Jun 16, 2008: Attorney, Newspaper Publisher, ?clergyman?

Another successful conclusion to a few days searching. I've been trying to find what happened to Robert the son of David FAIRBAIRN and Jane HERD, and had been following a couple of candidates around Wisconsin and Iowa records, both Robert H FAIRBAIRN/FAIRBURN, one married to a Lucy, with sons Lewis D and Robert (1860 and 1870 census) and another married to a Sarah, with dtrs Bird and Ora, but with a possible son David from a prior marriage (later census records).
I'd given up trying to prove they were one and the same person and decided to go public on GenForum asking if anyone recognised the families and could help.
And 5 minutes later, decided to also check out, and post, to the Rootsweb Iowa board, which I searched for FAIRBAIRNs first. Didn't find any, but when I searched for Chickasaw I did find a link to the Iowa GenWeb pages, where I plugged in FAIRBAIRN to see what would come up.
Lo and behold, Robert H FAIRBAIRN pops up straight away, as Robert Hurd, or Herd, FAIRBAIRN, author of a 1919 history of the county, born Napanee, Ontario. So, what with his mother's maiden name explaining the H in the census records, and a birth place the same as sister Eshter, I'd found the right chap, despite the fact that he was an attorney and newspaper editor and publisher, neither occupation being typical in the family.
Haven't proven the Lucy link though.
Rootsweb LornaHenderson db updated, and pages added to the web for both Robert Herd FAIRBAIRN, and his father David.

Jun 2, 2008: SAFLEY/SAFELY does it

Major update to the FAIRBAIRN, (or should I say FAIRCHILD?) tree. About a month ago I was contacted by a lady with FAIRBAIRNs in Iowa but I couldn't spot any immediate connection. Sanna, bless her cotton socks, dug out an old message I'd posted to help someone else with some Iowa FAIRBAIRN data and kept me in the loop when she found more.
Betsy kept digging, turning up FAIRBAIRN/SAFLEY cousins marrying FAIRCHILD cousins between a family of a James and of a David, in Ontario and Iowa/Nebraska/Connecticut/Washington ++. Then she got back in touch, having found my plea for "what happened to this family - that of the James in Selkirk in 1841 with children named Alison, Archibald etc.
Both her David and her James had children named Alison and Archibald, the family stories for her James matched by name, date and age, the family in Selkirk in 1841. With a lot more digging, over the space of the last couple of days, we've confirmed what happened to David and James, sons of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Alison CROSSER.
The FAIRBAIRN family tree has grown somewhat as a result.
And even better, one of the prior researchers of the American line has reminiscences from "Grandma Viele", which bring them to life, and photos, some of which will gradually be added to the web.
In the meantime I've added one of the newfound Archibald FAIRBAIRNs to the web pages to add a bit of colour to the family story.
Watch this space.