Valuation: Senator George Rainsford Fairbanks Of Florida

Greetings,

As my first post, I would like to share the following details and covers. I guess they are covers but they are actually letters that have been folded and stamped. I did some research before posting and found the following wealth of information on Mr. Fairbanks. I would also be interested in learning about the stamp and if there is any value associated with these covers. I will say that I have not read the letters (hard to read)but know this can effect the $$$ Also note that these we addressed (1852/53) early in Florida's statehood (1845).

George Fairbanks was a native of Watertown, N. Y. born on July 5, 1820. His father was a lieutenant in the war of 1812. His maternal grandfather was in the revolutionary war. He had three brothers Samuel (1818-81), Andrew Jackson (1826-98?), and Jason Massey (1828-94). George attended Watertown and Belleville academies in New York and graduated from Union college in Schenectady, N. Y. He had an A. B. and an A. M. degree. He also received an honorary degree of A. M. from Trinity college, in Hartford Conn. He studied law under Judge Joseph Millin of New York and in 1842 was admitted to the bar at Watertown.

Judge Isaac Bronson of the United States district court of Florida appointed him clerk of court. He moved to St. Augustine. He was clerk from 1842 to 1846. From 1846-47 he was a member of the Florida State Senate. In 1848 he was a presidential elector on the ticket of General Lewis Cass (Cass ran against Whig Zachary Taylor.) Then he practiced law in St. Augustine until 1859. Hon. Reverdy Johnson of Maryland moved to admitt him to practice in the supreme court of the United States. In 1856 he helped found the Florida Historical Society. In 1857 he was Mayor of St. Augustine. In 1859 Mr. Fairbanks moved to Tallahassee for one year.

From 1844 through 1855 he had served as aide-De-camp to the Governor of Florida with the rank of Colonel. He was master in chancery in the District of East Florida, appointed November 4, 1844; attorney, solicitor, and counselor in the several courts of Florida, appointed March 12, 1845, master in chancery for the East Circuit of the state of Florida, commissioner of common schools of the state of Florida appointed January 7, 1847; clerk of the Court of the Northern District of Florida at the city of St. Augustine, appointed November 23, 1848; commissioner of deeds for the Court of Claims, Washington, D.C., appointed July 21, 1855; clerk of the District Court of the United States for the Northern
District of Florida, appointed June 20, 1856; attorney and counselor of the Supreme Court of the United States, appointed February 3, 1857; commissioner of deeds for the state of New York in the state of Florida, appointed November 7, 1857, state senator.

He entered the Confederate service with the rank of major in the quartermaster's department under General Braxton Bragg. By the end of the war he was chief quartermaster in the hospital department of the Army of Tennessee. During the Civil War his house was destroyed by Union troops and the contents scattered. After the war he posted a notice in the St. Augustine Examiner (February 9, 1867) seeking the return of any of his books that could be found. He asked that they send them to the store of George Burt. After the war he became treasurer of the University of the South and commissioner of buildings and lands in Sewanee
Tennessee.

In 1880 he moved to Fernandina to become Editor of the Florida Mirror. He served as Chairman of the Board of Public Works. He was a deputy of the Episcopal church for 50 years. His books included The History and Antiquities of St. Augustine, and The History of Florida. At Adams New York in October 1842 he married Sarah S. Wright (February 9, 1818-March 22, 1858) the sister of Mrs. Whipple, the wife of the bishop of Minnesota and the daughter of Judge Benjamin Wright. . After her death he married on April 26, 1860 in Chicago to Mrs. Susan Beard Wright (September 8, 1826-January 5,1911) the daughter of Major
John Beard of Tallahassee former comptroller of the State of Florida.

George had seven children: Charles Massey (April 4, 1850-February 23, 1881) died at Gainesville, George Ward (March 5, 1852-January 15, 1853); his daughters, Mrs. Horace Drew (Gertrude) (April 27, 1854-May 27, 1893) of Jacksonville, Mrs. C. M. Beckwith (Susan Rainsford)(July 19, 1861-October 30, 1885) who died at Galveston, Mrs. A. E. Cornish of Charleston (Sara Catherine) (February 11, 1858-January 6, 1918), Mrs. Eva Lee Glass of Summerville, S. C. (March 29, 1865 - September 29, 1952), and Miss Florida Fairbanks (July 24, 1848-November 24, 1931) of New York.

These look darn collectible to me. I`m hopeful someone here will be able to put a value on the covers.

KGB

Thanks for the follow up and I hope someone does come along to put a value on them. I know there are so many variables that can effect a value. Condition, person, place, contents of letter, stamp(s), cancellation, post marks, etc.

I think you may find that these are more interesting to the Civil War collector than someone interested in postal history. Everything 'postal' is so neat, however. The cancels, the seal, the general appearance...

Unless the content of the letters are war related, the majority of the postmarks are New York which takes these covers out of the realm of Civil War collectors. Depending on the stamp, the covers are worth between $3 and $20 each.