Happy Anniversary!
to Jonathan & Grace (Fayerbankes)Fairbanks
who were married more than 400 years ago!

That’s not a typo! Jonathan and Grace (Smith) Fairbanks were married in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England on May 20, 1617! Twenty years later they crossed the Atlantic with their six children and Jonathan was granted 12 acres of land in Dedham, then called Contentment.

How do we know the actual date of Jonathan and Grace’s wedding some 400+ years ago?

The Fairbanks House has in its archives a certified copy of their marriage certificate dated May 20, 1617. The Fairbanks Family in America, Inc. obtained this copy of the original in the 1940’s from the General Register Office of the United Kingdom.