Introduction

Biography

James was the son of Jo­nas Pres­ton Fair­lamb and Han­nah Ken­ne­dy. He mar­ried twice, to Ma­ri­an Kerr Hig­gins (1866) and Me­lu­si­na Mull­er.

He was play­ing the or­gan in Penn­syl­van­ia by 1852. He stu­died in Pa­ris, France, with Mar­mon­tel, and Flor­ence, It­aly, 1859–61.

U.S. Pre­si­dent Ab­ra­ham Lin­coln ap­point­ed Fair­lamb to be Am­er­ican cons­ul in Zür­ich, Swit­zer­land, 1861–65.

After re­turn­ing to Amer­ic­a, Fair­lamb was an or­gan­ist in Wash­ing­ton, DC, 1865–72. From 1872–98 he was a church or­gan­ist in Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia; Jer­sey Ci­ty, New Jer­sey; and New York. He was one of the found­ers of the Am­er­ican Guild of Or­ganists

Works

He wrote ma­ny songs, cho­ral and church works, and the op­eras Va­le­rie, or Trea­sured Tok­ens (Phi­la­del­phia, De­cem­ber 15, 1869); Love’s Stra­ta­gem; and The In­ter­rupt­ed Mar­ri­age.