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Home > California > Stone Carvers... > Menu > Cemetery Stone & Monument Carvers...Alphabetical List > Chronology > Documents Relating to Field Family in Dorset, Vermont
Post Office Bennington
104 - 110 - Field, Jesse, 50, Male, White, Carpenter (born) Mass., $2500 value of real estate, $400 value of personal
(Field) Catherine, 44, Female, White, Keeping house, (born) VT
(Field) James, 8, Male, White, (born) VT
Post Office Dorset
153 - 151 - Field, Chas., (age) 45, Male, White, Marble dealer, (born) VT
(Field) Henrietta, 43
Chas. A., 17
Fannie 14
Henrietta 12
Wing (?), Henrietta, 21
Armstrong, Cyrus, 86, Male, White, no occupation
(page 24)
209 - 205 - Holly, Edward, (age) 42, Male, White, Marble dealer, (born) VT, $4,000 value of real estate, $1,000 value of personal
Elsie A., 31, Female, White, Keeping house
Jennie, 12, Female, White, At home
Mary, 4, Female, White, At home
The following obituary for Charles Armstrong Field is from the Manchester Journal, Thursday, April 23, 1908. The transcription of this obituary is a part of Dorset Families; Genealogical Records and Notes by The Rev. Parsons S. Pratt (1822-1906) With Occasional Additions by His Granddaughter Miss Anna E. Gilbert (1881-1970) located in Dorset Historical Society collection.
Obituary - Charles Armstrong Field
From the Manchester Journal - Thursday, April 23, 1908.
“Many old friends and relatives of the Field family in Dorset and elsewhere have been greatly pained to hear of the death of Mr. Charles Armstrong Field, only son of the late Charles and Henrietta Armstrong Field of Dorset, Vt. Mr. Field died in Tuscon (sic), Arizona, after seven years of illness borne with invincible patience and courage.
“He was born in Dorset May 23rd, 1853, in a home of rare refinement and cultivation, where childhood was understood, appreciated and made happy in a way quite unusual. His people were thorough New Englanders in ancestry, coming in every branch from a line of colonial men and women who were closely connected with the settlement of old New England towns. Two of the first landgrants in Dorset were taken up by his great grandparents. On both father’s and mother’s sides were revolutionary patriots; his grrat (sic) grandfather Armstrong fought for five years in the Revolutionary army. Naturally his father left his little family to serve in the Civil War.
“Many are still living who recall the pleasant home and the shy, quiet, thoughtful boy who there grew into a serious, scholarly young man. Later on they knew him as a man of fine ability and education, deeply enriched by travel and observation. He was always fond of Natural History and greatly interested for many years in Ethnology. Always he was reaping ‘the harvest of a quiet eye.’ He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in June, 1871, but his study there was only the foundation for his later education. For a time he studied law, but he found it not wholly to his taste, and his delicate health gave way under close confinement within doors.
“In 1874 he went to Nevada and lived for a year on its wide sunny heights; later he went to California where another year of out-door life followed, which he greatly enjoyed. Sunsequently (sic) he spent several years in Toledo, Ohio, being associated with his father in business there. Always anxious to return to California permanently, in 1883 he went to San Francisco as Associate Manager of that branch of the Producers Marble Company. Thus he became identified with the interests of Senator Proctor, his father’s friend and his own, and continued in that connection until the end. As the foreign manager of the Vermont Marble Co. at San Francisco he introduced the use of New England marble in the Orient, and those countries whose shores are washed by the Pacific Ocean. Six times he visited all the great ports of Australia and New Zealand; twice he extended these trips to India, China and Japan; travelling extensively in all these countries, and in Central and South America, and three times encircled the globe.
“In 1894 he married Sylvia Williston Little of Liverpool, England, a most fortunate and congenial marriage. Mrs. Field shared his long exile and was his devoted nurse through his years of suffering. She lives to mourn his death, as do his sisters, Mrs. Frances Field Abbott of New York and Mrs. Katherine Field White of Chicago.”
(pp. 202)
“Through all of their branches, these Fields seem to have been delightful people. The sons, Frederick and Charles, were away from Dorset a good deal at one time, doing business ‘in the far west,’ at Niles, Michigan. But they eventually settled down here and went into the marble industry, Frederick living in East Dorset and Charles at ‘the Corner.’ The latter, with his cousins Edson Holley and Duane Kent, formed a marble firm. It was he who laid our first marble sidewalk.”
(pp. 203)
“Fredericks’ wife, Mary Bacon, of Niles, was a rarely gifted and lovable woman, a poet whose lyrics, published in various papers and magazines, are full of sweetness and vitality, revealing a warm, tender nature.”
(pp. 214)
“Mt. Aeolus, a name well corresponding to Mt. Equinox, near by, and appropriate because this is a region of winds, and because this lofty mountain so much affects their direction and power in the neighboring valleys. Suitable, moreover, because Aeolus dwelt in a cave - very likely in this for no one could prove that he lived anywhere else and this mountain is higher and better adapted for his residence than Stromboli, where he was fabled to dwell.
“Frederick Field, Esq., in the name of the citizens of Dorset, expressed to the class their gratification at this visit, and their acceptance of the name bestowed upon the hoary mountain to which they all looked up with so much love and reverence.”
(pp. 227)
“The decade of the ‘70s was marked by a number of events, significant either in themselves or in their consequences. the marble business declined so seriously that four quarries were closed; the Frederick Fields removed to California....”
(Also see the section entitled, “Excerpts From Dorset Families; Genealogical Records and Notes by The Rev. Parsons S. Pratt (1822-1906) With Occasional Additions by His Granddaughter Miss Anna E. Gilbert (1881-1970).)
This document includes the following Field entries:
1. (Number) 7 - (Date) May 17 - (Name) Edward Gilbert Field* - (Sex and condition) Male - Twins - (Place of Birth) Dorset - (Names of Parents) Frederick & Mary H. Field - (Residence of Parents) Dorset - (Occupation of Father) Marble Dealer - (Place of Birth of Father) Dorset, Vt - (Place of Birth of Mother) Niles, Mich.
2. (Number) 3 - (Date) May 17 - (Name) Arthur Sweetman Field* - (Sex and condition) Male - Twins - (Place of Birth) Dorset - (Names of Parents) Frederick & Mary H. Field - (Residence of Parents) Dorset - (Occupation of Father) Marble Dealer - (Place of Birth of Father) Dorset, Vt - (Place of Birth of Mother) Niles, Mich.
(* There is a note by Linda French that includes the following information about the names above: I believe the middle names have been switched here. Baptism records show Arthur Gilbert field (and) Edward Sweetman Field. Death records shows Edward S. Field.))
The following names along with their birth information are included on this document: (Please see the scan for the dates as the hand-written dates are difficult to read. Some of these dates do not match the dates given for these people in the Field Genealogy, by Frederick Clifton Pierce, 1901.)
Amos Field and his wife, Zerviah (parents of the following children)
Elizabeth Field, born in Mayfield in Connecticut on the 29 th day October of 1773.
Rhodah Field, born the 4th (?) August 1778*
(“Someone has written over the birth year for “Rhoda” with a black felt pen. I believe the original date was 1778, not 1775. All but Elizabeth were born in Dorset.” Linda French. This 1778 date matches the date for Rhoda Field in the Field Genealogy, by Frederick Clifton Pierce, 1901.)
Zerviah (or Zeoriah ?) Field, born 13th June 1780.
Amos Field, born on the 12th of November 1782.
Hannah Field, born the 17th of March 1785.
Alfred Field born on the 15th of March, 1787.
Spafford Field born on the 29th (? or 28th) of March 1789.
Huldah Field born on the 13th of June 1791.
Olive Field born the 21st of September 1793.
(There is a name “Emily” with no last name at the end of the list that I cannot read that was born 30 th (?) of May, 1796.)
Field Homestead settled by Amos Field in 1774. View about 1900. The elms had been set out but mere saplings in 1790 when Elizabeth was married.
The Field Homestead taken about 1902/3.
Dorset, VT The Old Field Place, H. P. Gilbert, Dorset, Vt. (about 1906. One from the first sets of Dorset postcards printed for sale.)
Daddie & Mother - Ellen and Orvin - Edith and John
Hand-written notes containing Field family names and dates.
Field Genealogy - Handwritten List by Unknown Author(s) Beginning with Zachariah Field.
(Please note: Clicking the image will display a PDF file containing ten handwritten pages.)
Field Genealogy - Typed/Handwritten Ancestry Chart by Unknown Author Beginning with General Martin Field (Esther Kellog) Field.
The following article is a part of the “Excerpts From Dorset Families; Genealogical Records and Notes by The Rev. Parsons S. Pratt....” (The article was published in The Orleans American, Albion New York, Thursday Morning May 21, 1874.) Used with permission.
“Obituary.
“Died in this village, on the 16 th inst., Mrs. Sarah Field, widow of the late Spafford Field. She was born in Dorset, Vt., and was the daughter of Samuel Collins, Esq., of that place, who died in the winter of 1813 of an epidemic fever, which swept off many heads of families in that township. Mr. Collins was a highly esteemed citizen, and for six consecutive years was a member of the Vermont Legislature; his memory is still cherished by the elder portion of that community as that of an upright and honorable man. Mrs. Field was married in autumn of 1811 in Dorset, to Spafford Field, of that, his native place. Their married life, although checquered with the fortunes and vicissitudes common to the early settlers of new countries, proved to be a very happy one during the long period of more than fifty-nine years, when death removed him from her side. During this long term of married life, so truly and faithfully performed, so carefully all parental duties to their numerous family discharged, as well as social duties to their friends, and Christian duties towards their fellow men, and to the Church and to their God, that we have full assurance that by patient continuance in well doing they have met with approval of Him who said, ‘He that endureth to the end shall be saved.’
“Mr. Field was an upright industrious man, an examplary (sic) Christian and was rewarded for his industry by a competence for his declining years and by the esteem of all his acquaintances. Mrs. Field was in all things a ‘help meet’ for such a man. Under all discouragements she cheered him by her hopeful disposition, and by her untiring industry she helped gather that competence. By her judicious training she led her family lovingly along the paths of virtue and usefulness, until those now living are reconed (sic) among our most highly respected and useful citizens.
“In her decline of life a rich reward for her faithfulness was granted her in her loving care and great esteem in which she was held, not only by her children, but by those who came to be reckoned as such by marriage in the family. Mrs. Field was a bright example of those who guide their affairs with discretion. She had a sympathizing heart, and withal a clear perception of what as right and proper to be done and a firm and steady hand to do it. That hand so soothing when laid upon the brow of care, so skillful to chase away pain or anxiety, was no less skillful in giving expression to her ideas of taste, in embroidery and fine needlework, and many a sample of the skill and industry which employed her leisure time up to nearly the day of the death has been left to her family and friends. The hospitality of this household has always been most generous and so judiciously and lovingly granted, that the many who have been blessed with it will ever think of it as among those influences in social life which help to make us better.
“Six children of the nine with which they were blessed survive the parents; two sons Hon. Ben. Field and Norman S. Field, and four daughters; three sons-in-law, the late Elizur Hart, deceased, and our well known townsman, H. A. King, and George Harris, now a resident of California. They leave two grand-sons, Hon. E. K. Hart, and Chas. A. King, nine grand-daughters and nine great-grand children, and may they all live to honorably perpetuate the memory of their parents and grand-parents.
“For nearly forty years this aged couple have been consistent members of the Presbyterian church in Albion, and when possible have been constant in attendance at its meetings and ordinances. Yet they were rather reticent than demonstrative and their Christian walk has exemplified the power of religion to purify the heart.
“For a few months past Mrs. Field has been impressed with the conviction that her earthly pilgrimage was nearly completed, and had told her intimate friends that consumption was steadily and surely doing its fatal work. But she carried the weight of eighty years with such an erect figure and hid the pains and aches of her disease beneath such a cheerful manner, and had so trained herself to self-forgetfulness that neither she nor her family foresaw the near approach of death. She kept her bed but a day or two. On Sabbath evening, nearly 10 o’clock, she bade one of her sons a cheerful good-night, saying, ‘I think I will get a good night’s rest and feel better in the morning;’ but soon after midnight she joined her husband in the land of the blessed, and ‘had seen the Lord.’
“The moral heroism that with such unflinching fidelity meets the daily domestic duties of such a long life is worthy of all praise, and such is the history of many a wife and mother in our land - a history unwritten and praise unsung, only as it is impressed on the (sic) under their care, to be read in future time in those lives and characters of those trained under such influences. We need not despair of the success of our nation, nor the final triumph of the Church so long as God in his watchful Providence shall vouchsafe to us such conservators of domestic purity and public virtue. A.”
The following article is a part of the “Excerpts From Dorset Families; Genealogical Records and Notes by The Rev. Parsons S. Pratt....” (The source and date of the article is not included, but the location “ Albion, N.Y. ” is written above the title of the article.*)
(* According to the Field Genealogy, Being the Record of All the Field Family In America, Whose Ancestors were in This Country Prior to 1700, published in 1901, pp. 674-678: “2153. Hon. Benjamin Collins Field (Spafford, Amos, Bennet (sic), John, Zechariah, Zechariah, John, John, Richard, William, William), son of Spafford and Sally (Collins), b. in Dorset, Vt., June 12, 1816. He settled in 1828 in Albion, N.Y., where he d. Aug. 14, 1876, unm....” A photograph of Benjamin Field is included in the biography. Please note that the Field Genealogy is available on Google Book Search - Full View Books.)
Albion, N.Y., circa August 1876
Death of Hon. Ben Field
“Hon. Ben Field died at the family homestead in this village, about 4 o’clock on Sunday afternoon last, after an illness - heart disease and dropsy - of something over two years. The following facts in his history we glean from an article prepared for and published in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on Tuesday morning last:
“Somewhat more than fifty years ago Mr. Field moved from Vermont and settled in Albion, where he has since continuously resided. In his early manhood he was engaged at the above village in letter cutting on head-stones. Subsequently he became interested in politics, and, abandoning his early occupation gave his attention to the contract business, especially to the building of railroads, some of the most prominent lines of the country having been constructed under his skillful superintendence. His first political principles were of the Whig school, and he followed those principles faithfully, zealously and conscientiously. After the formation of the Republican party he allied himself to its fortunes, and brought to its support an indomitable will, and unflinching devotion, and a genius for work and organization, which gave him peculiar and distinctive success. He was very largely instrumental in the victories of that party in this State in the decade between ’60 and ’70, his influence being felt in all the State and National Conventions.
“In 1869 he was favorably mentioned for the office of Surveyor of the Port of New York. In speaking of his candidacy for that office a correspondent of the Democrat, on March 1 st, 1869, said: ‘Standing, therefore, where it has been given me to stand, I claim to be able to demonstrate beyond cavil the truth of my averment that the Republicans are indebted to the earnest, unselfish, disinterested and very devoted labors of Mr. Field as much as to any other man in their ranks who has occupied the position of a worker and a manager; and if it is to be in any sense a political apothegm of the party that the patronage within its gift should be awarded in the ratio of faithful services rendered, Gen. Grant cannot have a higher obligation imposed on him with reference to this office than the claims Mr. Field will present.’
“In 1854-5 he represented the Twenty-eighth District in the State Senate, and in 1867 was a Republican representative from Orleans county in the Constitutional Convention. Both as Senator and as a member of the Constitutional Convention, he displayed marked native ability for political duty and brought to each office a wide and varied experience, which, coupled with an intimate knowledge of the details of political affairs, made him a man of conspicuous worth in the offices with which the people so fittingly honored him. In addition to these special preferments, he was for a number of years an indefatigable member of the Republic State Committee. In 1872 he espoused the principles of the Liberals.
“Personally Mr. Field’s character was in many respects unique. He is said by those who best knew him never to have displayed, in how bitter soever a contest he might be engaged, those smaller and baser qualities which seek and only obtain satisfaction in wreaking political vengeance upon his foes. He was magnanimous to a fault, and generous and open-hearted to the last degree. His life had been pitched in the very midst of political corruption and yet, so sagacious and well-informed a paper as the New York Commercial Advertiser, speaking of him in 1869, said” ‘Differing as we have with him for many years, we are bound to say in fairness that he has labored incessantly for the success of the Republican cause. The imputations thrown out against Mr. Field’s connection with legislative jobs have no foundation in truth.’ And of the correctness of this opinion all those who knew the deceased will bear willing testimony. In nine cases out of ten his work at Albany was in preventing obnoxious special legislation, while he never was identified as assisting in the passage of any bill which savored of jobbery or was unjust in any of its provisions. His private life was above reproach. Genial and communicative, possessing an inexhaustible fund of political anecdotes and reminiscences, he was a delightful and instructive companion, while his unselfish devotion to his friends, his willing sacrifices in time and money on their behalf and for their advancement won admiration and respect even of his political opponents.
“But Mr. Field was not only widely and favorably known as a sagacious political leader. He was the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car, and, at Chicago, the first one of those now world-wide famous cars was constructed under his personal supervision, and paid for with his money. For many years he was interested in the manufacture, and or a time held controlling interest in the stock.
“The best years of his life, his talents, his energies and the means which he had accumulated by industry and by his inventive mind, were chiefly donated for the honorable success of his party, and, in a legitimate way, for the political advancement of his friends. He was sixty years of age, and while building a road in Chicago, some two years ago, contracted a disease which hastened his death. He was a man of fine presence, and compelled friends everywhere by his geniality and benevolent impulses.
“Mr. Field leaves one brother, N. S. Field, at present Supervisor of the town of Albion, and four sisters. He came of an honest, sturdy New England stock. His father, Spafford Field, was noted for honesty, virtue, intelligence and industry. He emigrated from Rupert, Vt., first to Weedsport, Cayuga Co., and then, in 1830, to Albion.
“The neighbors and friends of Hon. Ben Field in this county, where he was best known, cherish many warm recollections of his various kindly sympathizing actions and good words for all, whether of his own political views or not. He had a large heart, and to those who treated him as a friend he bound himself with hooks of steel. There was nothing he would not do for a friend. There are a few selfish and purchasable office-seekers around the country that hated him, because he was not of them and had frequently thwarted their venal schemes; but no man can truthfully say that ‘Ben’ ever cheated or ‘cut the corner’ on any worthy, straight forward and deserving man, and it is well known that he effectually assisted to political office a large number of those he believed to be ‘honest and capable.’ The other kind he avoided and opposed.
“Mr. Field was remarkably independent in forming his political opinions...fixing his party relations. He followed what he believed to be right principles for the best interest of the whole people. This must be conceded to his memory in connection with his ___aration in late years from the old Republican party. In this change of party association, painful as it was to him in...of its personal aspects, no man can doubt that he was wholly actuated by the highest and purest motives and the ___ongest convictions.
“‘Green be the turf above the,
Friend of my better days.’”
The following newspaper article is a part of the “Excerpts From Dorset Families; Genealogical Records and Notes by The Rev. Parsons S. Pratt....” (The article must have been published some time after 1901,* although the publisher of the article and the exact date are not known.)Marriage of Frances Field and Nathan Abbott, Esq., in April 1884. The following is from a typed transcription of a newspaper article which is a part of the “Excerpts From Dorset Families; Genealogical Records and Notes by The Rev. Parsons S. Pratt....” (The article would have been published some time after April 23rd, 1884,* although the exact date is not known. According to a handwritten note on the typed transcription: “Notice in Manchester Journal” by P. S. Pratt.”) This document is a part of the Dorset Historical Society collection. Used with permission.
“A marriage took place in Boston last week, April 23d, 1884, in which many readers of the Journal, east and west, will take cordial interest.
“Frances Field, elder daughter of Charles Field lately of Dorset having accepted a young lawyer, well educated, of high character & ability, Nathan Abbott Esq., the two were made one by the ordinance of God and according to the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The request of the bride that her life-long pastor, Rev. P. S. Pratt, should officiate was fulfilled, and the fitting words of the service with ceremony of covenant and bridal ring were manifest symbols of an intelligent, glad and holy mutual affiance.
“A very few relatives of either party with school friends and brethren in the law were present; there was no display of presents though we had opportunity to know that valuable expressions of generous and loving remembrance were not wanting.
“The marriage was in pleasant parlors of Young’s Hotel in Boston, and soon after the service the doors opened upon an attractive table and the company sat down to an elegant repast. Time was taken to do full justice to this and fro (sic) the accoppanying (sic) exchange of thought and flow of soul; yet closing at a good hour, with all needful formalities legally observed, desirable mutual acquaintances being formed and the new bark beautifully launched hopefully for a long and most prosperous voyage.
“The entirely informal and easy, but sincere and earnest style of this marriage was a model for families seeking the sensible and satisfactory in this event of domestic life.”
(* The following excerpt regarding Frances (Field) Abbott is from Field Genealogy, Being the Record of All the Field Family In America, Whose Ancestors were in This Country Prior to 1700, published in 1901, pp. 673: Please note that the Field Genealogy is available on Google Book Search - Full View Books. In addition, there is an article on Nathan Abbott in Wikipedia. One of the streets located on the Stanford University is named Nathan Abbott Way.Frances Field Abbott
“Frances Field Abbott, born in Dorset September 6, 1855, died very suddenly in Paris, France, on the twenty-second of July. She was the eldest daughter of Charles and Henrietta Armstrong Field, residents of Dorset from 1825 to 1886; and she grew to fair and clever womanhood there. After her marriage in 1884 to Nathan Abbott of Watertown, Mass., she went West to live, ultimately being in California until the year of the earthquake.
“For the last twenty years Mrs. Abbott had spent most of the time abroad, traveling through strange and thrilling places. She saw the anemones blossoming along the Jordan, she spent weeks far out on the Sahara, and travelled (sic) by boat and caravan up the Nile beyond Fashado. She trod the ‘coral strands’ of India, and the quaint, hot streets of of (sic) Ceylon; and she saw these places always with the quiet, speculative eye of the lover of beauty and the seeker after the essential values of experience.
“Mrs. Abbott’s high qualitis (sic) of mind and heart made her a fascinating companion, and her unusualness and her charm will be remembered by many who saw her in her rare visits to Dorset during these later years. She had a strong affection for Dorset and for the people and the memories of her youth there. She was the last of the Dorset Fields, her brother Charles having died in Arizona in 1908, and her sister, Mrs. Kitty Field White, in Chicago in 1915. - K.F.W.”
“3859. ii. FRANCES, b. Sept. 6, 1855; m. April 23, 1884, Prof. Nathan Abbott; res. Stanford University, Cal. Nathan Abbott, son of Abial Abbott and Sarah Davis Abbott, born Norridgewock, Me., July 11, 1854; moved in infancy with his parents to Watertown, Mass. He graduated from Andover Academy, Yale College and Boston Law School, practicing law in Boston for some years. In 1891 he became professor of law in the University of Michigan. In 1892 he removed to Chicago, as professor of law in the Northwestern University. In 1894 he became dean of the law department of Stanford University of California, where he now is. He married Frances Field, daughter of Charles and Henrietta Armstrong Field, of Dorset, Vt., April 23, 1884. Ch. 1. Dorothy, b. in Dorset, Vt., June 19, 1885. 2. Phylis, b. in Wellesley, Mass., Nov. 13, 1888.”
“I could point them out on the map of Dorset but they wouldn’t mean much unless I told something of the people who lived in them. So first what we still call ‘The Old Field Place’, though there haven’t been any Fields there for a hundred years, the name still persists and loyal descendants of Fields in California, Iowa, New Hampshire and Mexico keep coming to look at their first family home in Dorset. What they see now - the large house with lawn and the beautiful flower gardens - is a far cry from the first rough cabin in the woods or the later comfortable farm house with numerous barns and cultivated fields. The view across the valley is not so different. There is now much less open pasture and cultivated lands than there were a hundred ago - in the middle of the 1800s. This is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ray P. Foote.
“The settler there was Amos Field who came bringing his wife and child on horseback and some household goods on an ox cart, from Mansfield, Conn. in 1774. His wife was Zeruiah Baldwin, sister to Asa Baldwin who came at the same time. Another brother Benjamin had come with the very first settlers in 1768 or 1769. Two other brothers and their father came about the same time. I thought that all the Baldwins settled in Dorset Hollow but find that Asa probably settled on the farm later occupied by Martindales, Norcrosses, Owen Burke and now by Charles Hummels. Amos Field went to a sightly (sic) plateau on the west side of the valley near the Rupert line.
“The West Road which became the Post Road from Bennington to Vergennes and still has some of the old milestones standing, went past their house and down the hill to Rupert Corner which became quite a hamlet with a tavern, schoolhouse, store and post office. The present more level road under the hill - a ‘dug way’ - was built before 1855 when my father, Charles Gilbert, was living at the Field place as a young boy. They had heard that a circus with animals was coming through and he and his brothers raced down the hill. They had the wonderful thrill of watching the wagons stop where the road was near the stream and saw the cages of the animals washed out and the elephants go in the brook and take a bath. They were in the Dorset School District No. 1 ( West Road ), but were so far from the schoolhouse, which was in the ‘ Kent ’ neighborhood, that the children went to the Rupert school. In 1825 and 1826 in the school meetings of District No. 1, it was voted that Chancy Stannard, Alfred Field, Royal Sargent and Jabez Hawley should have their share of the school money for all the children who were actually going to some other school. The whole amount for the district was about $45. In 1830 the number of children in school was about sixty. The amount credited to each family was according to the number of ‘scollars’ in school. Each school district was a self governing unit as far as schools were concerned - levied and collected its own taxes, built its own school house, examined and hired its teachers.
“The Fields and Baldwins were Tories, loyal to the King, and as the revolutionary spirit grew stronger among the settlers, many Tories were arrested - Amos and others among them - and started for the Bennington jail, but Amos was sent home because he was still sick from an injury by a falling tree. As he was working alone in the woods, a branch from a falling tree hit him on the head and he fell unconscious so near the embers of his luncheon fire that his head was badly burned before he came to, and he lay there a long time before he was rescued.
“Councils of Safety had been formed in each town and any Tories were likely to have their property confiscated. One of the Baldwins in the Hollow left his farm for several months but came back and was first Town Clerk. Some farms were confiscated and their owners went away but the Fields didn’t leave town; and when the girl child Elizabeth who had come on horseback back in 17, she married Justus Holley who had been a fifer at the Battle of Bennington.
“Amos Field’s first house was said not to have been a log house as most of the first ones were, but was covered with long split shingles or ‘shakes’. Their house was not far from a spring so that Zeruiah wouldn’t have to carry water very far. When they built the permanent house, it was in almost the same position as the house is now and the front has not been changed much. The two great elms also were saplings when daughter Elizabeth was married.
“There were two sons who went to Albion, N.Y. where they were prominent in marble and other businesses. A grandson, Benjamin Field, was well known in business and politics built railroads and invented the Pullman sleeping car. Several daughters married in families in town and Alfred who staid on the farm was so much younger than his sister Elizabeth who married Justus Holley that her oldest daughters were almost as old as Alfred, their uncle. Her daughter, Electa (sic), married a school teacher, Eli Hunter, who later became a minister. They went to Reading, Vermont, the next town to Cavendish. There they boarded with the Bowens and when Sophronia, the young cousin of the Bowers from Cavendish, came visiting, they decided that Sophronia Gilbert was just the wife for Uncle Alfred. They told him about her and he went to Cavendish and decided they were right. By the time Alfred’s children, Frederick, Charles, Janette and Ellen came along in the 1820s, the quarrying of marble was becoming very important in Dorset. Every young fellow learned to cut marble and little marble shops were common. Frederick and Charles both left the farm for the marble business. Frederick first went out to Albion where his cousins were and soon after established the first marble shop in Chicago. He and his brother Charles travelled (sic) through Illinois, Indiana and Michigan selling marble for many years. I have a letter from their father to Frederick telling how he had filled his order.* He had driven to Castleton and had bought $162 worth of stones and was shipping them by canal and the Lakes from Whitehall to him at Chicago. They had an office in Niles, Michigan, because Frederick had malaria in Chicago. There, about 1847, they got acquainted with a young minister, Parsons Pratt, who preached in Niles and two small places in Indiana until his wife was so sick with ‘fever and ague’ that they came back to their old home in Westmorland, New York, expecting her to die. A few years later when the Fields were at home in Dorset, where Charles had married, they suggested this young minister for the Dorset Church. He had been preaching in Winfield, New York. After coming and looking the place over, he came in January, 1856, and stayed in Dorset the rest of his life, preaching for forty years.
(* You can read a transcription of this letter at the end of this account.)
“The house in the village, which is the second Field home we can locate, is the house that has been called ‘The Fife and Drum’ now owned by Robert Deeley. It was built about 1800 by Mr. Raymond and then bought by Cyrus Armstrong who moved there from the Hollow. When Charles Field married his daughter, Henrietta, in 1851, they lived there. As the marble business flourished, this soon became the finest house in the village. All the other houses were guarded from wandering cows by white picket fences but the Fields had quite a pretentious iron fence with fancy gates set in marble foundations. Charles Field, who was much interested in all town and state affairs, was largely responsible for the marble sidewalks and for setting out the maple trees along the village street which was done about 1860.
“When Alfred field left the farm on account of his health in 1855, he and his wife came to the village to live with Charles for a year or two but soon bought a lot East of the parsonage and built there the house now owned by Mrs. Berryman - the third Field home. After Alfred Field’s death in 1863, it was bought by Parson Pratt’s father, Rufus Pratt, just retiring from a pastorate in Northern New York. Parsons soon moved in with his parents to care for them. It remained in the Pratt family until Mrs. Berryman’s father, Mr. Davidson, bought it about 1916. About the same time that Charles was married, Frederick Field married Mary Bacon of Niles, Michigan, and after living in Niles for a short time he bought a house for himself in East Dorset. This house was located just East of the school house on the road leading East toward the Mad Tom road. The Fields lived in this house until they went to California in 1873. All but one of the seven children were born there and three died of typhoid fever inside of a few weeks in 1870.
“Alfred Field ran the farm until 1855 when he sold it to his wife’s brother, Oliver Gilbert, who came to Dorset from Cavendish. The Gilberts stayed on the farm only a few years because they soon bought another farm. The circumstances of this was one of my father’s - Charles Gilberts’ - favorite tales. There had been a cyclone in 1856 which came down across the mountain and blew down most of the sugar works on the farm. One day the next season when Oliver was carrying a load of stovewood cut from those blown down trees to the village, he hears of an auction on the West Road. He always went to auctions. He delivered his load of wood and drove to the auction at what had been the Julius Sheldon farm and bought it. Oliver soon sold the Field farm in 1858 to Harvey Hodge who presently sold it to Homer Williams. O. C. Gilbert then moved to the West Road place where his grandchildren still live. Homer Williams lived on the Field farm until he died, while his wife and son lived there several years more. Mrs. Williams was still living there when Burr Phillips and his wife were married in 1910 and they ran the farm for her. The Phillips had most of the house and Nora took boarders, among them Bishop Rudolph and family who are still summer residents of Dorset. After Mrs. Williams died Mrs. Lord bought the place. She moved the house a little way South so that it was centered between the two great elms. She built it over and added to it but the front of the old house is little changed. After Mrs. Lord’s death the place was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Ray P. Foote who have added materially to its beauty in the way of further attractive landscaping.
“The fifth Field house is on the West Road where Lincoln Isham now Lives. When hard times struck the Field Marble Company about 1870, Charles Field sold his house in the village to justus Holley of the West Road. It stayed in the Holley family until about 1950, much of the time being filled with boarders in the summer. For several years it was occupied by Mrs. Garrotte and the Caravan Players. Charles Field moved to the West Road - the house on the North corner of the Hill Road. This fifth house has a long history. It was built just North of the famous Cephas Kent Tavern by Martin Kent one of his sons. One room is said to have been part of the old Tavern. Martin lived there until his death in 1862. Another son, Urial, built the house just South of the Tavern where Mrs. Putnam recently lived (now deceased). Charles Field moved to the Martin Kent house and lived there till he died in 1886. In (blank) Mrs. Humphrey and her daughters bought the house. Most of Zephine Humphrey’s books were written there. One of the first, Over Against Green Peak, describes their experiences in buying this house, and learning to live in the country. Dorset was then real country with no electricity and no cars. Other books tell of her first winter spent there after she married Wallace W. Fahnestock. The barn where she learned to harness a horse, was made into his studio. Mrs. Humphrey’s flower garden was the theme of the stained glass window in the church which Wallace Fahnestock designed in her memory. Zephine Humphrey spent most of one year collecting the material and writing ‘The Story of Dorset’ which was published for the benefit of the Library in 1924.
“It is worthy of note how many of the Field family have been connected with marble and other mining operations. Frederick and Charles were important members of one of the largest marble companies here in Dorset - the Holley, Fields and Kent. When that was flourishing in the 1850s they were salesmen of this Company and traveled a great deal of the time. When the Civil War came on this Company like all the others was hard hit. But after a few years they were operating again and some of the quarries furnished the headstones for the Gettysburg Cemetery. In 1872 Frederick went to California, still in the marble business, and two or three of his sons became mining engineers. One of them went to Mexico, married a Mexican and lived there for the rest of his life operating various mines - lead, etc. His granddaughter came up here last year with her family to see the ‘ Old Field Place.’ Another son, Wilfred, prospected for various companies in half a dozen countries. Charles Field’s son, Charles A. Field, sold marble for the Vermont Marble Company in countries all over the world. He came to Dorset in the 80s with trunks of curios he had collected. We were thrilled with the wonderful foreign curious. I still have a card case from Japan and a cane he brought my father. He took most of the things to California and they were burned at the time of the San Francisco earthquake and fire.”
“Sunday Evening April 28 1844
“To my Absent Son
“We rec(e)iv(e)d your letter Friday, 18 th which we read with much interest The account you gave us of your health and your winters work was verry Gratifying, The more so Because you were Satisfied with it yourself and had also Decided on your business for the Present Season
“Although we had been long looking for your letter it reach(e)d us in a time of uncommon hurry and Confusion You will Probably hear before you receive This from a letter which Charles sent out by Mr. B. Sykes of the Sickness of Mary Chilson which proved fatal a few days after. She Died Saturday The 13 and was buried Sunday following. We Sent after her Mother and She arrived in time to See her Expire and bury her.
“We are fixing Jannette of (out?) for Mt. Morris which produces much Labour in Thi(s) house and a great deal of running abroad in addition to This we are raising Sixteen Calves Commencing a new dairy (with all of our old on hand) So you Can readily See we had our hands and heads more Than full. I have Since disposed of my Cheese for five Cints pr lb. I am under The necessity of Keeping my Cows This year. because(e) I Cannot dispose of Them to advantage but I Think This will be The Last Now for the business part of your letter I shall be as Concise as possible it is now ten oclock and what I do must be done to night I was not verry well prepared to meet your Call. because it was Somewhat unexpected Your delaying so long to write Lead me to Conclude That you had Given it up. But fortunately for me, Norman, arrived here Saturday with 4 Horses to buy Stone, he remaned here until Tuesday noon, we took one pair and went to Castleton The other are Still here fiting for Market Wednesday morning we Called on Mr. Hyde Said he had Stone aplenty 2 ½ Miles from The Village took us into his wagon and Carried us to his mill and we look(e)d over ten or twelve Thousand foot and found nothing we wanted. There was all Grades of Colour from pale to blue black but not a white Stone to be found we return(e)d to The Village and Call(e)d on The Messrs Sherman’s They were all absent but would be home at Evening we Call(e)d again and found They had Stone ten or 12 Thousand but They were all at Whitehall 15 Miles I found by Enquiring They were Edged only on one Side I Then told Them what I wanted and That was The privilege of Selecting. They said at once They Could not allow me to do So They had done it years past for one dollar pr ft at the Mill but They found it was injuring The (Cost?) of their Stone (wist?) and Came to The Conclusion last year That They would do it no mor(e) and They must abide by it Every man must take an average lot of Sutch as They Selected for their first Quality The next Question of Course was how Soon Can you Saw Edge and box 300 ft of Stone, and what will you tax Extra for Edging and boxing 7 or 8 Cints was The reply and Could have Them Ready in Eight or ten days I asked Norman what The Expense of Edging and he Said five Cents pr foot and Thought There would be no difficulty in obtaining Stone Cutters to do The work and advis(e)d to Send Them on as They were The next morning we went to Whitehall and after Labouring hard from ten oclock to ½ past 4 P. M. we succeded in selecting 41 headStone which measure(e)d 300 ft and put aboard The Boat for which I pay fifty Cents pr ft. foot Stone 30 cts a piece Edged all Round whole amount $162.30 payable one year from date If you want to make it Larger you may allow me 6.00 for The Three days I was out I Expect you will be Some disappointed That you Cant have all The first rate Stone But I have Certainly done the best for you That I Could I think we have been verry fortunate in our Selectoin (Selection). Norman Says it is twenty pr Cent Better Than an average lot we think it good Enough to begin with if you Should Continue The business any length of time. I shall not Expect to Get another as good
“In regard to transportation you have ben verry particular in your directions which I am Glad to see. Though you require Something more of Boatman Than men in This region are in The habit of I have always been in the habit of trusting to much to other peoples honesty and perhaps in This Case I have Come farther Short of propriety and reason Than you have Exceeded
“The Stone are mark(e)d F Field and Co Chi(c)ago Ill Care of Newbury & Dale. I Spoke also of having Them Deliver(e)d to Holt & Palmer But The Capt Said Their Landing place was inconvenient to Get at, and mentioned another which he Thought more Commodious and furthermore he Said if Thaire was a vessel in The Harbour waiting for Loading He would See it put on board and Save Some Expense for Stoage. They were Ship(pe)d in The name of Sherman Brother & Son, the Gentleman which I Bot of Their usual practice of taking Rupt (?) was to mention The number of Pieces Ru? (Reported?) in Good order to Deliver at Sutch place and They Consider(e)d Them accountable for all damages arising from Their Carlessness The rason of its being Ship(pe)d in Their Name. They Loaded the boat and I might Look to Them in Case of Damage No. of pieces 82. No. of tons 5 1/3 at Seven dollars or ton to Buffalo The Cheapest we Could (get) it You See I have varied materially from your directions. if it does not Come out right I Shall Expect to suffer The Consequences and do Better next time Monument Stuf at Castleton is worth from 2.50 to $3.50 per Cubic foot. Table one dollar Board measure Hiram Holley has Return(e)d to Dorset is Going west Soon with a Quantity of Dorset Marble. expresses Some Surprise That That you prefer Castleton
“I have almost Concluded to Send you 300 ft of Dorset Marble But Think I Shall wait till I hear from you
“it would be much more Conveneint buying here Than at Castleton. The responsibility in Selecting is not one Quarter as Great you will See by The blunders you find in Reading my Letter That my head is Somewhat Confused The Transportation on The Stone will mak(e) a tremendous hole in your hundred dollars - but never mind that tell them your Partner down East has money Enough
“My Sheet you See is full and I have not written half that I meant to. but you you take This and wait for The remainder till next time Charles Says he will (see) you Soon
A. Field
“Monday morning. Pa is just doing up his letter: and since you would like to know my place of residence, I put in a line with his from which you will readily infer that I am yet an inhabitant of Dorset. But if you will go out to Mount Morris some time next month you may perhaps find me there. WE expect you® friend Goodrich here as soon as next week, possibly this week. You shall sertainly have a long letter from me within a month.
Jannette”
The Dorset Field Family
Kitty Field Hotchkiss, September 2, 1963
“The name Field was originally written De la Feld or Del Felde. The family is known first in Alsace, about 800, and the family seat was the Chateau De la Feld near Colmar. The Counts De la Feld were powerful proprietors of lands and castles and are frequently mentioned in records of the Alsace wars, and in the first and second Crusades. First to emigrate to England was HUBERTUS who followed William in 1066. Ten generations of his descendants lived in Sowerby, Bradford, and East Ardsley from 1200 to 1600 (Yorkshire); they were husbandmen, jurors, constables, greaves - men of parts. John (1525-1587) was called the ‘Proto-Copernican’ because he introduced the Copernican astronomical system into English use. He was knighted and given the Crest for the family coat-of-arms by patent dated Sept. 4, 1558; he was Astronomer Royal.
“John Field’s grandson ZACHARIAH was ‘the immigrant’ from whom the Dorset family was descended. He sailed from Bristol, England, and arrived in Boston in 1629. He was an engineer and helped survey and lay out the town. He lived in Dorchester until, dissatisfied with the church, he joined the pious Hooker’s company which traveled through the wilderness to Connecticut, driving their flocks and herds before them. He settled in Hartford, and was one of 42 men furnished by Hartford for the Pequot War. Later he returned to Massachusetts and settled in Northampton and established a large mercantile trade with the Indians; in 1663 he joined with 24 other families to settle Hatfield. His son and family moved to Deerfield ; in the Massacre by French and Indians on February 29, 1704, his grandson’s wife and two children were carried off to Canada. A surviving grandson, Bennett, was the father of AMOS, who removed to Dorset in 1777, establishing the family there.
“He had married in 1772 Zeruiah Baldwin, daughter of Eleazer Baldwin of Mansfield, Conn., and her father and brother Asa accompanied the family to Dorset. Their two farms joined, and together stretched from side to side of the lovely Dorset valley. The second winter, Amos, clearing the wide plateau where he later built his permanent dwelling house, (now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Foote) was knocked down by a branch of a tree he was felling and lay unconscious for hours, so near the embers of a dying fire that his head was desperately burned. After months of heavy illness, he was recovering when rumors of revolutionary forces advancing on Dorset came to his ears. He was able to sit a horse, and started with a small band of Royalists to join the English at Bennington. Baldwins and Fields, buried among the hills, had heard little of the agitations that had made Whigs along the sea coast and raised a Continental Army of Revolution. Warned of their coming by Miss Ormsby of Manchester, the party was overhauled near Arlington, and the still very sick Mr. Field was sent home under guard; the rest were lodged in Bennington jail.
“Seven daughters and three sons grew up in the Field homested (sic), among whom was ALFRED, born March 15, 1787. He was the son who remained at home, and on whom the care of parents and younger sisters devolved. As a youth he went by horseback to visit relatives in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and he made quite a large sum of money timbering a tract of land in Jefferson County, N.Y. In 1819 he married the fair sensible daughter of Capt. Isaac and Jerusha (Bowen) Gilbert of Cavendish, Vt. Her name was Sophronia, and she had sisters Clorinda and Diana and a brother Oliver - names gleaned from the enchanting pages of Latin and Medieval romance, refreshing in those days of melancholy religious dogmatism and limited education. She was a notable woman in any age; she had freedom of thought, a sanguine outlook, and great humor and amiability - a tonic which made the farmhouse an inviting spot for friends and cousins. Her thrift and industry matched her husband’s.
“Two daughters and two sons were born in the homestead, Jannette and Ellen, Frederick and Charles. CHARLES was my grandfather, and I have been told that the most beautiful holidays of his life were spent in going over the lovely uplands of his old home - to see the grand elm trees towering over the roof - to walk through the familiar rooms, and looking out of the north bedroom window to remember the sharp scent of his mother’s marigolds and herbs planted beheath (sic) it.”
CHARLES FIELD (1824-1886) The following acount about Charles Field is a part of the Dorset Historical Society collection and is used with permission
Charles Field (1824-1886)
Kitty Field Hotchkiss, September 3, 1963
“Charles Field, my grandfather, son of Alfred on Sohronia (sic) (Gilbert) Field, was born on Thanksgiving Day, December 1, 1824, in the ‘Old Field Place’ now the home of Mr. & Mrs. Ray Putnam Foote. My grandmother wrote:
“‘He was born in the ancestral farm house that had such a lovely view of the very-varying hills circling the little valley dotted with farm houses, and with its roads all centering in the little village - the ‘Corners’ as it was then called - a mile and a half distant. He grew up a delicate thoughtful boy...a rare student... at Pawlet, Castleton and Burr Seminary...at 14 he was nearly fitted for college. Owing to delicate health this cherished hope was abandoned; but at 16 he donned the stovepipe hat and the dignity becoming a country schoolmaster. At 18 he united with the Congregational Church, and was for some years a Sunday school teacher, and always ready with substantial aid to help and honor the Church.
“‘At 19 he traveled west, explored mines, crossed the Mississippi river, encountering horse thieves and meeting with incidents common to such a wild, unsettled and then little-known country, and giving opportunity for adventure and romance. Two years later he went again to Chicago, and assisted his brother Frederick in finishing and disposing of the first boatload of marble ever sent round the Lakes from Vermont to that city. They later removed to Niles, Michigan, where he remained four years in successful business.’
“In October 1851, he married Miss Henrietta Armstrong, daughter of Cyrus and Semantha (sic) (Baldwin) Armstrong of Dorset. They spent most of that winter in Niles, traveling there by the Erie Canal and by carriage and sleigh with a good team of horses. Later they returned to Dorset, and Mr. Field carried on an extensive business in marble monuments finished in Dorset mills and sold throughout Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. In 1853 he and his partners became interested in the Vermont Italian Quarries in East Dorset and the West Side Quarry in Dorset, and the Company (Holley, Field & Kent) did an extensive business until the outbreak of the Civil War.
“Politics always had a charm for Mr. Field. For years before the war he was chairman of the District Committee, honored in various ways. He was offered a South America consulship, but declined; he was one of the delegates to the first National Conventions (sic) at Pittsburg and Chicago; he represented his district in Congress in 1855. In his own town he had great and loving pride, and spared neither time, labor nor money for her improvement.
“‘When War burst like a thunder-bolt upon the North, he bought two drums, and engaging an old drummer and fifer, they raised the echoes of the hills and roused the boys. He was afterward Recruiting Officer for Bennington County; he was offered a Colonelcy, but could not then leave his business... Later he became Quartermaster of the 14 th. He was known as the Temperance A.M. - though I have one of the bottles from which he and the Chaplain fed whiskey to the exhausted soldiers on the march to Gettysburg. After the battle, General Washburn sent him to Hilton Head for colored troops...they enlisted 112, while Massachusetts had only 2. An officer of another State offered him $7000 for six of his recruits; ‘Thank you - no,’ he said. ‘These men are not mine - they belong to Vermont’. The Fall of Richmond virtually closed the war, and he resumed business.’
“K.F.H.”
Letter to Mr. Ray Putnam Foote from Katherine Field Hotchkiss - Field House & Family (This letter is a part of the Dorset Historical Society collection and is used with permission
“October 16, 1961
“My dear Mr. Foote,
“I am enclosing some old pictures of your beautiful place in Dorset which clearly show that it was originally placed to the north of the great trees, as I remembered it as a child. My cousin Anna Gilbert writes that she has gotten further information about changes in the house from Mr. and Mrs. Burr Phillips, who ran the farm for Mrs. Homer Williams from about 1911 on.
“The house, which was always called ‘The Old Field Place’ to distinguish it from the Field places in the village, was built by Amos Field about 1780. He also planted maple and butternut trees on the slope of the hill behind the house to the south, and a row of ‘wine-glass elms’ along the old road that ran in front of the house. Amos and his wife Zeruiah lived there until he died in 1831 and she in 1843. They had 11 children of whom Alfred (1787-1863) carried on the farm with his father. He married Sophronia Gilbert of Cavendish, and they lived in the house until 1855 when they moved into their new house in the village. They had sold the place to Sophronia’s brother Oliver in 1853; he married Harriet Holley of Dorset and they lived there until 1870, when he sold the place to Homer Williams. Mr. & Mrs. Williams and their son Addison lived there until the parents died and the son sold the estate to Mrs. Lord - I don’t know the date. She moved the house between the trees, raised the roof for dormers, built the glassed porch to the south, and made many improvements.
“Alfred Field was my great-grandfather, hence my interest.
“Sincerely yours,
(signed) Katherine Field Hotchkiss
“Mrs. Stewart R. Hotchkiss
“1801 Rossmont Dr.
“Redlands, California.”
(Written in the left-hand margin of the letter: “Keep the pictures if you want them.”)
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