Grandison Fairchild was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 reformer and active in the founding of Oberlin College

Oberlin College

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

.

He was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts

Sheffield, Massachusetts

Not to be confused with the city of Sheffield in the UK, or Sheffield, Vermont.Sheffield is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,257 at the 2010 census. Sheffield is home to...

 and died in Brownhelm, Ohio.

His sons became presidents of various educational institutions. James

James Fairchild

James Harris Fairchild was an American educator.Harris was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on November 25, 1817. His father was Grandison Fairchild. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Brownhelm, Lorain County, Ohio, and settled on a farm about ten miles from the present site of Oberlin...

 was president of Oberlin for a quarter of a century. Henry

Henry Fairchild

Edward Henry Fairchild was an American educator.Fairchild was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. His father was Grandison Fairchild. When he was a child his family moved to northeast Ohio....

 was president of Berea College

Berea College

Berea College is a liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky , founded in 1855. Current full-time enrollment is 1,514 students...

 at Berea, Kentucky

Berea, Kentucky

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 9,851 people, 3,693 households, and 2,426 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,055.4 people per square mile . There were 4,115 housing units at an average density of 440.9 per square mile...

. George

George Fairchild

George Thompson Fairchild was an American educator and university president.Fairchild was the son of Grandison Fairchild...

 was president of Kansas State University

Kansas State University

Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...

. Grandison Fairchild, a devout Christian, once jokingly expressed regret that all of his sons had not become full-time ministers. "They all petered out as college presidents," he is reported to have said.