The Field Cemetery is located on Military Donation Number 10, in Gibson County, Indiana. It is not far from the Field-Morrison Cemetery on Steelman Chapel Road. The original land grant was to Jean Louis Soulier. Keen Field (1774-1815) acquired this land in 1799. Eventually Benjamin R. Field (1828-1903) owned the land. This drawing of the farm and cemetery can be found in Jas. Tart's History of Gibson County opposite page 190.
The cemetery is located on a steep hill near the center of the property east of the house. It is very inaccessible. As far as we know no Field descendant has visited the cemetery since Marjorie Mallott's visit in 1972.
The cemetery is in relatively good shape for being left alone for a very long time. The stones that are visible are all on the ground. Many are quite readable. Some that are reported to have been there are no longer to be found. These stones may be buried in the dirt and leaf litter. Hopefully some day they maybe located.
There are stones in the cemetery that had not been recorded by either Marjorie Mallott or the Gibson County Historical Society. This was a surprise to us because we knew that these people had lived but we did not know where they were buried.
We feel really fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit the cemetery for the first time during the summer of 1999. The invitation to visit the cemetery came about as a result of a meeting with Harry G. Morrison who at that time was the county surveyor. Lucie was in the Gibson County Surveyor's office to get a map of the county cemeteries. Harry was the person who gave her the map. He asked her if she were looking for her great great grandfather and she siad no, she already knew he was buried in the Field-Morrison Cemetery. Harry commented that he was a Morrison and wondered if he and Lucie were "kin". He said he was a descendent of the Morrisons that were buried in the same cemetery. After talking with Harry for a while we mentioned the Field Cemetery and he said he had been there recently and observed several stones. He is a friend of the owner and said he was certain we would be given access to the land if we just asked. I telephoned the owner and he was more than willing to allow us on the land and suggested Harry might be willing to be our guide. A quick phone call to Harry resulted in an offer to take us there the following morning.
We were really pleased to find the cemetery in a state of natural decay. There are no signs of willful damage and we are very grateful for that. It is our hope that in the near future we can find a way to restore the cemetery to a state as close as possible to its original condition. We have promise of some help in this endeavor.
We want to thank Harry Morrison and the owners of the land for giving us the opportunity to visit this cemetery.
On 18 March 2010 we received an update on the condition of the Field Cemetery from Daniel Elliott. He was taken by John Anthis, a son of Fred Anthis, to see the cemetery. He stated to me that there was both good and bad news. The bad news was that the area of the cemetery had been logged and the tombstones had been disturbed. However, the good news was that John Anthis has taken an interest in the cemetery and has gathered up the stones and placed them on a ridge in a safe place. The most interesting news of all was that Dan and John found two stones that were previously undocumented. One was the tombstone of Thomas H. Benton Field a young son of Abraham and Grace Rainey. The other was the tombstone Nancy J. Phillips Field the first wife of Joseph Jackson Field. We are extremely grateful to Daniel and John for taking an interest in the cemetery and relaying this information to us.
On July 4, 2011, we were again fortunate to have another chance to visit the cemetery. The current owner, John Anthis, offered to drive us up to the cemetery. He has done a wonderful job of cleaning, mowing and replanting trees. All the stones were laid out flat and we had a chance to see several stones that we did not find when Harry Morrison took us out there over ten years ago. There was one new stone that he had just recently found that no one has ever recorded. It is broken and the name is gone. Only partial dates remain; 8, 1851 for birth and 22, 1853 for death. After carefully looking at who is buried here and who could not have been the parents of this child, we concluded that it is a child of Benjamin R. Field and Lydia Ellen Brown.
We want to thank John and Tabitha Anthis for inviting us to visit the Field Cemetery.
For Dan Elliott's Gibson County Genweb page with cemetery listing click here.
