United States

Stories set here

Remembering Roosevelt and Getting Out the VoteEthel and Floyd were lifelong strong Democrats who admired Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. They listened to Roosevelt's Fireside Chats and trusted that the war would be won. Ethel mourned Roosevelt's death in April 1945, and the family kept his picture in the living room for years. She worked with Virginia McFarland and Mrs. Welander to arrange rides and remind people to vote, stayed informed about candidates and issues, and never missed voting.
A First Job and a Friendship That LastedAfter graduating from Moline High, Carol obtained her first full-time job through church friend Vendla Solmonson at Augustana Book Concern. She handled Sunday School material subscriptions for Lutheran churches throughout the United States, starting at a dollar an hour. She commuted with lifelong friend Eilene Peterson, whose family had been close neighbors, and stayed until December 1966.
Across the Atlantic to a Lasting Family HomeThe family traces its line to Mr. William Fairbanks in Yorks in 1445, then recounts Jonathan Fayerbanke's marriage to Grace Smith Lee, their seven children, and their voyage to Boston in his own ship in 1633. Jonathan moved to Contentment in 1636, built the enduring Dedham house, acquired land, joined the township covenant and eventually the church, and prospered as a farmer. The house is described as America's oldest standing timber frame dwelling, a National Landmark continuously owned by the family and never mortgaged, with replicas including one at Boston Commons. The passage also describes the wider family's political activity, Patriot and Union service, and slaveholding by some landed members. It retains inconsistent arrival chronology and contradictory wording about Jonathan's death relative to Grace's.
A Vice President in the FamilyCharles Warren Fairbanks belonged to a branch that moved west to Ohio and became a prosperous railroad-law lawyer, Indiana senator and United States vice president under Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. Fairbanks, Alaska was named for him. The family recounts arguments that disagreements with Roosevelt cost him support for the presidency, which instead went to William Howard Taft, and jokingly wonders whether Charles shared the family's stubbornness.

Events here

1905 to 1909
Charles Warren Fairbanks serves as vice president
Voted vice president while serving as a senator from Indiana.

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