Buried in Marinette, Wisconsin (Woodlawn Cemetery)Charles Fairchild was the sixth of seven children born unto Reverend John Fairchild and his wife Laura Porter (Bigelow) Fairchild. Charles moved to Marinette, Wisconsin, with his family in May of 1863.
Charles married Jennie Cook in 1874 and their first child, Edna, was born in 1876. Edna was followed by Horace in 1881, who died before his first birthday. Daughter Oakalla was born in 1882, and finally Charles Willard Fairchild, commonly known as Willard, arrived in 1886.
Charles worked as a clerk in Addison Fairchild’s drugstore starting in 1870. In 1872 he became a full partner and the store became known as the Fairchild Bros Drugstore. Charles remained a partner in “the Drug” until 1886 when he bought the North Star newspaper in Marinette. Charles served as the editor & proprietor of the North Star for a number of years, the specifics of which we are still researching.
In October of 1896, Charles and family moved to Toledo, Ohio, where Charles reportedly founded the Standard Steel Tube & Forkside Company and served as its president. The reason for the move to Toledo was in all likelihood somehow intertwined with the Bigelow family. Charles’ uncle was Dr. Asa Bigelow of Toledo. It is safe to assume that Charles’ younger daughter, Oakalla Bigelow Fairchild, was named after Charles’ cousin, Miss Oakalla Bigelow (later Oakalla Bigelow Blue).
We have no records of any substance regarding the Fairchild family in Toledo. The 1898 Toledo City Directory lists Charles as the president & treasurer of the “Standard Tube and Fork-side Co” and his residence at 2807 Fulton. Daughter Edna is listed as a student and Jennie was apparently a laundress at the Lucas County Infirmary. By 1903 both daughters (Edna & Oakalla) are listed as living at home as well. The 1904 Toledo City Directory lists only Jennie Fairchild, a seamstress at the Lucas County Infirmary.
Somewhere between 1904 & 1905 the Fairchild family moved to Chicago. Coincidentally, in 1904, Martha Ann Bigelow, the widow of Dr. Asa Bigelow, died in Toledo. Perhaps the loss of local family connections precipitated the Fairchilds’ move. The 1905 City Directory lists Charles M as “removed to Chicago ”. Many thanks to the Lucas County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society for the Toledo research.
The 1905 Chicago City Directory lists Charles as a manager at 54 Erie and his home at 1814 Wrightwood. William Richard Fairchild, Charles’ nephew & son of Addison Fairchild, is also listed in this directory as a reporter for the Record Herald. If memory serves, Richard took over for Charles when Charles quit the North Star in Marinette. Charles continues to appear in the Chicago City Directory through 1916, but his residence is listed as Evanston beginning in 1909. Daughter Edna appears sporadically from 1907 onwards as a librarian and perhaps even as an artist (presuming there was only one Edna Fairchild in Chicago at the time). Son Willard is listed as an artist in 1910.
The last mention of Charles in the Chicago City Directory lists him as the president of Voigtmann & Co at 445 Erie. Nephew Richard became the assistant editor of the Record-Herald and, by 1913, Richard’s half-brother Stafford is listed at the same address as Richard.
The point of all of the City Directory information is simply to show that there was an extended family of sorts in the same area at the same time. 1915 is the last record that we currently have of both of Charles’ nephews, William Richard Fairchild and his half-brother Stafford Brown Fairchild. We would like to know what became of them.
As for Charles and Jennie, they are presumed to have resided at 2700 Lincoln Street in Evanston, Illinois, from 1911 onwards. The house was designed by Dwight Perkins and still stands today, although we have next to no information on this particular facet of the Fairchild family history. There is a photo of this house on the internet.
Jennie died in Wausau, Wisconsin, on Monday, March 30, 1914, after being in poor health for nearly three years following an operation for gall stones. Her obituary in the Wausau paper makes it clear that Charles was in Chicago at the time and her son, Willard, was living in New York City. Jennie’s daughters, Oakalla & Edna, were both living in Wausau. Daughter Oakalla gave birth to her third child in November of 1914 and Daughter Edna gave birth to her first child, Jane, two months earlier. Oakalla had married Neuman Bellis, of Hotel Bellis fame. Edna had married Colwart Pier, who was later the proprietor of the Pier Lumber Company. Jennie also appears in the Wausau City Directory for 1914. We presume that Jennie chose to be in Wausau to be with her daughters and grandchildren during her final months. She had visited Marinette for several weeks shortly before her death and had “renewed the acquaintanceship of years agone” (Marinette Eagle, April 2, 1914).
Charles died in Chicago in 1925 just a few months shy of his 75th birthday. His body was returned to Marinette via passenger train. The details of his funeral that appeared in the Marinette paper state that “There was neither singing nor preaching, only a brief prayer service.” Daughters Edna and Oakalla, as well as their husbands, were in attendance, but there is no mention of Willard being at the funeral. Charles was buried next to Jennie, but he has no tombstone.
Our research into the life of Charles Fairchild has shed some light on his interests and day-to-day pursuits. For example, we know that Charles was interested in music, at one time being a director of the state musical society in Wisconsin. He was a member of the Marinette Christian Temperance Union. Charles opened a reading room in Marinette and was a proponent of building a public library. He was also largely responsible for bringing electric light to Marinette.
We are both fortunate and thankful to have been able to establish contact with descendants of Charles’ daughter Oakalla. Many of the photos posted here are courtesy of Charles’ great-granddaughter, Cyndi Seddig. Her interest in genealogy has provided us with some wonderful insights into the life of Charles Fairchild. Cyndi spoke with her aunt “Kollie” (Oakalla Fairchild Bellis’ daughter, born 1912(?) in Wausau) when she became interested in tracing her family tree. Kollie’s description of her grandfather is not particularly flattering, but rather shows a very human side of a man we consider to be a close friend.
According to Kollie, Charles was, at one time, red-headed. Kollie remembers him as having a long, white beard that always had dried beef in it. Kollie recalls that Charles put salt on everything, sometimes as much as a shaker full. Charles was also reportedly crazy about women and used to sit in front of Jennie and write love letters to other women. Kollie also believed that Charles was “one of four or five brothers – the least successful of the brothers.” Do keep in mind that Kollie would have only known Charles as an old man and much of what she knows about Charles may have come from stories that her mom might have told.
We are thankful that Kollie shared her memories of Charles so that history can record something of his life in this world. Although we are not in a position to dispute anything that Kollie stated, we feel it is important to note that, of Charles’ siblings (brothers in particular), Charles is possibly the least historically-significant one of the bunch, with the possible exception of Asa Fairchild. By “historically-significant” we mean to say that Charles’ pursuit of public-service roles was not as notable as his brothers. Of his brothers, Addison was wildly active in community services and a veteran of the Civil War. Brothers John and Hiram were prominent lawyers – Hiram eventually elected into the Wisconsin State Legislature. As for Asa, at present we have virtually no information. Although Charles’ historical significance may be overshadowed by that of his brothers, it is our opinion that to say he was “not successful” is untrue, but rather we agree that he may well have been “less successful” than other members of a family well-known for exceptional intelligence and dedication to humanitarian pursuits.
Of course, “success” means different things to different people. If being remembered after one is dead and gone is your measure of success, then Charles’ star is rising as his life is now remembered by the two of us and, perhaps now, by you as well.
History records the following events pertaining to the life of Charles M. Fairchild…
*In statements below, “Boatman” refers to the two volume set of books in which John Boatman compiled numerous newspaper articles and details about Marinette’s early years. The books are entitled And the River Flows On…
On October 8, 1871 , the Great Peshtigo Fire struck northeastern Wisconsin. Charles’ brother, Addison, is mentioned in the first newspaper article about this disastrous fire. A book entitled Menominee Remembered (published 1982) makes a brief mention of “Charley Fairchild” who was delivering brand-new furniture on State Street in Marinette during the height of the late-night blaze. The fellow who provided this memory asked Charley why he was delivering furniture to a house that was in danger of burning down. Charley responded that the furniture would be insured if it were destroyed inside the house, but that it would be a loss to its owner if it were left to burn elsewhere.
An excerpt from "The Big Fire of 1871" (referring to The Great Peshtigo Fire of October 8, 1871), by Josephine Ingalls Sawyer, as printed in Menominee Remembered, by the Mid-Peninsula Library Cooperative, Iron Mountain, Michigan, 1982. Josephine Sawyer lived through the fire and, as such, the following excerpt is a first-hand account of what she witnessed in Menominee, Michigan, during the height of the blaze.
"...Boat in Readiness
One of the big lake steamers had come in about midnight and tied up at the Jones dock. Among other things it brought the furniture for Mr. E. L. Parmenter's beautiful new home on what is now called State Street (the home of F. J. Trudell) [Menominee's State Street was renamed 7th street in 1950]. About two a.m. I was standing on guard at our gate, the others having gone where they were needed more. It was so light from the glare in the sky that I saw Charlie Fairchild coming up the street with a load of furniture and called out, "Why take it to the house? The hills are all on fire back of Kirby Creek (runs through Finntown)." He answered, "Well, they'll get the insurance if it is in the house but not if it is on the boat." He told me the boat was being held at the dock for women and children if needed, some of them fled to it early in the night..."
The Marinette Drugstore, which had been operated since 1868 by Addison Miles Fairchild, became the Fairchild Brothers Drugstore in February of 1872, when Charles Fairchild became a full partner of his brother (Boatman, Vol. 1, page 226). Charles Fairchild had worked with his brother in the store since 1870.
In March of 1873, the interior of the Marinette Drugstore experienced what could have been a disastrous fire. “The fire at the drugstore was caused by the fall of a lighted chandelier which contained four lamps filled with kerosene.” The lamps broke, the kerosene ignited, and the fire reached to the ceiling of the store. Charles was in the store at the time and smothered the flames. The newspaper reported that throughout the ordeal Charles displayed “‘coolness and presence of mind.’” (Boatman, Vol. I, p. 272)
Charles married Sarah Jane Cook (“Jennie”) on January 24, 1874 , in Portage, Wisconsin (Boatman, Vol. 1, page 302). Charles & Jennie had four children. Edna Fairchild was born on May 5, 1876 . Horace Fairchild was born on May 18, 1881, and died March 25, 1882. Oakalla Bigelow Fairchild was born November 13, 1882. Charles Willard Fairchild was born on November 18, 1886.
Although he was not as involved in politics—local and statewide—as some of his siblings, Charles was elected town treasurer in 1879. We have not yet uncovered the information regarding how long he held this position or whether he was elected to other local positions.
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