Joseph and Reubin Field were two of the "Nine young men from Kentucky"¹ who accompanied Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their epic journey from The Falls of the Ohio to the shores of the "Western Ocean" and back. Joseph and Reubin, along with Charles Floyd, were the first three men recruited for the expedition.²

      In August of 1803, Joseph and Reubin were selected, along with seven other young men of the Louisville, Kentucky area, to join the Corps of Discovery.³ These two rather obscure brothers are mentioned time and time again in the journals of Lewis and Clark describing their contributions to the success of the expedition. Joseph and Reubin were skilled woodsmen and hunters. They were both given the rank of Private in the Army. Their military service began 1 August 1803, and ended 10 October 1806.⁴ The point of departure for the Field brothers was the north side of the Ohio River near the Falls of the Ohio, at Clarksville, Indiana Territory. As it was from this point that Lewis and Clark began the journey together, we consider this the beginning of the Expedition.⁵ Today there is a plaque commemorating this site. The events of this history making expedition are well known.

      Joseph and Reubin returned to Kentucky in 1806. Reubin married Mary Myrtle in 1808, in Indiana. Mary Myrtle was the daughter of John Myrtle of Jefferson County, Kentucky, and his wife Phoebe.⁶ There were no children from this marriage. Reubin and Mary acquired land south of present day Louisville, Kentucky, and became farmers. Reubin died after April 22, 1822, in Jefferson County, Kentucky.⁷ His exact burial location is also unknown but may be in an unmarked grave in the Bethany Memorial Cemetery, Valley Station, Kentucky. ⁸

      Joseph died sometime between June 27 and October 20, 1807. The exact date, the circumstances and location of his death are unrecorded. There is no record of his burial. The fact of his death is noted on the cover of William Clark's Journal. Clark believed Joseph had been killed.⁹ Until recently this was the final word on Joseph.

      In a new book by Larry E. Morris, The Fate of the Corps: What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers After The Expedition, the author speculates on the possible cause and circumstances of Joseph’s death. Upon returning to the Mandan Indian village where the Corps spent the first winter Clark convinced Sheheke, a chief, to journey with the Corps back to St. Louis and then to proceed on to Washington to meet President Jefferson. What at first seemed like a good idea, turned out to have dire consequences in the long run. It is Morris’ speculation that this decision lead to the suicide of Capt. Lewis, the amputation of George Shannon’s leg, and the deaths of several people possibly including Joseph Field. As it turned out, it took three years to return Sheheke to his village. The first attempt was lead by Nathaniel Pryor in the summer of 1807. The party also included George Shannon and George Gibson of the original corps. It is speculated by Morris that Joseph and Reubin were also in this group. The party also included a contingent of trappers. The group lead by Pryor was basically a military operation. The other, lead by Auguste-Pierre Chouteau and had much less discipline. On September 9, the party was attacked by the Arikara Indians, near the mouth of the Grand River in the Dakotas. No one in Pryor’s group was killed. Several were wounded including Gibson and Shannon. Shannon, some weeks later, had to have the injured leg amputated just above the knee. Several in Chouteau’s group were killed. Morris speculates that Joseph Field may have been part of Chouteau’s contingent and was one of the those who was killed.¹⁰

      There has been much speculation about the ancestry of these two brothers. Recorded history of this branch of the Field Family begins in Virginia, with Abraham Field who lived in Westmoreland County (abt. 1636-1674). This Abraham had three sons, Abraham, Daniel and Henry.¹¹ Daniel (1663-1720) in turn, had three sons, Daniel, Capt. Henry Sr. and Capt. Abraham (bef. 1699-1774).¹² Together, Daniel and Capt. Henry Sr. (sons of the first Daniel) obtained a patent in 1719, for land along the south bank of the Rappahannock River near Mill Run in Spotsylvania County, Virginia (later this area became Culpeper County.)¹³ In 1723, Capt. Abraham acquired adjoining land to the west along Mountain Run.¹⁴ It is not certain if Daniel ever occupied his land. Capt. Henry Sr. and Capt. Abraham resided in Culpeper County and their properties remained in the Field family for many years. A Field Family cemetery exists on this property.¹⁵

      Capt. Abraham was a prominent citizen in the early years of Culpeper County. He was a Vestryman of the Great Forks Church, St. Marks Parish, from 1744 until his death in 1774.¹⁶ Abraham's first wife, Elizabeth Withers (1706-aft. 1746), was the daughter of James Withers (1681-1746) and Elizabeth Keene (abt. 1682-1769) of Stafford County, Virginia.¹⁷ Capt. Abraham and Elizabeth were married before 21 July 1723.¹⁸ They had eight children, one being Keene Field (d.-bef. 16 May 1754.)¹⁹ From Abraham of Westmoreland to Capt. Abraham of Culpeper, the men of this branch of the Field Family were tobacco planters.

      Keene Field, son of Capt. Abraham and Elizabeth Withers, is thought to be the father of Abraham (1744-1822) who migrated to Kentucky.²⁰ Keene was dead by the time of Capt. Abraham's death in 1774. Abraham of Kentucky, inherited his father Keene's share of Capt. Abraham's estate. Although it cannot be conclusively proven that Capt. Abraham Field had a son Keene, there is documentation to prove that Abraham of Kentucky was Capt. Abraham's grandson.²¹

      Joseph and Reubin were born the sons of true pioneers, Abraham of Kentucky and his wife Elizabeth (Betty) (-aft. 1825).²² Unfortunately, as is so often the case with women of this era, Elizabeth's parentage is unknown. Abraham and Elizabeth had other children: John (dates unknown), Ezekiel (1773-1858), Keen (abt. 1744-1815), Mary (Polly) (-1782), and Cynthia (-1889).²³ Abraham of Kentucky suffered a serious gun shot wound to the shoulder in the Battle of Point Pleasant during Dunmore's War. This wound left him partially incapacitated and as a result, he was eligible for a government pension. His repeated petitions for this pension has left an excellent record of his life in Kentucky.²⁴

      In the fall of 1784, Abraham (1744-1822) and Elizabeth relocated their family to Jefferson County, Kentucky.²⁵ At this time, Joseph, Reubin and their siblings were very young children.²⁶ The region of the Falls of the Ohio had only recently been settled by a military expedition led by William Clark's brother George Rogers Clark. In 1784, Louisville was the westernmost settlement of Americans in North America.²⁷ Abraham's injury made physical labor difficult. He had problems with employment and he held many jobs, such as hunter and road surveyor.²⁸ He lived in several places in the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky.²⁹

      Abraham's son Ezekiel, became a salt maker. He was a prominent man in the Louisville area. One of the assignments that Joseph was given during the winter on the Oregon coast was that of salt maker. George H. Yater, in his article "Nine Young Men from Kentucky", suggests that he was a skilled salt maker as a result of having worked for his brother Ezekiel in Kentucky.³⁰ Author, Richard A. Briggs is in possession of Ezekiel's personal journal which lists many births, deaths and marriages of members of the Field family residing in the Louisville area at this time.³¹ Keen, another son of Abraham, along with his wife Anna Lewis and their oldest children, moved into southern Indiana about 1799. Nine years prior in 1790, Keen claimed 100 acres, near Vincennes, Indiana Territory, due to him as a militia man. Keen was the fourth person of European descent to move into Gibson County (formerly Knox County,) Indiana.³² Abraham Field's other children were John, who married and had seven children, spouse unknown, Cynthia, who married William Lewis and Mary who married George Brown.³³

      Capt. Lewis had the following to say about Joseph and Reubin: "Two of the most active and enterprising young men who accompanied us. It was their peculiar fate to have been engaged in all the most dangerous and difficult scenes of the voyage, in which they uniformly acquited themselves with much honor."³⁴ Both were discharged on October 10, 1806.³⁵

First photo is Fort Clatsop on the Clatsop River near Seaside, Oregon. This is the location the Corps spent the winter of 1804-1805.

Second photo is the Missouri River near Price, North Dakota.

We descend from Keen Field and Anna Lewis. Keen was the brother of Joseph and Reubin. He moved to Gibson County, Indiana, about 1799.

Abraham Field (1636-1674)
      Daniel Field (1663-1720)
            Capt. Abraham Field (bef. 1699-1774)+Elizabeth Withers (1706-bet. 1746-1753)
                  Keene Field ( -bef. 1754)
                        Abraham Field (1744-1822)+Elizabeth
                              Ezekiel H., Keen (below), Joseph and Reubin

Keen Field (abt. 1774-1815)+Anna Lewis ( -aft. 1823)
      Abraham Field (1793-1870)+Grace Rainey (1797-1862)
            Benjamin R. Field (1828-1903)+Lydia E. Brown (1827-1869)
                  George E. Field (1849-1915)+Lavica Hinkle (1857-1922)
                        Harvey O. Field (1889-1966)+Marie J. Eddy (1891-1966)
                              Howard A. Field (1911-1988)+Miriam E.Grasz (1918- )
                                    Eugene A. Field (1941- )+Anne E. Healy (1944- )
                                          Lucie C. Field (1969- )
                                          Victor A. Field (1970- )

1. George H. Yater. "Nine Young Men From Kentucky," in George H. Yater and Carolyn S. Denton. Nine Young Men From Kentucky, a supplementary publication of We Proceeded On, Publication No. 11, May, 1992, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc., pg. 1.

2. Roy E. Appleman. "Joseph and Reuben Field, Kentucky Frontiersmen of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and their Father, Abraham" in Genealogies of Kentucky Families. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., Inc., 1981, pg. 478.

3. Appleman, pg. 478.

4. William Clark. "Roster of Men," ca. 1803, Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, CT. Reproduction found in Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997, pg. 28. A digital image of the original Roster can be found using call number WA MSS 304.

   Yater, pg. 3.

5. Stephen E. Ambrose. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996, pg. 117.

6. Richard A. Briggs. Pioneer Settlers and Related Families at the Mouth of Salt River (West Point, Kentucky.) Vine Grove, Kentucky: Ancestral Trails Historical Society, Inc., 2000, pg. 126, 127. His source on names and dates of Ezekiel Field and descendants is Ezekiel Field's personal book.

   Appleman, pg. 497, 498.

7. Yater, pg. 4.

   Appleman, pg. 506, 507.

8. Yater, pg. 4.

   Briggs, pg. 126, 130.

   It was thought that Reuben Field was buried in the Myrtle Family Grave Yard on Little Bee Lick Creek and subsequently relocated to the Bethany Cemetery, Jefferson County, Kentucky.

9. Yater, pg. 3, 4.

10. Morris, Larry E. The Fate of the Corps: What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers After the Expedition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004, pg. 28-37.

11. John Dorman. Westmoreland County. Virginia, Deeds Patents, etc. 1665-1677. Washington DC: 1975. (Will of Abraham Field 1636-1674.)

12. Augusta B. Fothergill. Wills of Westmoreland County, Virginia: 1654-1800, Clearfield Company, Appeals Press, 1925. This book contains an abstract of Daniel Field's will. (Will of Daniel Field, 1663-1720, Deeds & Wills, Book 7, pg. 6, Westmoreland County, Virginia.)

13. Nell Marion Nugent. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, Vol. 3, 1695-1732. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1979. pg. 256.

14. Nugent, pg. 256.

15. Eugene M. Scheel. [Map of] Culpeper County: Commonwealth of Virginia. Culpeper, Virginia: Second National Bank of Culpeper, 1975. It is not certain who is buried in this cemetery, however, a possible list of graves was supplied by a Field descendant. Field Cemetery

16. Rosalie Edith Davis, ed. Saint Mark Parish Vestry Book & Levies, 1730-1785: Spotsylvania, Orange and Culpeper Counties, Virginia. Capt. Abraham Field was elected Vestryman 13 March 1744.

17. Will of James Withers, 8 July 1746. Will Book M, pg. 468, Stafford County, Virginia.

18. Robert Edwin Withers, (presented by). Withers Family of the County of Lancaster, England and of Stafford County, Virginia establishing the Ancestry of Robert Edwin Withers III. Richmond, Virginia: The Dietz Printing Company, 1947, pg. 40.

19. One of the unanswered questions about this branch of the Field Family concerns the father of Abraham Field (1744-1822) who located in Kentucky about 1784. Abraham is important because he was the father of Keen Field (abt. 1774-1815) who immigrated to Indiana in 1799, and Joseph and Reubin Field of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We believe that Keene Field (-bef. 1754) was a son of Capt. Abraham Field (bef. 1699-1774) and Elizabeth Withers (1706-aft. 1746) and was the father of Abraham of Kentucky. Abraham's father (Keene) was dead before his grandfather, Capt. Abraham Field, wrote his will. Abraham was given his father Keene's portion of Capt. Abraham's estate in this will (see exept from will below.) The only record we have of Keene is his inventory which was witnessed by Capt. Abraham Field. This inventory does not prove Keene was a son of Capt. Abraham Field and Elizabeth Withers, nor that he was the father of Abraham. However, his first name makes it almost impossible to place him as the child of anyone else. Elizabeth Keene was the mother of Elizabeth Withers and Elizabeth Withers had two brothers named Keene Withers, indicating that Keene was being used as a first name. No other Fields married into the Withers or Keene families at this time and place. Abraham of Kentucky named his eldest son Keen and the name continues in the Field family today.

    Will of Capt. Abraham Field, 2 July 1774, Will Book B, pg. 154, Culpeper County Court House, Culpeper, Virginia.

    Item I Give to my Grandson Abraham Field and his heirs and assigns forever the Land and plantation whereon Benjamin Hughs Formerly Lived bounded according to W. Youngs Survey thereof which he has had in his Possession by Deed of Gift also the sum of Thirty Pounds to be paid in two years after my Decease by my Executors to him and his heirs forever which with what his father has had and what he has had himself and is to have I think is Equal with the Rest of my Children.

    Withers, pg. 40. This source is in agreement with our theory.

    McAllister, Edward N. and Annabelle C. McAllister, Estes Genealogy: Estes Families of Old Clay County, Missouri. Their Ancestors and Descendants, 1972, pg. 243. This source is also in agreement with our theory.

20. Withers, pg. 124, 125. Abraham [Abram] Field (1744-1822) is listed as an heir of James Withers in the final distribution of his property because Abraham's father, Keene and his grandmother, Elizabeth Withers Field (who was a daughter of James and the mother of Keene) were both dead at the time of the final distribution of James Withers estate. This list was taken from the Large Minute Book (1788-1791), pg. 146, dated May 4, 1788, Fauquier County, Virginia.

    McAllister, pg. 243. Authors cite: J. F. Dorman, Culpeper County, Virginia, Wills, pg. 25.

21. Estate Record of Keene Field in Will Book A, pg. 105, Culpeper Court House, Culpeper County, Virginia, 16 May 1754.

    Will of Capt. Abraham Field, 2 July 1774. For explanation see footnote 18 above.

22. Appleman, pg. 496.

    Frederick C. Pierce in his Field Genealogy, Vol. 2, pg. 1104. (Chicago: Hammond Press, 1901) states that Col. John Field married Anna Rogers Clark the sister of George Rogers Clark. Col. John Field did marry someone named Ann or Anna, perhaps even an Anna Clark, but not the sister of George Rogers Clark. Anna Rogers Clark, sister of George and William Clark, was born 14 July 1755 and married Owen Gwathmey on 20 October 1773 when she was 22 years old. Owen Gwathmey survived his wife by 8 years. They are both buried in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. (Dorman, John F., "Descendants of Ann Clark wife of Owen Gwathmey" in Genealogies of Kentucky Families, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1981, pg. 39.) See also footnote 5 in Robert E. Lange, “The Expedition’s Brothers: Joseph and Reuben Field.” We Proceeded On, Vol. 4, No. 3, July, 1978, pg. 15.

23. Appleman, pg. 501.

24. Michael Cook. Jefferson County, Kentucky, Records. Vol. 2. Evansville, Indiana: Cook Publications, pg. 485.

    Appleman, pg. 482. Appleman lists his source as: Virginia State Library, Archives Division, Richmond, Virginia, Revolutionary Pensions, Box 10, Folder 143, Concerning Abram Field, Soldier, pg. 143-144. Copies of these documents in possession of authors.

25. Appleman, pg. 489.

26. Appleman, pg. 482.

27. Yater, pg. 1.

28. Appleman, pg. 490.

    Cook, pg. 266, 298.

29. Appleman, pg. 494.

30. Yater, pg. 3.

31. Briggs, pg. 127

32. Jas. T. Tartt. History of Gibson County, Indiana, Jas.Tart & Co. Edwardsville, Illinois, 1884, pg. 184, 188.

    Marriage Bond: Cain Field and Anne Lewis, 1793, Shelby County Clerks Office, Shelbyville, Kentucky. Copy in possession of authors.

    June B. and Ruth Barekman. Land Grants Vincennes, In. Chicago, Illinois: The Berekman Family Society, pg. 29.

33. Appleman, pg. 499, 502.

34. Yater, pg. 2.

35. Robert E. Lange. "The Expedition's Brothers: Joseph and Reuben Field," We Proceeded On, Vol. 4, No. 3, July, 1978, pg. 15.