Charles B. Fairbanks

Charles Bullard Fairbanks (March 19, 1827 – December 3, 1859) was an American writer, who became well known for the book: My Unknown Chum "Aguecheek".

Biography Fairbanks was born on March 19, 1827, in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Otis and Nancy Fairbanks. He was the eldest of four siblings. After finishing school, he became a clerk at a booksellers and afterwards assistant librarian at the Boston Athenaeum. However, due to his health, he quit his job and did a tour of Europe for the benefit of his health.

Being raised in a Protestant household, Fairbanks became interested in the Oxford Movement and converted to Catholicism. Then, he joined the Seminary of St. Sulpice in 1856 as a candidate for the priesthood. However, due to his continuing failing health he had to abandon his studies. He became an author instead, writing under the penname Aguecheek for several religious newspapers’ essays and sketches, as well as his travels around the United States and Europe. Later, he gathered his work and published them in book form.

Due to his ailing health, Fairbanks traveled for the third time to Europe. There, he contracted "hemorrhage of the lungs," which affected him greatly and lead to his death on December 3, 1859, on Paris, France. He was buried at the Montmartre Cemetery. Memorials of the Blessed: a series of short Lives of the Saints (1860)