Jairus Cassius Fairchild (December 27, 1801 – July 18, 1862) was an American Democratic politician and a businessman. He was the first State Treasurer of Wisconsin and the first Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin.[1][2] He was the father of Wisconsin's tenth governor, Lucius Fairchild. In historical documents, he is often referred to as "J. C. Fairchild" and his first name is sometimes misspelled "Jarius".
Fairchild had business interests in cranberries and the lumber industry and was president of the Watertown-Madison Railroad Company. In the referendum to ratify the Wisconsin Constitution in 1848, a concurrent election took place to choose the first state officers. In that election, Fairchild was elected as the first State Treasurer. He was re-elected in 1849 and left office in January 1852. In 1856, after Madison was incorporated as a city, Fairchild was elected the first Mayor of that city.
Jairus Fairchild married Sally Blair in the spring of 1826. They had five children together, with four surviving to adulthood. The first four children were born in Franklin Mills, Ohio, between 1827 and 1831. Their fifth child, Charles, was born in Cleveland in 1838.[citation needed]
His daughter Sarah married and divorced Madison businessman E. B. Dean. She later married University of Wisconsin Professor Obadiah Milton Conover. His two eldest surviving sons were also active in Wisconsin politics, with Cassius Fairchild serving in the Wisconsin State Assembly and Lucius Fairchild serving as Governor of Wisconsin for three terms, from 1866 to 1872.[6]
,_Lucius_Fairchild_(1831%E2%80%931896),_Jairus_Cassius_Fairchild_(1801%E2%80%931862),_and_Sally_Fairchild_(1802%E2%80%931866)_at_Forest_Hill_Cemetery,_Madison,_WI_2.jpg)
