Morning Ev
.... Never thought I'd manage to get back to 1714 and find so many more children in the family. It may also help trace two more that seem to have gone 'missing' in the late 1880's....
jonjor
Hi Joan,
We all get there in the end!
I've just been following back a William David FAIRBAIRN, Presbyterian Minister in Victoria, Australia, and ended up (via his father William and the father's first wife Eliza GORDON) with a William FAIRBAIRN from Berwick, then Manchester then Camberwell, married 1819 Christchurch, Newgate, London, to a Sarah LLOYD, born Bishops Castle, Shropshire.
Then others' research kicked in pointing me to William born 11 May 1794 bap. 22 May Abbey St Bathans.
My research so far indicates that it is highly likely this William is your William, father of the James William FAIRBAIRN who married Susan MINTON and had (at least) James Edward, William Louis and your Robert.
Am in correspondence with several of your relations.
My interest?
Not my family that I know of, yet. But as I'm administrator of the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, I'm always trying to figure out assorted lineages, and find DNA candidates to take part (discounts available until the end of December hint hint

)
So far, most of the FAIRBAIRNs on the Borders are looking to be connected to a greater or lesser extent.
Check out
http://dnasurnames.info/lineages/spFAIRBAIRNLineages.htm and if you have a FAIRBAIRN brother or nephew who may be willing to represent this line in the project, send them along to the project via any of the Join links
eg
http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/fairbairn/orderAs I "dig" on FARIBAIRNs I add people to my FAIRBAIRN Research tree on ancestry, with their source data.
It's a public tree, with your William (marr. LLOYD) at
http://trees.ancestry.com.au/tree/13096026/person/16128617 for those with ancestry access.
You will also find snippets about the family of John FAIRBAIRN Elizabeth YULE on the GenForum FAIRBAIRN board as a descendant with a great deal of info monitors that.
Admit that I'm not yet 100% convinced these Williams are one and the same, as I've not explored alternates, but the note that William son of John & Elizabeth "married an Englishwoman" is adding to the id.
Regards
Lorna
http://familytree.lornahen.com