Person:Peter Fairchild (1)

PETER FAIRCHILD, 1st, above named as the oldest son of Benjamin Fairchild, Sr., and Melissa Fairchild, was probably born in Dutchess County, Province of New York, about 1750-56. He was a United Empire Loyalist under General Burgoyne. The first census of the United States records him as the head of a family in 1790, at Queensbury, N.Y., with one son under 16 years of age and five females in the family one of whom, no doubt was his wife, Sarah (Fuller) Fairchild and the other four would be his daughters.

Owen in his "History of the Long Point Settlement of Ontario" records his fifth daughter, Sarah, as having been born in the pioneer cabin in Ontario, March 26, 1794. The Canadian records hereinafter preferred to recite that "Peter Fairchild was born in the Province of New York, (now the State of New York) and that he joined the Royal Army under General Burgoyne in the year 1777; that he remained till the capitulation when he returned to his father's house which was at that time within the British lines."

E.A. Owens, in his "Pioneer Sketches of the Long Point Settlement" writes as follows with reference to Peter Fairchild:
"Elder Peter Fairchild married Sarah Fuller in New Jersey (?) and when the Province of Upper Canada was only about three years old, he came with his family and settled in the wilderness about three miles northeast of Boston."

This would indicate that he settled in Brant County, Ontario. However, he probably settled just south of the Brant County line in Norfolk County, sometime before 1794, probably in 1792 when the other members of his father's family settled in Ontario. He married Sarah Fuller, probably about the time of the Revolutionary War and very likely married her in the Province of New York, although Owen in his history states he married her in New Jersey. He had five children, probably born in New York before he moved to Ontario, according to the census of 1790.

The Canadian archives record that after the capitulation of Burgoyne in 1777, he returned to his father's house, which doubtless was near Queensbury, New York, and the census of 1790 records that he was the head of a family at Queensbury at that time. Owen states that he came to Ontario and settled in the wilderness before the surveyor and it was several years before he had a neighbor and the Canadian land records show that he made application for a land grant as early as July 24, 1793, and also on April 18, 1794. His fifth daughter, Sarah Fairchild, was born in the pioneer cabin March 26, 1794, and, as stated by Owen, was the first white child born in the County.

Other records record that she was the first white child born between the Grand River and Lake Erie. Other children were born to this pioneer couple after settling in Ontario, for as will be seen, he raised a family of five sons and seven daughters, some of whom were born in N.Y.

E.A. Owen writes that after other families began to settle in the wilderness near where the Reverend Peter Fairchild and his family had settled, they convened under the trees in the wilderness, October 21, 1804, near the spot where the old graveyard was later located and covenanted with each other towards the organization and building of the "Old Boston Baptist Church." This was probably the first church ever built by white men in Ontario, having been built soon after the building of the Mohawk Indian Church by Chief Joseph Brant. Boston is close to the boundary line between Brant County and Norfolk County, Ontario.

The Reverend Peter Fairchild became the first pastor of this church, a position he held for fourteen consecutive years. See excerpts from Owen's Pioneer Sketches of the Long Point Settlement, Chapter XXII of this work.

The children of the Reverend Peter Fairchild would be of the sixth generation of the American family of Fairchild, and were as follows:

BENJAMIN FAIRCHILD, ESTHER FAIRCHILD, PETER FAIRCHILD, REBECCA FAIRCHILD, ISRAEL FAIRCHILD, RACHEL FAIRCHILD, ABIAL FAIRCHILD, RUTH FAIRCHILD, CORNELIUS FAIRCHILD, MOLLY FAIRCHILD, ELIZABETH FAIRCHILD, SARAH FAIRCHILD,
See the following pages for further information regarding the descendants of Peter Fairchild, Chapters XX, XXI, XXII.

In a letter received from a cousin of the writer, Hazel (Kinnard) Patterson, of Brantford, Ontario, December 24, 1938, she wrote that she visited the Oakland Cemetery, near Boston, Ontario, where the Reverend Peter Fairchild was buried but found no monument over his grave. However, she found the monument of his son, Peter Fairchild and grandson, Peter M. Fairchild, the inscription thereon reading as follows:
Peter Fairchild, 1810-1894
Sarah Fairchild, his wife, 1814-1901
Peter M. Fairchild, 1847-1913

In 1938, my cousin, Elbourn Kinnard, of Brant County, Ontario, born in 1853, informed me that the Reverend Peter Fairchild had died before Elbourn was born; that his son, Peter Fairchild, Jr., (1810-1894), had often visited Elbourn's parents in his lifetime.

Fairchild, Peter
Males: over 16: 1
Males: under 16: 1
Females: 5

Order-in-council for land. [All United Empire Loyalists were entitled to grants of land from the Canadian government. Their children were also entitled to apply for these grants at the age of 21. Following are the dates for each child of Rev. Peter Fairchild who was granted land in Ontario. Application dates are not given, only date grant approved.]

Children of Peter Fairchild (U.E. Loyalist under Burgoyne), son of Benjamin Fairchild, Sr.
Rebecca Fairchild, daughter of Peter Fairchild, order-in-council, dated May 28, 1811.
Elizabeth Fairchild, daughter of Peter Fairchild, order-in-council, dated, May 28, 1811.
Benjamin Fairchild of Townsend, son of Peter Fairchild, order-in-council, dated July 16, 1816.
Sarah Fairchild, daughter of Peter Fairchild, (born March 6, 1794, the first white child born in the Township of Townsend, Ont.), order-in-council, dated July 16, 1816.
Esther Fairchild, daughter of Peter Fairchild, order-in-council, dated, July 16, 1816.
Mary Fairchild, daughter of Peter Fairchild, order-in-council, dated, May 17, 1820.
Abial Fairchild of Townsend, son of Peter Fairchild, order-in-council, dated October 21, 1839.
Peter Fairchild, Jr., of Townsend, son of Peter Fairchild, (U.E.L.) order-in-council, dated November 28, 1839.
Cornelius Fairchild, of Brantford, son of Peter Fairchild, order-in-council, dated May 27, 1848.

Newer gravestone:age does not match est. by T.M. Fairchild
Peter Fairchild
Inscription
In Memory of
Eld. Peter Fairchild
who died June 26^th 1828
In the 66^th year of his age
chose faith and confidence
was strong in the Lord.
[Note: A birth date of abt 1763, would place his age when he joined Burgoyne as 14 & marriage at abt 17 or 18, rather young for a groom.]