Roots run deep
Photos courtesy the Fairlamb family This family portrait was taken in the 1930s while the Fairlamb family rented a house in warm California for a vacation from the winter cold of Colorado. Pictured are, top row, Millard and Charles Fairlamb with Stella Fairlamb in front of Millard, and Ethel Fairlamb in front of Stella. In front are Lale Fairlamb, an unidentified Schuyler relative, Charlotte Fairlamb, and another unidentified Schuyler relative.The Fairlamb generations have held forth in the United States for 313 years. The first record of a Fairlamb in the U. S. indicates Nicholas Fairlamb came to the U.S. in 1700 from Farlam, England.
Photo by Annette Brand Sky Fairlamb in his home office, seated at the desk used by Millard Fairlamb and sitting in Millard’s desk chair.Sky Fairlamb has visited Farlam, England, and would like to visit again.
Six generations after Nicholas Fairlamb arrived in the U.S., Millard Fairlamb decided to migrate west, coming to Delta from South Dakota on a special migration train. After graduating from Cornell College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a law degree, Millard went to Brookings, S.D., in 1891 to practice law. Millard also taught school in a one-room schoolhouse in Brookings to earn money to migrate west. He arrived in Delta in 1895, young and single, in search of a place where he could practice law.
His father, Salked Fairlamb, followed shortly thereafter. Salked later became a justice of the peace for Delta, the equivalent of today's municipal judge.
Millard married Stella Nutter of Delta, daughter of Charles P. Nutter. Stella was a member of one of the first graduating classes 
Millard Fairlambof Delta High School in the 1890s. Stella Fairlamb is the first member listed in the official records of Presbyterian Church of Delta, recorded April 1, 1894, notes her proud descendant Sky Fairlamb.
Five generations of Fairlambs have been members of Presbyterian Church of Delta, he adds.
Millard and Stella Fairlamb were the parents of Charles N. Fairlamb and Samuel L. Fairlamb.
Charles N. Fairlamb married Ethel Schuyler. Ethel's family was Dutch and came to New York in the 1600s. Charles and Ethel were the parents of Ethel (Lale), Charlotte and Millard Schuyler (Sky).
Ethel the younger will be referred to as Lale.
Lale was the first grandchild of Millard and Stella, born April 5, 1928. She was born in her grandparents' home at 700 Leon Street, Delta, now known as The Fairlamb House Bed and Breakfast.
Leon Street has been a home street for the generations of Fairlambs. As an adult and with his own family, Salked Fairlamb built his home on the south end of the 700 block of Leon Street.
Lale's parents, Charles and Ethel Fairlamb, moved to Telluride when she was five and she graduated from Telluride High School, although the family made lots of trips to Delta, where Charles was a law partner with his father Millard.
Lale Fairlamb on her graduation from Colorado Women’s College in Denver.Charles was also deputy district attorney for San Miguel County and county attorney for San Miguel County for over 30 years.
Lale graduated from Colorado Women's College in Denver. While she was at college, her father Charles was working on a dramatic, time-consuming court case and called her to come home and type his court documents. While she was a student at Telluride High School and Colorado Women's College, she worked part time as a legal secretary. After graduation she was hired by University of Colorado to tutor students from Iran on how to speak and understand English and also to give spelling tests to football players so they could qualify to live on campus. She really enjoyed those experiences; they were fun. She gave tests for chemistry classes for the school of nursing.
Lale's grandfather Millard Fairlamb was a born teacher, she says. During the Great Depression Grandmother Stella cooked for all the family and Grandfather Millard came to the table each evening with a different subject, which he presented and explained and taught. Quite a few young men sought to get their training from him, she said.
Grandpa Millard was Delta city attorney for many years and interested in all the city's projects. He insisted that Delta have wide streets and was a leader in the "model blocks" for laying out and paving streets in downtown residential Delta, which were poured concrete with a trim on left and right. A few of those blocks still exist with "Millard Fairland" impressed into the concrete. He helped bring the canning factory to Delta and was instrumental in establishing Cleland Park.
Some of Lale's fondest memories come from childhood when Grandpa Millard would stop by to get her and cousin Jan Fairlamb to walk with him in Cleland Park. They watched him plant and take care of plants and trees while he told them all about each plant and tree. He loved plants, especially iris and peonies.
In reflecting, Lale sees Grandpa Millard's dedication to public life and skills as a teacher as inspiring her to serve on Delta's Planning and Zoning Commission for 40 years and her decades-long tenure at Delta Public Library. Her great-aunt Anna Nutter was the first Delta librarian, followed by Anna's sister, Evaline Nutter.
Millard Schuyler Fairlamb — Sky — was influenced by Grandpa Millard's attraction and commitment to law, to wanting to see that law and order prevailed and justice was done.
Sky was born while the family lived in Telluride. The family returned to Delta and 700 Leon Street when Sky was four.
Sky's father Charles N. Fairlamb, uncle Samuel L. Fairlamb and Sky all graduated from University of Denver and University of Denver Law School. All three distinguished themselves in jurisprudence in Delta County and San Miguel County.
Grandfather Millard Fairlamb and Samuel L. Fairlamb practiced law together as Fairlamb and Fairlamb. When Millard died, Charles N. closed the branch office in Telluride and moved to Delta full time. Later Millard S. (Sky) joined the firm, still retaining the name Fairlamb and Fairlamb.
The Jacksons — Haley, Lale, and Cathy — in Telluride for Laura Fairlamb’s wedding.Sky served as county attorney for San Miguel County for nine years and deputy district attorney for both Delta County and Montrose County. He was municipal judge for Delta (18 years), Cedaredge (10 years) and Olathe (seven years). As of December 2012, Sky is retired from all these offices.
On Sept. 27, 1923, two important Delta families came together over the purchase of bank stock. Salked Fairlamb bought 10 shares of stock in Colorado State Bank from Melvin Springer. Three generations later Sky Fairlamb married the love and delight of his life, Melanie Springer. Sky and Melanie live on the Fairlambs' favored street, Leon.
They have two daughters, Elizabeth Fairlamb Bray of Portland, Ore., and Laura Fairlamb Rhodes of Seattle, Wash.
Elizabeth and her husband Mathew have a five-year-old son, Raife Bray, the only great-grandchild to date of Charles and Ethel Fairlamb.
Charlotte, the sister of Sky and Lale, graduated from University of Denver, married Duane Bucher and has remained in Denver.
Lale's daughter Haley Jackson lives in California and produces documentaries.
Lale's late son Charles was killed while in college.
Her daughter Cathy Jackson Hall retired this spring from Olathe High School after teaching special education for 33 years. Cathy lives on Leon Street. Lale reared her daughters on Leon Street also.
Cathy, as the youngest Fairlamb-Jackson generation still living in Delta, says, "Delta is a lovely place to live. I've always had a wonderful time here and I plan to stay here. It's a comfortable place to be. It's home.
"I'm like my Grandmother Stella, who was always looking forward. I live in the future."
(An interview with Mary Dow, daughter of Samuel L. Fairlamb, will be published soon.)
blog comments powered by Disqus