Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/94

FIELD FIELD FIELD, Benjamin Hazard, philanthropist, was born in Yorktown, N.Y., May 3, 1S14; son of Hazard and Mary (Bailey), grandson of John and Lydia (Hazard), great-grandson of Anthony and Hannali (Burling), great^ grandson of Benjamin and Hannah (Bowne), great' grandson of An- thony and Susannah, great grandson of Robert and Elizabeth (Tayler) Field of Bayside, Flush- ing, N.Y., 1680; and great" grandson of William and Susan (Midgley) Field of Halifax, N.S. (married 1591). He attended an academy at North Salem, N.Y., and in 1831 removed to New Y'ork city, where he was employed in the ofBce of liis uncle, whom he succeeded in 1838. He re- tired from business in 1875 and interested him- self in philanthropic work. He was one of the founders of the Home for incurables in Ford- ham, and was its president until he died. He was also president of the New Y'ork eye and ear infirmarj', of the New Y'ork historical society ; vice-president of the American society for tlie prevention of cruelty to children ; a founder and president of the New Y'ork free circulating library ; a director of the Roosevelt hospital, the American museum of natural history, the New Y'ork institution for the instruction of the deaf and dmub, and other charitable organizations. He erected a building for and suj)ported a public high school in his native town for many years. He died in New Y'ork city, March 17, 1893. FIELD, Caroline Leslie, author, was born in Milton. Mass., Nov. 10. 1853; daughter of Seth D. and Adeline Dutton (Train) Whitney; grand- daughter of Moses and Rebecca (Dunbar) Whit- ney and of Enoch and Adeline (Dutton) Train; and a descendant of John and Elinor Whitney of Watertown, Mass. She was educated at Mil- ton, chiefly at home, and was married to James Alfred Field Oct. 13, 1875. Slie resided in New Jersey and at Guilford, Conn., for several years, and in 1893 removed to Milton, Mass. She is the author of: Biyh Liyhts (1885); The Vnseen King, and Other Verses (1887) ; Nannie's Happy Child- hood (1809). FIELD, Cortlandt de Peyster, pliilanthropist, was born in New York city, Dec. 38, 1839 ; son of Benjamin Hazard and Catharine M. Van Cort- landt (de Peyster) Field; and grandson of Hazard and Mary (Bailey) Field. He was grad- uated from Columbia in 1859 and took an extra two yeai-s' course under Professors McCullough and Joy in a class which was the lieginning of the school of mines. He then entered into busi- ness as merchant and banker. In 1887 he gave to Peekskill, N.Y'., as a niommient to his mother, a public library which he endowed and furnished. In 1887 he endowed with .530,000 the Field home, founded and built by liim for aged, iniirm and respectable poor persons at Fieldhome, in Y'^ork- town, Westchester county, N.Y'. St. Catharine's church, named for his mother, was founded by Mr. Field in 1888 and maintained at his expense from its beginning, as well as the industrial schools attached to it. He also increased the endowment of the Field home. He became a member of the New Y'ork historical society, the Society library, the St. Nicholas society, the New Y'ork academy of sciences, the National academy of design, the Museum of natural his- tory, and of many other organizations. FIELD, Cyrus West, projector of the ocean telegraph, was born in Stoekbridge, Mass., Nov. 30, 1819; son of the Rev. David Dudley and Sub- mit (Dickinson) Field, and grandson of Captain Timothy Field and of Captain Noah Dickinson, officers in the American Revolution. He was educated at the vil- lage school and when fifteen years old be- gan mercantile life as a clerk in the store of Alexander T. Stew- art in New Y'ork city. In 1838 he became a travelling salesman for his brother, Mat- thew D. Field, who had a paper-mill at Lee, Mass., and in 1840 he established a paper-mill at Westfield, Mass. In October, 1840, he became junior partner in the commission paper house of E. Root & Co. , in New Y'ork city. In December, 1840, he was married to Mary Bryan Stone of Guilford, Conn. In the spring of 1841 his firm failed and lie set about to pay the debts and reinstate himself in business. He so far succeeded that in 1853 he paid off all the old in- debtedness with seven jier cent interest, left §100,000 remaining in the business and retired with what was considered at that time an ample fortune. He made a tour in South America. 1853-54, for the benefit of his health. An Eng- lish telegraph engineer, Frederic W. Gisborne, under the patronage of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mullock of Newfoundland, had organized the Newfound- land electric telegraph company to establish tele- graphic communication between Liverpool, Eng., and the west coast of Ireland and between New York and Newfoundland, the message to be car- ried across the ocean on fast-sailing vessels. This project had failed for want of means and Gis- borne came to New Y'ork in January, 1854, to embark more capital in the project. Mr. Field became interested in the scheme through his brother, Jlatthew D., who was a civil engineer y7^cMj