John Henry Fairbank (July 21, 1831 - February 10, 1914) was variously a surveyor, oilman, inventor, banker, politician and fire chief in Lambton County, Ontario.

[7][8] In 1861, Fairbank was hired by Julia Macklem to survey 100 acres of land in Oil Springs that she purchased from Charles Tripp and subdivide the property into 198 half-acre lots.

[10][11] Although the fluctuation in the price of oil in 1862-1863 nearly drove Fairbank to bankruptcy, his fortunes reversed in November 1863 when he netted $150 in profit in a single day.

[13][14] In 1865, Fairbank sold his half acre property at Oil Springs for $6000 and relocated to Petrolia, Ontario.

[15] In the mid-1860s, Fairbank developed the jerker-line pumping system, which was ideally suited to the closely spaced, low-output oil wells in Lambton County.

[16] In this system, wooden rods connected to a single power source pumped dozens of wells at the same time.

[21][22] After arriving in Petrolia in 1865, Fairbank opened a grocery and liquor store in partnership with Benjamin Van Tuyl.

[29] Thirteen years later, Fairbank, Jacob Englehart and other businessmen from Petrolia formed the Crown Savings and Loan Company.

[36] In 1892, Fairbank came into possession of a refinery in partnership with Samuel Rogers and Company of Toronto after its owners declared bankruptcy.

[38] In 1896, Fairbank and Rogers sold the refinery to the Bushnell Corporation, a Canadian subsidiary of Standard Oil.

[41] The Shannon property was one of Fairbank's most lucrative Oil sources, with almost half of his 30,000 barrels in 1885 coming from the site.

[48] When the Petrolia Packing Company was forced into bankruptcy after a fire destroyed the building on October 31, 1905, Fairbank, one of its directors, likely lost between $5000 and $10,000.

[50] Despite the financial backing of Fairbank, the Wagon Works continued to lose money and eventually declared bankruptcy in 1922.

[55] Fairbank was also involved with John W. Sifton in building the Canadian Pacific Railway west from Lakehead and he travelled to northwestern Ontario to oversee construction in 1875/1876.

[56] In 1872, Fairbank donated land on Railway Street to local Anglicans, enabling them to build a church.

[60] Fairbank married Edna Chrysler, a granddaughter of a United Empire Loyalist in Niagara Falls in 1855.

[64][65] In 1997, Fairbank was inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame for his success as an oil producer and his invention of the jerker-line pumping system.