My Father
Of my father's paternal ancestry, I have no complete record. I have heard him say that the family originally lived in France where the name was Beauchamp and that upon immigrating to England they adopted the literal translation, Fairfield [unverified as of 2004]. Nor have I any knowledge of the date of their coming to America, although I believe it was quite early in the nation’s history [1638 is first recorded document in Salem, MA].

My father was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, February 2nd, 1830 [1829]. His father's name was Jason W. [Williams] Fairfield. There were four children in the family; three sons and one daughter. My father David and his older brother, Charles, were very handsome men; tall and slender with crisp, curly hair, fair skin and clear eyes, gray-in my father's case, and my Uncle Charles, blue. I have never seen a picture of Uncle Jason, but have in mind that he was more like the father for whom he was named, being shorter of stature and plainer of face. Caroline, or Carrie, as she was called, and the only girl, was the pride of the family. I never heard much about her looks although judging from her appearance as a mature woman she was probably a beautiful child, but all my life I have heard about her wonderful precocity of mind. At the age of four she read the Bible easily. She had completed her education and been appointed principal of a Young Ladies Academy when she was sixteen. She became the author of several books, principally stories for young people. "Belle and the Boys" was the favorite of my childhood. In later life at least one serious work-" A Woman’s Philosophy of Love¬” was published under her married name, Caroline F. Corbin. It was the fond wish of her parents that she should equal the fame of her gifted cousin, Louise Chandler Moulton, but that hope was never realized. Mrs. Burnett, of whom more later, has often told me of the rivalry between the two families. Although she never had such a high opinion of my Aunt Carries' talents as was cherished by their immediate family. Caroline Fairfield married Calvin Corbin of the wholesale grocery firm of Corbin May, Chicago. Her wedding was a unique event, taking place in the mouth of Putnam 's Wolf Den, near Pomfret, [CT] where General Putnam is supposed to have met and killed a wolf in hand to hand conflict.

My father's mother was Hannah Chandler, and her mother was Hannah Cleveland. From the Clevelands, and perhaps the Chandlers as well, Hannah Fairfield had inherited aristocratic ideas not quite compatible with her circumstances as the wife of Jason Fairfield, who was a carpenter by trade. She would have liked to educate her boys in the professions, and [she] brought them up as gentleman, but opportunities for schooling for young men without fortunes were few in those days, and at an early age,