The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-09-02
From the Springfield Republican, August 10.
Cyrus w. Field and his Family.

Cyrus w. Field and his Family.
Cyrus w. Field having achieved
greatness and renown through the sue
cess that has crowned his energy and
perseverance in the laying Of the At
lantic Telegraph Gable !; the public is
interested to know what manner of
man he is, and to learn the chief Incl
dents of his history. His family is one
Of the most honorable in Western Mas
sachusetts, with members distinguished
in nearly every department of active
life. Rev. ID. d. Field, a native of
East Guilford, Conn.,, graduate of
Yale College in 1902, first settled in
Haddam, Conn. There, probably, his
children were all born-seven sons and
two daughters. Of the former are,
David Dudley Field one of the first
lawyers of New York City; Jonathan
e. Field, member of the Berkshire
bar, and resident of Stockbridge; Cy-
rus w. Field, whose name is now a
household word p; Matthew D. Field, of
Southwick, in this county, civil engi-
neer, and one of the republican sena-
tors from Hampden county, in 1857 |;
Stephen /. Field, Judge of the Su-
preme Court of California and Rev.
HI. M. Field, formerly pastor of the
Congregational Church in West Spring
field, and now one of the conductors of
the New York Evangelist. The sew
enth and oldest son, Timothy, went to
sea thirty or more years ago, and has
never been heard from since. One of
the daughters married the brother of
Mr. Cyrus Fields wife, and died at
Paris within a few years. The other
daughter married Rev. Josiah Brewer,
and became with him missionary in
Greece, whence they have returned
and now reside at the family home in
Stockbridge, in this State.
In 1919, Rev. DIR. Field removed
from Haddam to Stockbridge, when
his children were all young, and be-
came pastor of the village church there,
a relation which he continued till 1897,
when it was discovered, and he re-
turned to his old charge at Haddam
for few years; but he retired from
the ministry some ten years since, and
came to Stockbridge again, where
among his old friends, and with a por-
ton of his children, he is living out in
peace and honor the few remaining
days of long and useful life. Thus
Stockbridge may fairly claim to be the
family home here the father passed his
most active and important years; and
here his sons were reared, and pre-
pared for the important lines of action
into which they have nearly all since
fallen. David Dudley Field and Rev.
Henry NJ. are gradFates of Williams
College in the same county.
Mr.. Cyrus Field engaged early as
clerk for his older brother, Matthew,
Who was paper manufacturer at Lee.
About the period of his majority, per-
haps before, he engaged i'll the same
business on his own account in West
field, in this county, but failed about
1887. He subsequently went to New
York and established paper commits
sion house, one of the first of the large
modern establishments of that descrip-
ton. Ill success overlook him here
again; but it did not conquer its vic
tim. Nerved to new labor, he contin-
ued the same business, commanded
fortune, paid off his old debts, and be
came rich man. Liberal in dispen-
sing the blessings of his wealth, he was
the patron of art, and surrounded his
father at Stockbridge, with all the COM
forts and luxuries that old age covets.
Some FIVE or six years ago, he seemed
to have conceived the purpose of con-
structing the ocean telegraph, and at
once threw into its consummation all
his native enthusiasm, all his acquired
knowledge of men and things, all his
energy and perseverance, and all his
recuniary means. ISL
There seems to be no divided honor
in this enterprise-no possibility of
question as to the author of this great
achievement of modern civilization.
Hundreds may have dreamed and sug-
gested the idea; but Mr.. Field was the
first to set seriously at work for its real
ization, and the first to accomplish it.
Fortunate is he in having completed
his own work. No Fulton can come
in to rob him of his honor. s
Mr.. Field is about 43 years old, and
looks younger, if possible. He has a
light, 1.-THE body, all muscle and nerves,
and no flesh, five feet eight inches high,
and weighs perhaps l40 pounds. His
features are sharp and prominent, a
nose that almost exhausts his face !;
eyes small, sunken, gley or blue, and
apparently half closed; large fore
head, and full head of auburn hair.
There is youthful almost boyish ap-
pearance about him, that makes him
seem younger than he really is. There
is little of the imprcssiveness of figure
and manner about him, that his distip-
guished brother Dudley of the New
York bar has. sr
We do not know that these facts in
the history of the new Moral Hero of
the Christian Civilization are exact to
date and letters; but they trace the
outline of his life and character with
correctness.
In certain town lately, q'lack