Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/473

Rh and was well known as a party manager, devoting the larger share of his time to the promotion ot the interests of public men and the political organiza- tion of which he was a member.

FIELD, Benjamin Hazard, philanthropist, b. in Westchester co., N. Y.. 2 Mny, 1814; d. in New York city, 17 March, 1893. He was educated at North Salem academy, came to New York in 1832, and entered the office of his uncle, whom he succeeded in business in 1830. He retired in 1875. Mr. Field was connected with many charities in and about New York. He was one of the incorporators of the Home for incurables, had been its president from the beginning, and built a chapel for its use. He was presi- dent in 1886 of the historical society, an incorporator of the American museum of natural history, the Sheltering Arms, and the So- ciety for the prevention of cruelty to children, and was president of the free circulating library and the eye and ear infirmary. He supported a high- school in Yorktown, N. Y., for many years, and was interested in educational matters. In 1887 he offered to endow a free library and home for the poor in Westchester county.

FIELD, David Dudley, clergyman, b. in East Guilford (now Madison), Conn., 20 May, 1781 ; d. in Stockbridge, Mass., 15 April, 1867. He was a son of Capt. Timothy Field, who had been an officer in the Revolutionary army, and subse- quently settled in Guilford. Young Field was fitted for college with Jeremiah Evarts, father of William M. Evarts, under the instruction of the Rev. John Elliott. The two boys roomed to- gether during their college course, and were graduated at Yale in 1802. Mr. Field then studied theology with the Rev. Charles Backus, of Somers, and was licensed to preach by the associ- ation of New Haven east, in September, 1803. After preaching for a short time in Somers, where he married Submit Dickinson, he accepted a call to the Congregational church in Iladdam, Conn., and was ordained on 11 April, 1804. Here he remained for fourteen years, resigning in 1818, and then spent five months on a missionary tour through west- ern New York. On his journey homeward he preached in Stockbridge, Mass., where, a few months later, he was to succeed the Rev. Stephen West. The journey from Haddam was made in wagons, filled with his possessions, and in August, 1819, he was installed pastor of the church, then the only one in the village. He ministered to this parish for eighteen years, and then returned to Haddam, and remained there until 1844. During the latter year the congregation was divided, and he took charge of the new church in Higganum until 1851, when he retired, returning to Stock- bridge, where he passed his remaining days. Mr. Field received the degree of D. D. in 1837 from Williams. In 1848 he spent some months in Eu- rope with his son Stephen. Pie had a natural fondness for historical research, and was at one time vice-president of the Connecticut historical society ; also a corresponding member of the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania historical socie- ties. Besides occasional sermons and historical addresses, he published " History of the County of Berkshire" (1829); "History of the County of Middlesex " (1839) ; "History of Pittsfield " (1844) ; and "Genealogy of the Brainerd Family" (New York, 1857). — His son, David Dudley, lawyer, b. in Haddam, Conn., 13 Feb., 1805; d. in New York, 13 April, 1894, was graduated at Williams in 1825. He studied law first in Albany with Harmanus Bleecker, but after a few months removed to New York, where he completed his studies. Soon after Ml-. Field's admission to the bar, in 1828. he be- came a junior partner in the law firm of Henry and D. Sedgwick, with which he studied. From then until 1885 he was continuously engaged in the active practice of his profession. Mr. Field has attained special prominence in connection with his labors in the cause of law reform. As early as 1839 he wrote a " Letter on the Reform of the Judiciary System," and afterward addressed a committee of the New Y^ork legislature on the subject. In 1841 he prepared three bills, which were introduced, but the judiciary committee, to whom they were referred, failed to take any action on them. In 1846 he wrote a series of articles on " The Reorganization of the Judiciary," which were widely distributed in pamphlet-form. His influence was felt in the Constitutional convention of 1846, and their report called for a general code and the " Reform of the Practice." Before the legislature met in January, 1847. he published "What shall be done with the Practice of the Courts? Shall it be wholly Reformed? Ques- tions addressed to Lawyers." In September, 1847, he was appointed commissioner on practice and pleadings, and as such took part in the prepara- tion of the code of procedure. The commission reported the first installment to the legislature in February, and it was enacted in April, 1848. The remainder was •i-eported in four sections at differ- ent times until January, 1850, when the completed " Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure " were submitted to the legislature. Both these codes have been enacted into law. The radical design of the new system of civil procedure was to ob- literate the distinction between the forms of action and between legal and equitable suits, so that all the rights of the parties in relation to the subjects of litigation can be determined in one action, in- stead of dividing them between different suits. This system has been adopted in twenty-four of the states and territories, and is the basis of the legal reform established by the new judicature act in England, and of the practice in several of the English colonies, including India. Eighteen of the states and territories have adopted his code of criminal procedure. For some years following the enactment of these laws he continued to pub- lish numerous pamphlets, including the "Law- Reform Tracts," also frequent articles in the jour- nals, and drafted bills that were introduced into the legislature for the purpose of effecting the completion of codification. In 1857 Mr. Field was appointed by the state of New York head of a commission to prepare a political code, a penal code, and a civil code. These, with the two codes of procedure previously made, were designed to supersede the unwritten or common law. They were completed in 1865, and covered the entire province of American law, and presented to the people in compact form the whole law by which they were governed. The state of New York has, as yet, adopted only the penal code, although other states have drawn largely from