Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/101

 FIELD

FIELD

in the settlement and on the third day Mr. Field was elected its tirst magistrate under the Spanish title of alcalde. He held the office and adminis- tered justice with supreme authority until the organized state government provided a substi- tute in the person of Judge Turner, from Texas. The new judge denounced Jlr. Field as an aboli- tionist, disbarred hina from practice in the courts and swore to drive him from the state. Mr. Field notified the judge that he would defend himself if attacked, and that he did not propose to leave Marysville. He was elected a repre- sentative in the first state legislature from Yuba county, and as a member of the judiciary com- mittee he moulded the laws of the state, fixing the legality of land titles and establishing a lib- eral civil and criminal code after the models submitted by his brother, David Dudley, to the legislature of the state of New York. He served but one term, when he returned to the practice of his profession at Marysville. In 1857 he was elected a judge of the supreme court of Califor- nia for six years. In 1859, upon the resignation of Chief Justice Terry, he succeeded to the head of the bench. He established the doctrine that gold and silver belonged to the owners of the soil and not to the state, which reversed the doctrine previously laid down that, as in Eng- land the minerals of the soil belong to the crown, so in the United States they must by virtue of its sovei-eignty belong to the state. He was married in 1860 to Mi.ss Swearingen and they had no children. In 1863 he was appointed by President Lincoln associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, upon the unanimous rec- ommendation of the congressional delegates from the Pacific

coast, five

Democrats and three Repub- licans. He helil the office until Dec. 1, 1897. when after

a continuous -, . service of

fL f ^ 8 -^ ' ^ ijL jy- nearly forty-

Supreme  STATES four years.

President McKinley accepted his resignation. Judge Field was a member of the commission appointed by Governor Booth in 1873 to prejiare amendments to the code for legislative action. In 1877 he was a member of the electoral com- mission and voted with the minority. In 1880, at the National Democratic convention at Cin- cinnati. Ohio, he received 65 votes on the first ballot for President of the United States. In 1881 he visited Smyrna and the scenes of his l)ovhood davs on the shores of the Mediter-

ranean. In the early days of his life in Cali- fornia he twice escaped assassination, once at the hands of land-squatters dispossessed by his de- cision, and next at the hands of David S. Terry, a former chief justice. A United States marshal detailed to protect Judge Field from threatened assault, shot and killed Terry as he was in the act of attempting to assassinate the judge. . Judge Field was professor of law in the Univer- sity of California, 1869-85, and a trustee of Lcland Stanford Junior university, 1891-99. Williams college conferred upon him the honor- ary degree of LL.D. in 1864. On Feb. 4, 1890, on the occasion of the centennial auni%'ersary of the organization of the U.S. supreme coui-t, cele- brated in New York city, he delivered an ad- dress. He died in Washington, D.C.. April 9, 1899.

FIELD, Thomas Power, educator, was born in Northfield, JIass., J:in. 13, 1814; son of Justin and Harriet (Power) Field. He attended North- field academy, was graduated at Amherst in 1834 and was a tutor there, 1837-39. He was gi-ad- uated at the Andover theological seminary in 1840, was ordained a Congregational minister at South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 8, 1840; resigned in 1850, and had charge of the Second Presby- terian church, Troy, N.Y., 1850-53. He was pro- fessor of rhetoric, oratory and English literature at Amherst, 1853-56; pastor in New London, Conn.. 1856-76; professor of bibliography and librarian at Amherst, 1877-78, and professor of Biblical history and interpretation and pastoral care, 1878-86. Amherst conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D. in 1861. He died at Amherst. Mass., Slay 16, 1894.

FIELD, Walbridge Abner, representative, was born in Springfield, Windsor county, Vt., April 36, 1833; son of Abner and Louisa (Gris- wold) Field. He was of old New England descent, on his father's side from the Fields of Rhode Island and on his mother's side from the Gris- wolds of Connecticut. He was seventh in direct lineal descent from Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island. He was graduated from Dart- mouth in 1855; was tutor there, 1855-58, and after pursuing the study of law for a time, returned to Dartmouth and taught mathematics for one year. He removed to Boston and studied at the Harvard law school and in the office of Harvey Jewell. He was admitted to the bar in 1860 and practised in the office of Mr. Jewell im- til 1865, when he was successively assistant U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, 186.5-67, and assist- ant U.S. attorney-general. 1869-70. He was elected as a Republican a representative to the 45th congress in 1876 and received the certificate of his election but his seat was successfully contested by Benjamin Dean of Boston. Mr. Field was a representative in the 46th congress.