Edmund Burke Fairfield

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 the second^[1] Chancellor of the University of Nebraska.

Edmund Burke Fairfield
12th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
In office 1859–1861
Governor	Moses Wisner
Preceded by	George Coe
Succeeded by	James M. Birney
Member of the Michigan Senate from the 14th district
In office 1857–1859
Preceded by	William H. Brockway
Succeeded by	Ebenezer O. Grosvenor
2nd Chancellor of the University of Nebraska
In office July 1, 1876 – June 30, 1882
Preceded by	Allen R. Benton
Succeeded by	James Irving Manatt
2nd President of Hillsdale College
In office 1848–1869
Preceded by	Daniel McBride Graham
Succeeded by	James Calder
Personal details
Born	(1821-08-07)August 7, 1821 Parkersburg, West Virginia
Died	November 7, 1904(1904-11-07) (aged 83) Oberlin, Ohio
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lucia Ann Jennison Fairfield Mary A. Baldwin Fairfield Mary Allen Tibbitts Fairfield
Parent(s)	Micajah Fairfield Hannah (Wynn) Fairfield.
Alma mater	Denison University Marietta College Oberlin College Colgate University Indiana University.
Profession	Minister Educator Politician

Early life

Fairfield was born in Parkersburg, Virginia, now West Virginia.^[2] 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 the congregationalist-affiliated^[3] Oberlin College of Oberlin in 1842.^[4] 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.^[5] 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 to 1859.^[6] He was elected to serve as the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan from 1859 to 1861,^[7] and made a widely published speech on the "Prohibition of Slavery in the Territories".^[8]

In 1863, Fairfield received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Indiana University Bloomington.^[9] The following year he received an S.T.D. degree from Denison University of Ohio.^[10]

In the early 1870s, Fairfield was involved in public dispute based on a review he published in Mansfield, Ohio, regarding the Henry Ward Beecher adultery scandal. The scandal broke in 1873, and in 1874, Fairfield published "Wickedness in High Places: A Review of the Beecher Case" ^[11] Robert Raikes Raymond, brother of Vassar professor John Howard Raymond, published a scathing review to this pamphlet entitled: "The Case of the Rev. E.B. Fairfield, D.D., LL.D.: Being an Examination of his 'Review of the case of Henry Ward Beecher" together with his 'Reply' and a Rejoinder"^[12]

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.^[13]

Fairfield became the pastor of the Manistee congregational church from September 1882^[14] to April 1889.^[15]

In 1886, he was the Moderator of the Congregationalists' "General Association of Michigan" meeting held in Flint^[16][17]

In July 1889, President Benjamin Harrison nominated Fairfield to be the consul of the United States at Lyons in place of Lawson V. Moore.^[18] His son George D. Fairfield was vice-consul in Lyons at the same time.^[19]

He returned from France in 1893 and lived in Grand Rapids, where he lived an intellectual life of writing and speaking until 1896. In 1896, he became a pastor again at his former church in Mansfield, Ohio, and then in 1900 he retired to Oberlin, where he died in November 1904.^[20][21]

Retirement and death

In the theological field, Fairfield, having been a Baptist early in his career and Congregationalist pastor later in life, 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).^[22] He died on November 7, 1904, in Oberlin, Ohio, at the age of eighty-three in Oberlin, eleven years after its publication.^[23]

Family life

Fairfield was the son of Micajah Fairfield and Hannah (Wynn) Fairfield.^[24] 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.^[25]

Fairfield was descended from a Frenchman by the name of Beauchamp, at some point the name was anglicised to Fairfield.^[26]

References

1. McKee, Jim (September 5, 2010). "Jim McKee: Chancellor Fairfield faced growing pains, questions on religion". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved April 19, 2016. the university's first chancellor, Allen R. Benton, submitted his resignation, giving the regents a chance to choose the university's second chancellor... The regents' choice for the new chancellor was Edmund Fairfield
2. Onofrio, Jan (1999). West Virginia Biographical Dictionary. North American Book Dist LLC. p. 72. ISBN 9780403098446. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
3. . oberlin.edu. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
4. 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 June 6, 2014.
5. "Finding aid for Edmund B. Fairfield pamphlets and sermons, 1958-1899". Michigan Historical Collections Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
6. "Finding aid for Edmund B. Fairfield pamphlets and sermons, 1958-1899". Michigan Historical Collections Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
7. 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 June 6, 2014.
8. Fairfield, Edmund Burke (1857). Pamphlets and Sermons. p. 3. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
9. Indiana University (1911). Register of the Graduates of Indiana University. Indiana University. p. 22. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
10. 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 June 6, 2014.
11. Fairfield, E.B. (1874). Wickedness in High Places. Mansfield, OH: L.D. Myrers & Brother, Book and Job Printers. p. 1. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
12. Raymond, Robert Raikes (1874). The Case of the Rev. E.B. Fairfield, D.D., LL.D. New York. Retrieved April 20, 2016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
13. . The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
14. . Manistee First Congregational Church United Church of Christ / History. Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2016. Edmund B. Fairfield - 1882
15. "MANISTEE CHURCH HISTORIES From Salt City of the Inland Seas Transcribed for the use of Manistee County MIGenWeb October - November, 1999". MIGenWeb / RootsWeb. Published 1899 by the Manistee Daily News. Retrieved April 19, 2016. Rev. Edmund B. FAIRFIELD entered upon his pastorate September 1, 1882. He resigned April, 1889 having begun the work of erecting the new church.
16. Bramhall, Frank J. (1887). Facts and Figures about Michigan (1887 Yearbook). Chicago: Poole Bros Printers / General Passenger Department, Michigan Central Railroad. p. 22. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
17. The Congregational Churches of Michigan: For the First Fifty Years of Their Organization Into a State Association ; Addresses Delivered, Papers Read and Reports Made at the Jubilee Meeting Held at Jackson, May 19-22, 1892. Michigan Congregational Association. 1892. p. 5. Retrieved May 3, 2016. 1886 -- Flint -- Rev. E.B. Fairfield
18. Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the USA Vol 27 (March 5, 1889 to March 3, 1981), inclusive. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 1901. p. 89. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
19. The Round Table, Volume 53 (Vol 53, No. 1 ed.). Beloit, Wisconsin: Beloit College. September 28, 1906. p. 1. Retrieved April 19, 2016. Mr. Fairfield graduated from Oberlin in 1888 and entered the consular service of the United States... and for nearly five years was vice consul at Lyons
20. Morton, Julius Sterling; Watkins, Albert; Miller, George L. (1913). Illustrated History of Nebraska Vol III (First ed.). Lincoln, NE: Western Publishing and Engraving Company. p. 701. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
21. Chase, Clement (1919). Semi-centennial Anniversary Book: The University of Nebraska, 1869-1919. University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus). p. 121. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
22. 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 June 6, 2014.
23. Indiana University (1911). Register of the Graduates of Indiana University. Indiana University. p. 22. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
24. Congregational Pub. Society (1905). The Congregational Year-book, Volume 27. Congregational Pub. Society. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
25. 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 June 6, 2014.
26. Menchen, H.L (2011). The American Language. Inktree. p. 1. Retrieved June 6, 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}

External links

• Biography of Edmund Burke Fairfield at the Fairfield Family site March 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
• Fairfield Family database August 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
• Picture etc of Fairfield at the Oberlin College site
• etext of Fairfield's Letters on Baptism

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