[Gutenberg 43753] • Cyrus W. Field, His Life and Work [1819-1892]

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.”

CONTENTS

Parentage and Early Home Life (1819-1835)

Early Life in New York (1835-1840)

Marriage and Business Life (1840-1853)

Out of Debt - A Voyage to South America (1853)

The First Cable (1853-1857)

The First Cable (continued) (1857)

A Fleeting Triumph (1858)

Failure on All Sides (1858-1861)

The Civil War (1861-1862)

Capital Raised for the Making of a New Cable - Steamship “Great Eastern” Secured (1863-1864)

The Failure of 1865

The Cable Laid - Cable of 1865 Grappled for and Recovered - Payment of Debts (1866)

The Reconstruction Period (1867-1870)

International Politics - Rapid Transit (1870-1880)

The Pacific Cable - The Golden Wedding (1880-1891)

Last Days and Death - In Memoriam (1891-1892)

ILLUSTRATIONS

CYRUS W. FIELD

SUBMIT DICKINSON FIELD

DAVID DUDLEY FIELD

THE PARSONAGE, STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.

VALENTIA: LANDING THE SHORE-END OF THE CABLE, 1857

CYRUS W. FIELD, 1860

LAST TWO PAGES OF LETTER FROM MR. GLADSTONE, DATED NOVEMBER 17, 1862

ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE CHART, 1865

THE NIGHT-WATCH

ARDSLEY, IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON

CERTIFICATE OF DISCHARGE FROM THE MERCANTILE MARINE SERVICE

THE ANDRÉ MONUMENT, TAPPAN, NEW YORK