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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.



Grace/Wife of/Abraham Field/Died/March 30, 1863/
In the 66th year/of her age

Grace Rainey was the wife of Abraham Field and the mother of Benjamin R. Field (1828-1903). She was the daughter of William Rainey (1776-1846) and Esther Robinson (1777-1863).
Abraham Field/Born/Dec. 27, 17[93]/Died/[Apr.] 12, 1870/
Aged/76 ys. 3 mos. 15 d's.

Abraham Field was the husband of Grace Rainey and the son of Keen Field (abt 1774-1815) and Anna Lewis (1817-aft 1850). Photo taken by Dan Elliott 2010.

Lydia Ella Field/Born/May 25, 1827/Died/Feb 14, 1869
 

Lydia Ella Brown was the first wife of Benjaman R. Field and the mother of George E. Field. She was a daughter of John William Brown (1794-1852) and Temperence Medley.
Elizabeth/Wife of B. R. Field/Born Feb. 12, 1838/
Died Nov. 11, 1873

Elizabeth Moore was the second wife of Benjamin R. Field. She was the daughter of John Camm Moore (1800-1860) and Elizabeth Dawson (1815-1897)

Joseph J. Field/Born/Jan. 20, 1831/Died/Oct. 25, 1864/
Aged/33yrs 9mos 5ds

Joseph Jackson Field was a son of Abraham Field and Grace Rainey. He was the brother of Benjamin R. Field and the husband of Nancy Phillips (1833-1862) and Rachel Morrison (1841-1917).
Infant/Son of/B. R. & Elizabeth Field/
Born & Died 5 Oct. 1873

This child was a son of Benjamin R. Field and Elizabeth Moore.
Click on the photo for a more readable image take by Dan Elliott in 1910.

Cynthia Easter/dau. of/ B. R. & Lydia Field/
Born/Oct. 9, 1856/Died/ 7 Feb. 1869
 

Cynthia Easter Field was a daughter of Benjamin R. Field and Lydia Ella Brown
[Arminta/dau] of/B. R. & Elizabeth Field/
Born/June 1, 1872/Died/Aug. 5, 1873

Arminta Field was a daughter of Benjamin R. Field and Elizabeth Moore. This tombstone was still legible in 1998, but is no longer legible as of 2011.

Elizabeth A. Field/Born 3 Feb. 1836/Died 11 Sept. 1837/1yr 7ms 8ds

Elizabeth A. Field was a daughter of Abraham and Grace Rainey Field.

Nancy Field/Consort of/Joseph J. Field/Born/Feb. 6, 1833/Died/Aug. 7, 1862/Aged/29 ys. 5 ms. 27 ds.

Nancy J. Phillips Field was a daughter of Robert P. Phillips (1799-1847) and Celia Milburn (1801-1840).

Nancy was the first wife of Joseph Jackson Field. They were married 8 January 1852. Nancy and Joseph had three children, Cynthia Luvina (1853-), Robert Allen (1855-1922) and Grace F. (1860-). After Nancy died Joseph married Rachel E. Morrison whose parents were David Alexander Morrison (1818-1892) and Jane Swaim (1819-1888). David and Jane are buried in the Field/Morrison Cemetery just to the north of this Field Cemetery. Joseph died 25 October 1865 leaving Rachel with a young child and three step children. Cynthia Luvina was taken by train by her aunt Cynthia Anne Field Turner on 8 April 1865 to Shelbyville, Illinois to be raised by her. We think there are still descendants of Robert Allen living in Gibson, County. Descendants of Cynthia live in California and Nevada. The children of Joseph and Nancy were raised by various aunts and uncles.

Thomas H. Benton Field.

Thomas H. Benton Field was a son of Abraham and Grace Rainey Field. He was born on 3 February 1836 and died 16 July 1854.

[Bo]rn/[missing]8, 1851/Died/[missing] 22, 1853



There is no record of Benjamin Field and Lydia Brown Field having a child in 1851. However, between their first son George in 1849 and a daughter, Cynthia, in 1853, there is a 4 year gap. It is highly unlikely that they had no other children in the first 5 years of marriage. The only people buried in the Field Cemetery are Abraham Field and Grace Rainey, their children, spouses of children, and Benjamin Field's wives or children. Abraham and Grace stopped having children in the late 1830's and none of Benjamin's sibling's timelines fit for being the parent of a child in 1851. Therefore, we have placed this unnamed infant as Benjamin and Lydia's child.

The following inscriptions were recorded in 1972 by Marjorie Mallott and volunteers for the Gibson County Historical Society:

...eh Ann-broken stone
This person is unknown

A. E.
This could possible be Arminta Field a child of Benjamin R. and Elizabeth Field born in 1872 and died in 1873


Lucie Field and Harry G. Morrison, Gibson County Surveyor, 1998. Harry G. Morrison is a greatnephew of Rachel Elizabeth Morrison Barton (1841-1917) the second wife of Joseph Jackson Field who is buried in the Field Cemetery. Rachel is buried in the Shiloh Cemetery, Gibson County, Indiana with her second husband, Henry Barton.

Keen Field and Anna Lewis moved into Gibson County, Indiana, sometime in 1799. (then Knox County) They had three children, Abraham, Elizabeth and Benjamin R. Seven more were born in Gibson County, Cynthia, Joseph Riley, Stephen Lewis, Thomas Withers, Reuben R., Ezekiel and Keen Wither, Jr. The families of Keen and Anna were from Virginia. Detailed information about Keen and Anna can be found elsewhere on this website

Most of the people for whom we have tombstone inscriptions from Gibson, Elkhart, Porter and Vigo Counties, Indiana, Greene and Shelby Counties, Illinois, are descendants of Keen and Anna. Those from Culpeper County, Virginia were ancestors or relatives of ancestors of Keen.

On 8 June 2012 Lucie and Gene Field visited several small town cemeteries in the central valley of California. These cemeteries are the burial locations of several descendants of Joseph Jackson Field and relatives of his first wife Nancy J. Phillips, both of whom are buried in the Field Cemetery.

Views of the Cemetery
Views from the Cemetery

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