align="right" valign="top">XVI.

ILLUSTRATIONS

CYRUS W. FIELD

HIS LIFE AND WORK

CHAPTER I

PARENTAGE AND EARLY HOME LIFE

(1819-1835)

Cyrus West Field, the eighth child and seventh son of David Dudley Field, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., November 30, 1819. He took his double name from Cyrus Williams, President of the Housatonic Bank (in Stockbridge), and from Dr. West, for sixty years his father’s predecessor in the pastorate of the old Church of Stockbridge. He was the sixth in descent from Zachariah Field, the founder of the family in this country, who was the grandson of John Field the astronomer. Zachariah was born in the old home in Ardsley, Yorkshire, England. He came over in 1630 or 1632, seemingly from Hadley, Suffolk, and settled first in Dorchester, Mass., afterwards making his way through the wilderness to Hartford, Conn. Then followed in the direct line his oldest son Zachariah Junior, Ebenezer, David, and Captain Timothy, who was born in the north part of Madison, Conn., in 1744. He served in the Continental Army under Washington, and was in the battle of White Plains.

David Dudley Field, Captain Timothy’s youngest son, was born May 20, 1781. In 1802 he graduated from Yale, the next year was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church, and a month later, October 31, 1803, was married to Submit Dickinson, daughter of Captain Noah Dickinson, of Somers, Conn., who first served under Putnam in the French War and afterwards in the War of the Revolution. Submit Dickinson was called “The Somers Beauty.”

SUBMIT DICKINSON FIELD
Born October 1, 1782
(From a Crayon by Lawrence)

David Dudley Field was first settled in Haddam, Conn., and remained as pastor of the Congregational Church for fourteen years. Seven of his children were born while he lived there: David Dudley was the eldest; then followed Emilia Ann, Timothy Beals, Matthew Dickinson, Jonathan Edwards, Stephen Johnson 1st (who died when he was six months old), and Stephen Johnson 2d. Cyrus West, Henry Martyn, and Mary Elizabeth were the three children born in Stockbridge, Mass. Among the reminiscences of his sojourn in Haddam is that it fell to him to preach the execution sermon of Peter Long. The grim Puritanical custom still survived, according to which a prisoner convicted of a capital crime, on the day on which he was to be hanged was taken by a body-guard of soldiers to church to be publicly prepared for his ending. He was placed in a conspicuous pew, where he was obliged not only to listen to a long and harrowing sermon, but when addressed by name to stand up facing the preacher and receive the exhortation as he had received the sentence. Dr. Field addressed the victim directly for some minutes, and closed with these words: “Before yonder sun shall set in the west your probationary state will be closed forever. This day you will either lift up your eyes in hell, being in torment, or, through the rich, overflowing, and sovereign grace of God, be carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. If in any doubt about your preparation, you may yet find mercy. He who pardoned the penitent thief on the cross may pardon you in the place of execution. Pray God, then, if perhaps your sins may be forgiven you. Cry to Him, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner!’ and continue those cries till death shall remove you hence. May the Lord Almighty support you in the trying scene before you, and through infinite grace have mercy