Biographical Sketch of
Henry Field
Transcribed by Robert Schieber Source: Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography of Citizens of Columbia, Sauk and Adams Counties, Wisconsin, published 1901 by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1901, Pages 648 - 649 More than forty-four years have passed since this gentleman arrived in Wisconsin, and he is justly numbered among the honored pioneers and leading citizens of Adams county. He was prominently identified with her agricultural interests for many years, but is now living retired on his pleasant farm in Dell Prairie township, near Kilbourn City. His is an honorable record of a conscientious man, who by his upright life has won the confidence of all with whom he has come in contact. Mr. Field was born in Chester, Windsor county, Vermont, March 26, 1821, and springing from good New England Stock, he possesses the indomitable energy and perseverance which have ever characterized the people of that locality, and now in his declining years he is able to enjoy the will-merited reward of an industrious life. He is the only son of James and Mehitable (Thurston) Field, thrifty and prosperous farmers of Windsor county, Vermont, where they spent the greater part of their lives. During his boyhood and youth Henry A. Field was employed on the home farm during the summer season, while through the winter months he attended the district schools, where he acquired a good practical education. At the age of twenty-one, being the only son, he assumed the entire control of the farm, which he carried on until 1855. Being convinced that better opportunities awaited men of enterprise and intelligence in the rapidly developing west, he then came to the frontier of Wisconsin and invested in land at Plainville. He made his home at that place for a number of years, while he dealt to a considerable extent in wild lands. In 1866 he purchased the farm (near the village of Kilbourn) in Dell Prairie township, Adams county, which has since been his home. He is now the owner of about five hundred acres of good land in that township, well equipped with modern farm buildings, including a very commodious and comfortable residence, where he is now retired, enjoying the fruits of former toil. On the 7th of February, 1850, Mr. Field was united in marriage with Miss Olive T. Thurston, who was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, and died November 7, 1891, at the age of sixty-four years, her remains being interred in Plainville cemetery. Her parents, John and Olive (Greeley) Thurston, were natives of Chester, Vermont, and the mother was a representative of the same family as the illustrious Horace Greeley. To Mr. and Mrs Field were born three sons, of whom one died in infancy: Floyd A., born August 3, 1858, is now a well-known business man of Kilbourn; and George H., born January 21, 1860, resides on the homestead farm. He married Mary A. Paine March 17, 1886, of Kilbourn. She died February, 1900. Although nearly four score years have passed over his head, Mr. Field still enjoys excellent health and is remarkably vigorous in both in body and mind. A Republican in principle, he has given little heed to the distribution of political honors and his only official service has been in the capacity of assessor for Dell Prairie township, which position he most acceptably filled for a period of twenty years. His successful career is the natural consequence of industrious and prudent habits when accompanied by discretion and integrity of purpose, and the history of his life affords an example worthy the emulation of rising generations.Transcribed by Robert Schieber
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