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From the book, "Santo Tomas" by Frederic Stevens: George Hendrick Fairchild (father, 1869 - 19??)) Edwin Bradley Fairchild (son, 1896 - 1979) Mary Edith Fairchild (Edwin's wife) Kirby Clinton Fairchild Nina Marie Fairchild December 15, 2008 I thoroughly enjoyed viewing the life page for your aunt (Georgi Scott). What a remarkable lady. What a coincidence that my research is also centering around Hawaii. My role in finding information re the Fairchilds is through my new son-in-law, Bradley Andrew Eadelman. George H. Fairchild and his wife Elizabeth Cummins Fairchild were his great-great grandparents. As genealogy is a passion of mine, I have agreed to research his family lines. What a wild ride it has been. The history of Hawaii, the Philippines, etc., has come alive for me during these past few months. George and Elizabeth had a son by the name of Edwin Bradley Fairchild, and he led a remarkable life as well as his parents. All were supposedly interred at Santo Tomas, and I found Edwin Bradley and George H.'s names on a list of prisoners. George H. Fairchild was the owner of several sugar plantations in both Hawaii and the Philippines. He also was the owner/publisher of the Manila Times for a while. Elizabeth was the daughter of one royal Hawaiian family, and the granddaughter of another. E. Bradley was an ambulance driver in France during WWI, and was one of the last to be admitted into the Foreign Legion of Aviation, the Lafayette Escadrille during that same war. I found a reference to him in a book by Fay Cook Bailey about the Santo Tomas camp called Only a Matter of Days: "Bradley Fairchild was put in the camp jail for taking stuff from the garden. He has not been a good internee citizen." I believe that he had a great deal of family in the camp ... aged parents, wife, perhaps even siblings and children. He was also a very large man ... well over 6 ft., and could have been justified in needing more food, but then there were many other families in the same position, so who knows what they would do unless they were in the same situation. I do know that George and Elizabeth were friends of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower, and were frequent bridge partners during the times that they were living in the Philippines. I have found reference in letters, and also in a biography of Mamie. I think it is a little strange that I haven't found any other reference to them with the exception of that item in Fay's book. Such a prominent person, former senator from Hawaii, spokesperson for the sugar industry before congress, etc., should have caused a bit of a ripple. Nothing! Any assistance anyone can give me would be well received. I have found several lists online re the names of internees. Two examples are: http://rizal.lib.admu.edu.ph/ahc/guides/STIC-part2.pdf http://keepemflying.30.forumer.com/index.php?s=3e913ee163b07291673130838d1dbaa2&act=Print&client=printer&f=6&t=21 Elizabeth is not listed, but the family insisted that she was there. I'm still digging. I know that E. Bradley's wife was named Mary, and she was British at the time of their marriage. Don't know anything about any children, yet. Edwin B. Fairchild had joined a group of ambulance drivers in France during WWI with some of his university friends. He was born on or about the 4th day of August 1896 at Kealia, Kauai, Hawaii and he died 7-7-1979 in California. He was the son of George H. Fairchild and Elizabeth Cummins Fairchild. Brad's great-grandmother was Mela Fairchild Vaughan, a sister to Edwin Bradley. Mela was the Queen of the Manila Carnival in 1917, and was the only American to ever reign alone. The Fairchild history goes way back in both the Philippines and Hawaii. There were family connections on at least four islands in Hawaii .. sugar plantations, ranching, etc. Wouldn't you think that your aunt would have known them? Thanks, Jan jenrightr@gmail.com February 26, 2009 Guess what? I've been doing more research, and now have information linking the Gordon Weatherstone MacKay family with my earlier querries re the Fairchild family. MacKay's wife, Mela Kamakee MacKay, is in fact, Mela Kamakee Fairchild Vaughan MacKay. Lydia Kawakee Vaughan is her daughter, as is Joan Kamakee C. MacKay. George Hendrick Fairchild was her father, and Edwin Bradley Fairchild was her brother. They were all interred. Edwin's wife was British and her name was Mary, but I do not know for sure if the Mary Fairchild listed is the same person. Additional information that might be of interest is the following: Mela was the 1917 QUEEN OF THE MANILA CARNIVAL. Mela Kamakee Fairchild was a daughter of mixed American-Polynesian marriage. She holds the distinction as the only American winner to reign solo at the annual Carnival pageant. Her consort was Maj. William Vaughn of the U.S. Army. A real-life romance bloomed, and they were married a year later. They had two children, Bradley and Lydia Fairchild. Their marriage ended in divorce and Mela remarried much later, in 1935, to Scottish-American Gordon Mackay. Gordon was well-known to many Filipinos and counts Carlos P. Romulo (1899-1985) (himself, married to the 1923 Carnival Queen, Virginia Llamas) as a friend. Mela and Gordon had a daughter from their union, Joan. When Mela remarried, it was to Scottish-American Gordon Mackay, a longtime Philippine resident and a good friend to many prominent Filipinos, including Carlos P. Romulo. Caught up in the terrible World War II, the Mackays were interred at the University of Santo Tomas. Upon release during the Liberation, they went back to the United States on the first army transport out of Manila. But they would later return to the Philippines which they have always considered home. In 1965, while on a European tour, Mela fell sick. She was diagnosed to have cancer. She asked to be taken back to Manila where she died two years later. Daughter Joan married Hamilton Powhatan Parrish and settled in the country that her parents have come to love, taking residence in Makati with her husband and children. Perhaps there will more information available from someone due to this new information. Thanks, Jan and more..... George Hendrick Fairchild b. September 8,1869 at East Highgate, Vermont m. Elizabeth Kamakee Cummins August 28, 1895 in Hawaii He was educated at Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, OH and graduated in the Class of 1888 d. ?? I know he was alive after the war and have him on a passenger manifest for Pan American Airways in February 1948 from Hawaii to Manila. I assume he and his wife, Elizabeth, died in the Philippines, and are buried there, but have no proof. I now know that their daughter, Mela did, and will attempt to locate her burial location. They (George and Elizabeth) were friends of Commander Chick Parsons, who was instrumental during WWII for organizing a fleet of submaries to supply the resistance in the Philippines, and who was the connection between General Douglass MacArthur's GHQ and the guerrillas. I have a copy of an interview with Chick, and he mentions the Fairchilds several times, as does Mamie Eisenhower in her autobiography. How can I not find these people? It is so sad that the people who would have known them are all dying off. With the death of their grandson, Bradley Vaughan last December we lost an invaluable resource for his family's history. His declining health made it impossible for me to talk with him. Some families just don't talk about their past. Except for me, there is no one in my family who can even name the grandmother's maiden names, or any of the fascinating history ... in my husband's family he is the only one who is interested. That's just the way it is. I don't understand it, but am beginning to accept that we are just odd. I recently had a serious bout with cancer, and realized all too vividly that except for one's health, family is all that really matters ... I keep uncovering more and more bits of information, but have not put an end to George's life story or Elizabeth's. I only have a picture of him from 1888, as well, but think we found one of him on page 132 of a TimeLife book titled Return To The Philippines. Am attaching the very early picture of him. je   or be added to my POW/Internee e-mail distribution list, please let me, Tom Moore, know. Thanks! |