Thomas FANNING was born in Summer Hill (a few miles west of Cortland, NY), in Cayuga County, New York on September 11, 1852. Thomas and his younger brother Frank (1864-1929) where two of the six (6) children born to Patrick and Bridget (Walpole) Fanning, both Irish immigrants. From Summer Hill, the Fanning’s then moved to Groton, situated approx. 12 miles south of Summer Hill. Thomas Fanning, the second in order of birth, spent his boyhood and early youth in Groton. In April 1879, at age 27, he arrived in Richmond, possibly together with his younger brother Frank, then 15, where they began to work for Harrup FREEMAN, egg dealer, in Richmond. Thomas worked as a foreman and Frank as an apprentice. After Harrup Freeman’s untimely death in 1885, Thomas, in association with James E. WETER (the brother of Harrup Freeman’s widow) and Martin KEELER, purchased FREEMAN’s business and the company continued to operate under the name of Weter, Fanning & Company. On May 4, 1887, Thomas Fanning married Arabelle (Weter) Freeman, the widow of his former employer and sister of his partner, James E. Weter. Thomas and Arabelle (Belle) Fanning had one child, Rena Belle FANNING-LINDKE, born in 1889. Arabelle had two daughters from her marriage with Harrup Freeman: Mabel (1882-1887), who died at age 5, and Margaret FREEMAN-MILLER. The Fanning’s home was situated on Main Street, across the street from the egg candling plant, which later, before it was razed, would house the BAUER Funeral Home and later still the Richmond Public Library.

If the diaries in my possession are complete, Thomas must have been just short of his 50th birthday when he first began to record the temperature of every day in the year. As revealed by the transcripts, by 1906 he began to complement the daily temperature with everyday events, such as the death of a relative or neighbor, sports scores, world events, and the annual sighting of the "first" robin in the spring. According to the diaries, he owned a cabin or cottage in Fairhaven, a place to which he retreated every summer for a month or so, to do some fishing with his friends and visiting with relatives. The Fanning’s made regular trips to Lenawee and Palmyra, Michigan, to visit Arabelle’s parents, Thomas S. and Mary (UPTON) Weter, or to Walloon Lake, in upper Michigan, where U.C. Weter, probably another brother of Arabelle, had a cottage. Thomas kept detailed records of his spending and his annual income from investments. In one of the diaries he recorded all the small loans he had made to various citizens in Richmond, some amounted to not more than 1 or 2 dollars, including the date on which they had been repaid. He contributed money towards the move of the Parker Plow Co. to Richmond, and received rent from Parker Plow, indicating that he owned the building. He was a devout member of the Congregational Church in Richmond, a doting father to daughter Rena, and a loving grandfather to his step-grandson, Thomas MILLER (1900-19..?), the son of Caleb S. and Margaret Freeman-Miller, who would later become a doctor of dermatology in Detroit. Thomas Fanning died in 1927. His wife Arabelle would outlive him by 17 years. She died in 1944.

Thomas, together with his brother Frank, would frequently visit the old homestead in Groton and the other siblings, who resided in the immediate area. Frank Fanning, who was known from his involvement in local sports, had first married Alice FORRESTER (1870-1903) in 1894. She died in 1903. There were no children born into this union. In 1906, three years after Alice’s death, Frank married Dessie HARMON. Frank Fanning died December 10, 1929.