San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HERBERT A. FAIRBANK
Among the representative men of San
Joaquin County, Herbert A. Fairbank is in the front rank, his various interests
bringing him in close touch with viticulture, horticulture and commercial
activities, for which he is specially fitted.
His resourceful business ability has been used in behalf of public
improvement, and the substantial upbuilding of the state and county. He was born in Cook County, Illinois, on
April 19, 1860, a son of John B. and Emily P. (Mack) Fairbank. The father, John B. Fairbank, was a
Congregational minister and moved to Morgan County, Illinois, when Herbert A.
was a small lad. Having
had the misfortune to lose his mother when he was two weeks old, Herbert A.
Fairbank was sent to Jacksonville, Illinois, to live with his grandmother. After the father’s second marriage he went to
live with his father’s family at Fort Wayne, Indiana. He began his education in the Fort Wayne
public school and in course of time was graduated from the high school of that
city. He then entered the Illinois
College at Jacksonville, where he remained for three years. The father, John B. Fairbank, passed away in
1881.
After leaving Illinois College, Mr.
Fairbank went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and was employed by the Sharp
Lumber Company as bookkeeper for three years.
He then went to San Antonio, Texas, and was bookkeeper for the William
Cameron Lumber Company, which operated twenty-seven yards throughout the state,
and remained with this company for two and one-half years. In 1886 he removed to San Francisco,
California, and for six years was with the California Fruit Union. Then for four years, he was employed with the
National Fruit Association, and afterwards became identified with the Producers
Fruit Company and served in the capacity of president and manager of the
company up to five years ago, when he came to Lodi. There he had secured fruit lands previously
in the Christian Colony district.
Jointly with his son-in-law, W. H. Dement, he owns and operates 220
acres, all amply supplied with water for irrigating purposes by pumping
plants. They have fifty acres in
vineyard and 170 acres in orchard. After
purchasing this property they had remodeled the house into a comfortable and
commodious home, but suffered the misfortune of having it burned to the ground
during January, 1922.
When the Citizens National Bank of
Lodi was organized, Mr. Fairbank was unanimously elected a director of the
institution; he is the president of the Lodi Canning Company and also serves as
president of the Associated Fruit Growers, Inc., of Lodi.
The marriage of Mr. Fairbank
occurred in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on September 6, 1882, and united him
with Miss Lillian E. Buck, born in Viroqua, Wisconsin, a daughter of I. K. and
Sarah Buck. He father, I. K. Buck, was a
hardware merchant in Viroqua. Later he
was in the same business in State Center, Iowa, and then moved to Sioux Falls,
South Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Fairbank are
the parents of one daughter, Gladys, Mrs. W. H. Dement. Mr. Fairbank is a Republican in politics, and
fraternally is a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons of Lodi, Chapter R. A., and
Scottish Rite of Sacramento, and Islam Temple Shriners of San Francisco; and is
also a member of the W. O. W. of Sacramento and of the National Union. It is not success alone that has won for Mr.
Fairbank the respect, confidence and friendship of his fellow men, but his high
character, his devotion to the general good, and his exemplification of manly
principles.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
843. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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