May 1730, who married Seth Benedict, Deacon Daniel Lyman of New Haven and Thaddeus Betts; and Samuel, 22 April 1733.

The family’s descent from him rests on the identification of Jonathan Fairchild of East Jewett with his grandson Jonathan, born at Norwalk in 1744, which is only possible (see Jonathan Fairchild).

Research: research/mcmillan/Fairchild_Raymond_Woodworth.md.