John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint)1,2,3

(bef. 1705 - bet. 1741 - 1805)

BDMs

     John Fairbairn was estimated to have been born bef. 1705 prob. in Melrose?, ROX, SCT.3,2
     John Fairbairn married Bessie Flint say 1728 ?Melrose, ROX, SCT.2
     John Fairbairn died bet. 1741 - 1805 ?Smailholm, ROX, SCT.4
John is not the John baptised 1706 to Robert & Alison (SCLATER) FAIBAIRN of Eildon, as that John married a Margaret YOUNG in 1740, when our John is documented as still having children with Bessie (Elizabeth 1740, Thomas 1741).
From naming pattern of known children, John's parents may be a Robert and Isobel.5,6
Parents of Robert m. Agnes LANDRETH?
With a first child named Archibald, possibly they are Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Isobel BOONY, whose Robert was baptized at Smailholm Sep 1728.
Or the previously identified John & Bessie FLINT in Melrose.7
Mentioned in the Session minutes: The session resolve to examine witnesses in this affair and for that end order their beadle to summoned John Fairbairn, miller, and his wife Bessie Flint, Bessie Hog, their woman, John Lyal, John Dawson and James Wilson to the session this day eight days.8

     John Fairbairn is likely to be the family patriarch for the families of Archibald? Fairbairn, Robert Fairbairn, Archibald Fairbairn, Archibald Fairbairn, William Fairbairn (m. WANLESS), John Fairbairn and William Fairbairn.
The Archibald with the ? after his name has to have existed, as the Fairbairn Surname DNA project provided a DNA match between a descendant of Archibald Fairbairn and Alison Crosser, likely first son Archibald born Whitsome, Berwickshire, and a descendant of Archibald and Mary Grierson/Giessen's, son George, baptised Bowden, Roxburghshire. These two families are contemporaries in time and fairly close by place.
The name Archibald? is assigned as father of the Archibald who married Alison Crosser from my assumption that the 1783 baptism of an Archibald to an Archibald, hynd of Whitsome Vaults, is their likely eldest child.
Prompted by this unexpected success I researched the other Archibald and have now convinced myself that his father was Robert, and grandfather John (marr. Bessie fflint), this all being from both naming patterns of the children, and the baptisms being in the right area and timeframe as there are no convenient wills left around for us to find. The extended family also end up in all the right places (Smailholm and Kelso). There's even an Archibald as a witness to one of the baptisms, and a Thomas Anderson.

My calcs are that a grandfather to the two known to exist Archibalds would cover 8 generations in total, between the matching y_DNA candidates. This agrees with the 90% probability calculations from FamilyTree DNA's y_DNA calculations (95% that it was no more than 10).
This seemed good enough reason to join the families up in this way, it may however be a generation, or two, further back - until we also factor in the growing number of autosomal dna matches bewteen the two lines.

An additional line joined this extended Fairbairn family with an unexpected match between these Archibalds and a descendant of William Fairbairn and Jean Wanless, who had emigrated to Quebec. This 67/67 match between a descendant of the Archibald who married Mary Grierson, and a descendant of William Fairbairn and Jean Wanless. and the 64/67 match between the Crosser line and these two lines has led me to join up the families as per the linked charts.
You can read about this research journey on my personal Fairbairns page.9,3,10,11

DNA Info

     John belongs to a tested line in the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project. Follow this link for supplementary DNA information.

Links

     Click here to see John's page on WikiTree, a (free) collaborative on-line tree.12
     Follow this link for Lorna's family information on John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint).

Family

Bessie Flint (bet. 1700 - 1710 - aft. 1741)
Children
  • Robert Fairbairn2 (circa Jan 1729 - aft. 1771)
  • George Fairbairn13 (circa Mar 1731 - )
  • Elizabeth Fairbairn14 (circa Aug 1733 - bet. 1733 - 1740)
  • Archibald? Fairbairn+3 (say 1735 - )
  • Isobel Fairbairn15 (circa Feb 1736 - )
  • Mary Fairbairn16 (circa Apr 1738 - )
  • Elizabeth Fairbairn17 (circa Apr 1740 - )
  • Thomas Fairbairn18 (circa Sep 1741 - )
ChartsLineage 1e: John & Bessie (fflint) FAIRBAIRN
Last Edited23 Apr 2016

Citations

  1. Name assumes I've found the right bap. for Robert father of Archibald (marr. Mary Grierson) - which seems likely given we have good dna matches, both Y-DNA and autosomal DNA, between descendants of Robert and his assumed brother "Archibald?"
  2. [S55] Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php, Bap. 5 Jany 1729 Robert to John FFAIRBAIRN & Bessie FFLINT, Par. of Melrose, ROX, copy d/loaded Dec 2007.
  3. [S2656] FamilyTree DNA, "FamilyTree DNA", FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, 36/37 marker match between descendants of two contemporary (time and place) Archibald FAIRBAIRNs, Dec 2007.
  4. [S1596] Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 6 Jul 1758 Mary d/o John FAMILTON, batch C117372 Eccles, BEW, extracted Oct 2008.
  5. [S55] Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php, Bap. 13 Jan 1706 John s/o Robt FAIRBAIRN & Alison SCLATER in Eidon, Melrose, ROX, 799/00 0010 0173, copy d/loaded Jan 2015.
  6. [S2] Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Analysis", Jan 2015.
  7. [S2] Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Analysis", Apr 2016.
  8. [S5] Ancestry.com online at http://search.ancestry.com, John FAIRBAIRN, miller, and wife Bessie FLINT, from 1723-41 Roxburgh: Melrose - Register of Baptisms, Marriages, Proclamations of Marriages, Session Minutes (1723-1741) and Mortuary Rolls, extracted Jan 2010, (From Book: 2.---Baptisms, Marriages, and Discipline in the parish of Melrose since November 1723, att which time Mr. Gavin Eliot was admitted School-master and Session-clerk.).
  9. [S2] Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Analysis", Dec 2007, updated Jan 2015.
  10. [S2656] FamilyTree DNA, "FamilyTree DNA", FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, 37/37 marker match between descendants of Archibald FAIRBAIRN & Mary GRIERSON, and of William FAIRBAIRN & Jean WANLESS, Mar 2008.
  11. [S14] FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project online at http://worldfamilies.net/surnames/fairbairn/results.html, 67 marker results for the three matching participants, rcvd Apr 2008.
  12. [S3217] WikiTree online at http://WikiTree.com/, Oct 2011.
  13. [S1596] Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 21 Mar 1731 Male s/o John FAIRBAIRN & Bessie FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
  14. [S1596] Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 19 Aug 1733 Elizabeth d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Elizabeth FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
  15. [S1596] Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 29 Feb 1736 Isobel d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Bessie FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
  16. [S1596] Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 16 Apr 1738 Mary d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Bessie FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
  17. [S1596] Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 13 Apr 1740 Elizabeth d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Elizabeth FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
  18. [S55] Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php, Bap. 6 Sep 1741 Thomas to John FAIRBAIRN & Bettie FLINT, Par. of Smailholm, ROX, copy d/loaded Mar 2008.
 
  • Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

    — Abraham Lincoln
  • My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.

    — Cary Grant
  • Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.

    — E. B. White
  • I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.

    — e. e. cummings
  • What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.

    — Saint Augustine
  • Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

    — Mark Twain
  • If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

    — Henry David Thoreau
  • If two things look the same, look for differences. If they look different, look for similarities.

    — John Cardinal
  • In theory, there is no difference. In practice, there is.

    — Anonymous
  • Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

    — John Adams
  • People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.

    — Abraham Lincoln
  • History - what never happened described by someone who wasn't there

    — ?Santayana?
  • What's a "trice"? It's like a jiffy but with three wheels

    — Last of the Summer Wine
  • Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened

    — Terry Pratchett
  • I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.

    — Terry Pratchett
  • .. we were trained to meet any new situation by reorganising; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illuson of progress

    — Petronius (210 BC)
  • The time we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains

    — Proust
  • You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

    — William J. H. Boetcker
  • Only a genealogist thinks taking a step backwards is progress

    — Lorna 1992
  • No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means.

    — George Bernard Shaw
  • A TV remote is female: It easily gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know which buttons to push, he just keeps trying.

    — Anon
  • Hammers are male: Because in the last 5000 years they've hardly changed at all, and are occasionally handy to have around.

    — Anon
  • The right thing to do is to do nothing, the place to do it is in a place of concealment and the time to do it is as often as possible.

    — Tony Cook "The Biology of Terrestrial Molluscs"