In her book, Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors And War Service, Elizabeth (Leach) Rixford gives a detailed history of the Fanton family. She mentions that the brothers, James and Joseph Fanton, were among the first settlers in the area and attended an organization meeting in Georgia in 1788. The Fanton brothers came from Connecticut. In 1804 James bought a parcel of land in Sheldon. His son was James H Fanton. Elizabeth (Leach) Rixford was the daughter of Orisa (Fanton) Leach, James's sister.
The Fanton home and Fanton Station were located on Chester A Arthur Road, where the train tracks crossed the road. According to Fairfield Reminiscences, Dimon Barlow built the house in 1813. His ghost was often sighted sitting on a cider barrel in the basement. The house was damaged by an earthquake and torn down during the 1920s. The Branon family now owns the property, and they use the old station building as a sugarhouse.
The St. Albans Weekly Messenger announced the marriage of James H Fanton of Sheldon to Jane Wiley of Franklin in February of 1849. They were married by Philander Chadwick at the Episcopal church in Enosburg. The 1850 census shows James and Jane living in Sheldon with their 10-month-old daughter, Jane Isabel. Tragically, Jane died later that year at the age of 24. Jane's grave is located at the Marsh Farm cemetery in Franklin. Lathrop and Lucy (Chadwick) Marsh had their farm, where the Marsh Farm Cemetery is located today. Philander Chadwick was Lucy's brother. Vital records indicate that Jane was born in the North of Ireland.
Ann and her mother Catherine, left Ireland in the late 1840s during the potato famine. Ann's obituary says that she made the journey from Ireland when she was 16 years old. The 1850 census shows that they lived in the household of Nicholas and Margaret Corbless. James Fanton married Ann in 1852. Catherine remained in the Corbless household, and her grave in St. Patrick's cemetery is on the same plot as Nicolas and Margaret Corbless. Family trees on Ancestry.com indicate that Ann came from Ardee, County Louth, Ireland. The children of James H and Ann (Waters) Fanton were Mary, James, Lucy (Fanton) Roddy, Brayton (Thomas), Julia (Fanton) Hale, Mahala (Fanton) Hall, and Elizabeth (Lilly)(Fanton) Murphy. Most of the Fanton family are buried in Bradley Cemetery.
Bernard and Lucy (Fanton) Roddy lived on a farm in Fairfield, west of the village. In 1914, their son Clarence purchased the Rollin Wheeler farm in Fairfax on Buck Hollow Road, on the Fletcher town line. Barney and Lucy lived on the farm until their passing. The farm up the road, on the Fletcher side of the town line, was inherited by Homer and Clara (Learned) Sweet from the Learned family. Homer was the son of Isabelle (Fanton) Sweet, Lucy’s half-sister.
Julia Fanton married Thomas Hale and according to Elizabeth Rixon, was an active member of the Trinity Episcopal Church and the Red Cross. Thomas Hale was a mail carrier for 40 years and represented Fairfield in the Vermont Legislature. According to page 87 of Fairfield Reminiscences, Mr. Hale had a store in the building next to the Brick Store in Fairfield center that carried groceries and other merchandise. In 1918, his nephew, Guy Roddy, took over the store. His brother Wallace took over the store after he passed. On the other side of the Hale store was a hardware and farm supply store operated by James Fanton Jr.
According to Elizabeth Rixon, James Fanton Jr. was the first stationmaster of Fairfield Station. It was built by his father in the late 1800s and was located on Chester A Arthur road, where the rail trail now crosses the road. James H Fanton paid for the construction of the station himself. This was an investment that allowed for the distribution of the milk, cheese, and pressed hay that his farms produced. James Fanton Jr. never married and also served as town constable and tax collector.
Lilly (Fanton) Murphy settled down in Sainte-Agnes-de-Dundee, Quebec with her husband Arthur. On page 95 of Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service, Elizabeth Rixford mentions, “Lilly Fanton Murphy is a devout mother of strong religious sentiment. Of her eleven children, two are Roman Catholic Priests, and one daughter is Sister Mary of the Holy Cross.”
Mary Fanton married Charles McGowan in 1875 and also moved to Quebec. Elizabeth Rixford mentions that Mary passed in 1893. The Naturalization record of her son, J Herbert, shows that he was born in Cazaville, Quebec and was living in Montreal before returning to Vermont in 1893. The 1900 Fairfield census shows Herbert and his sister Anna living at the Fanton house with their grandmother, Ann, along with her uncle, James Fanton Jr, Thomas Hale, and Julia (Fanton) Hale. Anna settled in Burlington, where she became the manager of the Burlington City Light Department, but her burial place is in Bradley Cemetery, on the same plot as James Jr, Thomas Hale, and Julia. Her brother, Herbert, also settled in Burlington, and his obituary from 1951 says that he started the “J. H. McGowan and Son agricultural implementation firm” in South Burlington. Herbert’s burial was at the Resurrection Park cemetery in South Burlington.
Isabel Fanton married Franklin Sweet, and they made their home in Sheldon. Their children were Homer, Vernon, Jennie, and Theresa. Frank, Isabel, Vernon, and Theresa (Sweet) Underwood are all buried in the Sheldon cemetery. Homer and Jennie (Sweet) Underwood are buried in the St. Albans Bay cemetery.
