Erastus Fairbanks

Categories: 1911 Britannica | U.S. businesspeople | 1792 births | 1864 deaths

Erastus Fairbanks (born October 28, 1792 in Brimfield, Massachusetts; died 1864) was an American manufacturer.

He studied law but abandoned it for mercantile pursuits, finally settling in St Johnsbury, Vermont, where in 1824 he formed a partnership with his brother Thaddeus for the manufacture of stoves and ploughs. Subsequently the scales invented by Thaddeus were manufactured extensively. Erastus was a member of the state legislature in 1836-1838, and governor of Vermont in 1852-1853 and 1860-1861, during his second term rendering valuable aid in the equipment and despatch of troops in the early days of the American Civil War.

He was the father of Horace Fairbanks.

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.