Benjamin Fairfield was a shipowner, merchant and political figure in Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

.

He was born in Charlotte County

Washington County, New York

Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Glens Falls, New York, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,216. It was named for the Revolutionary War general George Washington...

, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 in 1772, the son of a United Empire Loyalist. He came to Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 with his family, who later settled in Ernestown Township

Ernestown Township, Ontario

Ernestown is a historic township in Lennox and Addington County in eastern Ontario. It was originally known as Second Town because it was surveyed after Kingston Township, but was renamed in 1784 after Prince Ernest Augustus, fifth son of George III...

 after the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

. With his brothers, he was involved in shipbuilding, mills and supplying goods to the militia. He represented Lennox

Lennox County, Ontario

Lennox County is a historic county in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario.As an upper-tier municipality, the county of Lennox was created on paper in 1792, but has never existed as a discrete municipal entity. From 1792 until 1864, it was part of the United Counties of Frontenac, Lennox...

 & Addington

Addington County, Ontario

Addington County is a historic county in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario.It was named after Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth. As an upper-tier municipality, the county of Addington was created on paper in 1792, but has never existed as a discrete municipal entity. From 1792...

 in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada

The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was the elected legislature for the province of Upper Canada and functioned as the province's lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada...

 from 1812 to 1816; his older brother William

William Fairfield

William Fairfield was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Pawlet, Vermont in 1769 or 1770, the son of William Fairfield, a farmer. His father fought with Edward Jessup's loyalist forces and moved with his family to Machiche in Quebec in 1779...

 had earlier served as a member of the assembly. In 1818, he was named justice of the peace in the Midland District. He served in the local militia becoming captain in 1826. He died in Bath, Canada West in 1842.