John B. Fairbank (1840-1908) was born in Oakham, Massachusetts, where his parents, James C. Fairbank and Lurana (Robinson) Fairbank owned a farm. He enrolled in Amherst College in 1861 but left in 1862 to fight in the Civil War, serving in the 36th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and attaining the rank of Brevet Colonel before returning to college in 1865. Fairbank graduated from Amherst College in 1867 and went on the study law at Columbia. He was admitted to the bar in 1869 and practiced law in New York, Kansas, Massachusetts, and South Dakota. He settled in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1881. He was elected to the legislature in Massachusetts (1878-79) and South Dakota (1896). Fairbank died on April 29, 1908 in Portland, South Dakota.
From the guide to the John B. Fairbank (AC 1867) Family Papers, 1817-1922, (Amherst College Archives and Special Collections)
