F

Fairbanks, Franklin (1828-1895)

Early Settler

Franklin Fairbanks was born on June 18, 1828 to Erastus and Lois (Crossman) Fairbanks in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Franklin’s grandfather, Joseph Fairbanks, first moved to St. Johnsbury in 1815 and built a saw and grist mill. Joseph had three sons, Erastus, Thaddeus, and Joseph Jr.

Together the brothers expanded Fairbanks’ business by establishing a foundry and wheelwright shop, which produced stoves, plows, and agriculture implements. ^[1] Thaddeus noticed that there was a need for a new, more feasible method of weighing wagons loaded with raw materials. His ingenuity led him to create a scale, which was grappled by chains and suspended from a steelyard, and could lift a wagon and give an approximation of the weight. ^[2] Thaddeus was not completely satisfied with approximate estimates of weight and continued working to improve the scale.

In 1830 he received a patent for his new and improved platform scale. The growing demand for platform scales led the brothers to establish the E&T Fairbanks & Company in 1834.The company was completely dedicated to the production of platform scales. Erastus led the company through several years of growth and decline, and in 1874 incorporated the company as the Fairbanks Scale Company.

In 1815, Erastus married Lois Crossman of Peacham, Vermont. They had nine children and Franklin Fairbanks was their sixth child. Franklin attended Peacham Academy in Peacham, Vermont as well as the Academy at Darien in New Hampshire. He finished his schooling at age eighteen and joined his father’s factory business. After working for the company for nine years he became a partner in 1856. He remained a partner of the company for the next forty years. Franklin’s brother died in 1888 and as a result he became president of the company. During his presidency he also served as an executive officer for several railway, telegraph, mining, manufacturing and banking corporations.

Along with his business, Franklin Fairbanks was heavily involved in church work. ^[3] He was a member of the International Sunday School Lesson Committee and Superintendent of the local Sunday school for thirty years. While in Vermont he also dedicated a museum of natural science and donated the Athenaeum in Undercliffe, Vermont. On December 8, 1852 Franklin married Frances A. Clapp in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. In 1881, Franklin and his friend and business associate, Charles J. Morse visited Winter Park, Florida. During his visit, Fairbanks purchased property located on Interlachen Avenue from Oliver Chapman and Loring Chase. He also became interested in the development of Rollins College. In 1885, Fairbanks donated $1000 to help locate Rollins in Winter Park. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed a trustee of the College and became a charter member of on April 28, 1885. He remained on the Board of Trustees for three years and was appointed as a member of the Building Committee. Fairbanks continued his financial contributions to Rollins and in 1888 was once again nominated a trustee. On May 29, 1889 he was thanked by the Board for donating a (transit) to the college. On February 21 , 1894 he offered his resignation but it was not accepted. He died on April 24th, 1895 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

– Kerem K. Rivera

Ford, John Howard (1845-1921)

Charter Faculty and Acting

John Howard Ford, eldest of three children born to John H. and Ruth A. Ford on December 6, 1845, originated on a farm near Mansfield Ohio. Ford’s nine-month enrollment in the Union Army during the last year of the Civil War briefly interrupted his academic education. Ford received his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the liberal arts institution Oberlin College, located in Ohio. At Oberlin, Ford also joined the organization Phi Beta Kappa. The Union Christian College in Merom, Indiana appointed Ford as a professor in Greek Language and literature in 1872, and in 1874 he married Amanda Josephine Buff. Ford then resigned from the Union Christian College. Owing to his “eminently satisfactory” ^[4] services, however, the trustees initially refused to accept the resignation and instead granted Ford a one-year absence. After returning to the U.C.C. for a year, Ford then moved to Florida, where he engaged in citrus agriculture and served at Rollins College as an acting president, trustee, dean, and professor. He resigned his position at Rollins in 1901 to accept another at Piedmont College, which he held until his death; Ford died of arteriosclerosis in Demorest, Georgia on April 28 , 1921 , leaving behind four children: Ruth Curlet, Emma Gertrude, John Hubert, and Majorie Buff.

Ford held many different faculty positions at Rollins until 1901. He first assumed the role of acting president and ex-officio trustee in 1882 until 1896. On March 22, 1882, Ford became the acting president until the duly elected president could assume his duties, such as attending meetings. After Charles G. Fairchild became the president in 1893, Ford served as acting president both during Fairchild’s absence and after his resignation in 1895. Ford also headed the Trustee’s List from 1892-1893. On May 9, 1896, George Morgan Ward became the college president. Rollins College designed an exhibit for the World’s Fair in Chicago during Ford’s administration in June and July of 1893. On January 31, 1894, Ford became the dean of faculty. He remained so until about 1897, by which time Elijah Hills had assumed that position. Ford also spent sixteen years as a professor of Rollins, teaching courses in Greek, English literature, logic, and psychology.

Owing to the importance of preparatory education for college, Ford espoused a streamlined, efficient Florida educational system, with fewer (but better) buildings and teachers, graded levels of schooling (including high school), and encouraged the promotion of enthusiasm amongst students and pupils. ^[5] Ford expected college to “be reasonably easy to get into… but hard enough to get out with a degree.” ^[6] In addition to proposing educational reform, Ford acted as a “solicitor” for Rollins College, often traveling throughout Florida and issuing advertisements for the school. Also active in the community, he held a membership to the Congregational Association of Florida, which he joined in 1885. Ford’s publications included two articles, “Two Growing Ideas in Educational Plans,” and “Extracts from Addresses on Various Topics,” in addition to an address before the South Florida Conference entitled, “Church and College.”

– Angelica Garcia

France, Royal Wilber (1883-1962)

Lawyer, Teacher, & Idealist

In Lowville, New York, on July 27, 1883, Joseph H. France, an eminent Presbyterian divine, and Hanna F. James, of prominent ancestry, gave birth to Royal Wilber France. Royal France attended George Washington University and Hamilton College, where he received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. That same year, he studied law in the offices of Hon. Walter H. Knapp of Canandaigua, New York and at the Albany Law School.

Following his graduation and admittance to the New York Bar in 1906, France entered into partnership with Judge Knapp in the firm of Knapp and France. Two years later, he traveled to New York City, where he became associated with the firm of Duell, Warfield and Duell. By 1914, France became a partner and was placed in charge of the cooperation law work. Two years after, France became vice- president and general manager of the Triangle Firm Company, which at that time, held the title of being the second largest motion picture company in the world. He remained in this position till the start of World War I, where he entered the army as a Captain, later being promoted to Major. He was assigned to the Clothing and Equipage Division of the Quartermaster’s Corps, where he handled millions of dollars of contracts for the government. At the completion of the War, he resumed the practice of law in New York City as a member of the firm of Konta, Kirchwey, France & Michael. However, Salts Textiles and Manufacturing Co. soon attracted the business-minded scholar, and by 1921, France became vice president, general manager, and later, president for the company.

France retired from business, and, after a year as vocational advisor to the students of Columbia University, became professor of economics at Rollins, serving under President Hamilton Holt. While there, he authored the book Compromise, a novel in which, “told the story of an idealist’s moral battle against the pressure of circumstances of his day.” ^[7] His novel immediately received widespread praise among critics, aiding France in his appointment of chairman of the Socialist Party in Florida in March 1938. That same year, he journeyed to Centro de Estudios in Mexico City as a traveling professor, where he was appointed as a member of a committee studying the operation of Mexican equipment in collective farming. Upon his return from Mexico, he became a public panel member for Florida of the National War Labor Board, and later representative of the National Wage Stabilization Board in arbitrating labor disputes. ^[8] In 1952, France announced his retirement from the teaching profession, stating that he would devote his time to cases involving the constitutional rights of minority groups. Following his retirement, he became a consultant to the American Civil Liberties Union, and by June of that year, accepted in case in Washington regarding the appeal of six convicted communists.

In 1956, four years after his involvement with the trial in Washington, his wife Ethel France, whom he wed forty-four years ago, passed away. Soon after, his health also gave way, causing his admittance into New York’s University Hospital. On July 10, 1962, France passed away, leaving behind two children, and his newly wedded wife of three years, Ruth E. Crawford.

– Alia Alli