David A. Fields1
b. 1829, d. 11 June 1885
 David A. Fields (cropped) photo courtesy Patricia Craig Johnson | |
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| Father | William Fields1 b. 1781, d. 21 Jan 1829 |
| Mother | Elizabeth Lynch1 b. abt 1795, d. 14 May 1851 |
The following narrative was written and shared by Patricia (Craig) Johnson who has extensively researched the Fields family (contact information at end of report):
David A. Fields (1829 - 1885) The great-grandfather of my husband, Dr. Alvis Johnson, was Dr. John Davidson (J. D.) Fields. Dr. Fields lived and practiced medicine in Manor, Travis County, TX from 1869 to about 1905. He died in Austin in 1925 and his wife, Mary Frances (Raney) Fields, died there in 1947. My husband, born in 1917, remembers them well. Both are buried in the Manor Cemetery. The family plot contains the gravestones of various relatives whose stories we can verify, except for two. In 1988, no one in the remaining Fields and Raney families had any knowledge of who those two persons might be. One of the mystery markers, a tall, thin, old-fashioned slab with a rounded top, states simply - D. A. FIELDS - died June 11, 1885. Who was D. A. Fields? Why is he buried here with so little data on his tombstone? The only other item we had, which might have been related, was a photograph in an album inherited by my mother-in-law, Thelma Fields Johnson from her grandparents, Dr. J. D. and Mary Frances Fields. David A. Fields was penciled on the front of the photo, and the back of the card carried the legend, W. F. Oliphant - Austin Texas with no date. The names, hand written under most of the pictures in this small, embossed volume, meant little or nothing to us. The David pictured was a youngish man with mustache and chin whiskers, wearing a jaunty hat, but there was nothing to connect him to the grave in Manor. Thelma Fields Johnson, a native of Sutton County TX born in 1896, and her five surviving younger siblings had known their grandfather, Dr. J. D. Fields, until his death in 1925. Others in Sonora had vivid memories of Dr. Fields from his visits there. In spite of this, only the following facts about his origin were known to the Fields family of Sutton County TX: J. D. Fields was born in Abingdon, Washington County VA in 1845. He served in the Confederate Kentucky Cavalry in the Civil War with Capt. Tom Quirk's Scouts under General John Hunt Morgan. After the war he came to Travis County TX. On October 24, 1866 he married Mary Frances Raney, daughter of John Raney and Hibernia Vernon Raney. Mary Frances, with her parents and younger brother, William Bargrove Raney, had journeyed from Rutherford County TN to Travis County TX in 1859. J. D. Fields attended the Medical College of the University of Louisiana (forerunner of Tulane University). After his graduation in 1869, he practiced at Manor, Travis County, TX. In 1989, my oldest daughter, Beverly Johnson Smith, and I decided to make the 1100-mile trip from Dallas to Abingdon VA to see what we could ferret out about the Fields ancestors. What we found were charming relatives we did not know existed. In addition, to our astonishment, everywhere was abundant material directly linking this FIELDS family to the very earliest settlers of Southwest Virginia. Over the years, the lines of DAVIDSON, WITTEN, CECIL, and PATTON had been researched, documented, and chronicled by numerous historians. Plaques, markers, tablets, inscriptions, cenotaphs, and historical sites abounded. My husband, Alvis, was unaware that his roots lay so deeply entwined in that long ago frontier. One of the welcoming kin-folk, Beverly's second cousin, twice removed, Virginia Kreger Witherspoon, miraculously produced the bible of William and Eleanor Davidson Fields, parents of J. D. Fields, listing their marriage record (not recorded in any county marriage book!) and the births of all their children. Stunned, we speechlessly viewed J. D.'s siblings, unknown to us until that moment. Virginia's grandmother, whom she remembered well, was Alice, J. D.'s sister. Now we could place the young Alice Baldwin, who gazed so seriously out of that photo album back in Texas. On the page facing her, the bearded man with Yours Truly, W. T. Baldwin across his chest in faded ink, was her husband, Capt. William Thomas Baldwin. Until then we had no clue as to who they were. We took pictures of the eight room, two-story, brick home where J. D. grew up. It still stands in its lovely meadow, just west of Abingdon, surrounded by original outbuildings, with sparkling Spring Creek bubbling by. The town people referred to it as the "Baldwin Place", because Captain Baldwin and his wife, Alice, had lived there after the Civil War. No one knew that it was the old Fields Homestead, Alice's childhood home, and we certainly did not convince anyone. We discovered that William Fields, J. D's father was a brick mason and contractor who owned his own brick making operation and had built many structures in Abingdon and Washington County. In the 1860 industrial census, William reported that with ten men employed to produce hand-made bricks, he had used 600,000 bricks to build five houses that year. It was gratifying to uncover the following bit of family history. When in 1848 the county commissioners voted to erect a new courthouse, the contract was let to William Fields and a colleague, Herbert M. Ledbetter. They finished the building to everyone's satisfaction in the spring of 1850. But we did not find D. A. Fields! Another trip to Abingdon in 1991 allowed us to fit more pieces into the puzzle. We were able to identify J. D.'s grandparents, William and Elizabeth (Lynch) Fields. I shall refer to this William as William (I). He, too, was a brick mason and contractor. In January 1829, he died at age 48, leaving Elizabeth with seven living children and one yet unborn. We confirmed the names and ages of all the children from census schedules and deed records. William, J. D.'s father, was 17 years old when William (I) died. It appears that the older boys and Elizabeth managed to support the family. The inventory and appraisement of the estate of William (I), recorded 29 March 1829 in Washington Co records, showed a large stock of brick on hand and all equipment necessary to manufacture brick. This answered our question, "Did William (I) own a brick making operation or did his son, William, acquire it later?" Elizabeth's home was always full of young, live-in, apprentice bricklayers. It is interesting to note that all of the sons of William (I) and Elizabeth appear to have been well grounded in the brick mason's trade. Some went on to other occupations but, had it ever been necessary, all could have fallen back on this skill, so useful in the exploding growth of the westward expansion of the United States. We learned that the child born after the death of William (I) was named David A. Fields. Since no other D. A. Fields, fitting the time frame, had surfaced, we were confident this was the D. A. Fields we sought. Our task, then, was to prove that the final resting place of this Abingdon born David Fields was, indeed, the cemetery in Manor, Travis County, Texas. Years of persistent fact gathering finally enabled us to share: David's Story Immersed from birth as he was in the brick mason's world of the Fields family, David probably absorbed the concept of bricklaying before he could walk. With five older brothers to emulate, he would have been well taught. In 1850, at age 21, working as a bricklayer, he was still living at home in Abingdon with his mother, Elizabeth, his brother Jacob, and sister, Sarah, plus the ever-present apprentices. In 1859, he signed a deed proving his residence as Washington County VA. David was not enumerated in the 1860 Washington Co. VA census but his military records show he enlisted in the 1st Regiment VA Cavalry as a private in 1861. His unit, Company D, was made up of the already established militia known as the Washington County Mounted Rifles. The 1st VA Cavalry participated in over two hundred battles and skirmishes and was one of the most famous Confederate cavalry regiments. Also in Co D were David's nephew, Charles B. Fields, older brother of J. D. Fields, and other members of the Fields and Davidson families Wounded at Dover's Mill near Aldie, Loudoun Co VA on June 17, 1863, David missed the slaughter at Gettysburg 14 days later. Returning to Co D in the early spring of 1864, he was promoted to Sergeant. The 1st VA Cavalry was with General Jubal Early's Shenandoah Campaign in the fall of 1864. From September 19th to the 22nd, Early's forces suffered the bloody defeats of Third Winchester and the Battle of Fisher's Hill at the hands of General Philip Sheridan. David was captured at nearby Port Republic VA on Sep 27, 1864 and sent to Point Lookout MD. This marshy, disease infested horror located on Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Potomac River, was the largest Union prison camp. During its 22-month existence, 14,000 prisoners died. David survived there for eight months until he was released on June 12, 1865, after signing the oath of Allegiance to the United States. At that time his residence was recorded as Washington County VA and his personal description as 5 ft. 6½ in. with fair complexion, dark brown hair, and blue eyes. One has to wonder what the state of his health was as he finally headed home. David returned to Abingdon and his presence there from 1866 to 1868 is known due to the following circumstances: In December of 1864 Abingdon lay in the path of General George Stoneman's sweep through Tennessee and into Southwest Virginia. This campaign, known as "Stoneman's Raid", was to destroy railroads, the salt works at Saltville, the iron forges in Smythe Co. and the lead mines in Wythe Co. The unfortunate aftermath of this encounter left the heart of the business district of Abingdon, including the courthouse built by William Fields in 1848, totally destroyed by a disastrous, deliberately set fire. In spite of the perilous state of its finances at the close of the war, Washington County, in June 1866, voted to erect a splendid new courthouse. For this ambitious undertaking, contracts were let to seven contractors for the various types of work needed. David Fields and his older brother, James Fields, were commissioned for the brickwork and "plastering". This handsome structure was completed in November of 1868, and still proudly serves Washington County in 2010 The 1870 and 1880 census schedules revealed no trace of David in Virginia or Texas or in any other state. It is always possible he was indexed incorrectly. We were fortunate that, by this time, other Fields researchers were carefully monitoring our quest for David A. Fields. Please remember, this was before internet access or common use of facsimile transmission. Hand written letters (for those of us who could not type) and microfilm were the names of the game. One kind soul helpfully provided a printout from microfilm of the Abingdon "VIRGINIAN". Reproduced here is the part that renewed our flagging energy in this project. THE VIRGINIAN - Abingdon, Friday, April 12, 1872 Letter from Texas We made the following extract from a private letter from a friend in Texas because we believe it will be of interest to many of our subscribers who have relatives and friends in Austin and vicinity: "Our old friend David Fields is as busy as a bee laying brick and making from ten to twenty dollars per day." Having placed the bricklaying David Fields of Abingdon, VA in Austin, TX in 1872, we finally did what we should have done early on - appealed to the Texas State Library and Archives. Our request to them was for any reference in their holdings to a David Fields who died June 11, 1885. Their prompt reply, consisting of a newspaper column copied from microfilm, answered our original questions: Who is D. A. Fields? Why is he buried at Manor Cemetery in the family plot of Dr. J. D. Fields? Daily Democratic Statesman - Austin Texas - June 12, 1885 STRUCK DOWN Death of a bricklayer from Sunstroke Yesterday afternoon, about 4 o'clock David Fields, a workman employed in laying brick on the Driskill hotel, was observed to fall to the ground while engaged in his work. A number of his fellows went to his assistance and on reaching him at once came to the conclusion that he had received a sunstroke. Officer Wm. Howe took him from Morley's drug store to the city hospital, where he died about 8 o'clock at night. Everything was done to relieve him, but in vain. Deceased was a hard working and well-liked man, a brick mason by trade and an uncle of Dr. Fields of Manor, who was with him at the last. He was well known in Austin and highly respected for his many fine qualities. He was about fifty years of age and a bachelor. One last loose end to tie up. The Austin History Center, a division of the Austin Public Library, forwarded to us information from their files of Austin photographers. In a directory compiled by David Haynes, Institute of Texan Cultures, William Oliphant was listed as a photographer in Austin from 1866 to 1879. Thus the D. A. Fields of the grave in Manor Cemetery, now identified as David A. Fields, uncle of Dr. J. D. Fields of Manor and son of William (1) Fields of Abingdon VA, was in the right place at the right time to have been photographed by William Oliphant and the copy made for the album of Dr. Fields. ADDENDA The Driskill Hotel remains a gem in the streetscape of Austin, delighting generations of Texans and visitors to Texas for almost one-hundred and twenty-four years. ***** Manor, a small town about twelve miles northeast of the city of Austin, is now rapidly being engulfed by the metropolitan expansion of Austin. ******** In addition to being a physician, whose home was in Manor, J. D. Fields was active in land and cattle dealings in the uninhabited western part of the state. In 1883 he began to acquire the open range which became the 30 section Fields Ranch in Sutton County. From 1889 it was operated by his eldest son, William John (W. J.) Fields, the patriarch of the Sutton County Fields family. The ranch carries the designation of a Texas Century Ranch from the Texas Family Land Heritage program and is still owned by descendants of William John Fields. |
| Patricia Craig Johnson 8600 Skyline Dr. Box 1132, Dallas TX 75243 (email link in endnotes) |
Related Links and Images:
| Find Travis County (Austin) on the Texas map (also accessible via the Misc. Locations link in the menu bar at the top of any page). |
| David's headstone in the Dr. John Davidson Fields plot at Manor Cemetery, Travis Co., Texas |
| The website Austin Post Card.com has some wonderful early postcard images of the hotel. For current information on the Driskill Hotel see Driskill Hotel. |
| Last Edited | 10 Dec 2013 |
Citations
- [S2439] Patricia Craig Johnson, "William Fields-Elizabeth Lynch" family group sheet, (e-mail address).