FIELD
FIELD
turned by "the great and terrible wilderness"
to the Holy Land; which altogether furnished
material for three volumes, that appeared one
after the other, at intervals of two or three
years, viz: "On the Desert," "Among the Holy
Hills," and "The Greek Islands and Turkey
after the War. His
next route of travel
was in another direc-
tion, to the southwest
corner of Europe, to
Spain and Gibraltar,
from which he crossed
over into Africa, an
excursion which he
repeated several years
later, and out of
■which came three
books; Old Spain and
/hU^M (TClIdj GihraUar (1892) ; and
Z^' 77/ e Barbary Coast;
while home topics were treated in Blood Is Tlii'-krr Than Water, and Brirjht Skies and Dark .s/iiiihiirf!, both giving his impressions of the southern states after the civil war; followed by Our Western Archipelago, in which he pictured Alaska as he saw it in the summer of 1894.
FIELD, James Qavin, lawyer, was born at Walnut. C'vdpeper county, Va., Feb. 24, 1826; son of Judge Lewis "Yancey and Maria (Dun- can) Field ; grandson of Daniel Field and of Charles Duncan, and a descendant of Sir John Field of England. He acquired a classical educa- tion, engaged in mercantile business in Fairfax, Va. , taught school and became clerk to Major Hill, paymaster in the U.S. army, with whom he went to California in 1848 and was employed in the pay department of the United States army. He was one of the secretaries of the California constitutional convention in 1850. He returned to Virginia in October, ISoO, studied law with his uncle, Judge Richard H. Field, and was admitted to the bar in 18.52. He was the common- wealth's attorney of Culpeper county, Va., 1859- 61. He entered the Confederate army as a pri- vate and rose to the rank of major, serving on the staff of Gen. A. P. Hill, 1861-65. He was wounded at Cold Harlior and lost his leg at the battle of Slaughter Mountain, Aug. 9, 1863. He was attorney-general of Virginia, 1877-83, when he retired to a farm in Albemarle county. He was the People's party candidate for vice-presi- dent of the United States in 1892 on the ticket with James B. Weaver for President and re- ceived 22 electoral and 1,041,028 popular votes.
FIELD, Kate, author, joiu-nalist, lecturer, was born in St. Louis. Mo., Oct. 1, 18.38; daughter of Joseph M. and EUza (Riddle) Field. Both pa-
rents were actors and persons of culture and re-
finement. The first patei-nal American ancestor,
Mathew Field, came from Ireland, the family
having come originally from Warwickshire, Eng-
land. Mathew Field was noted for his benevolence
His property was
]^AXu
and was called "the saint,
confiscated in 1798
and he removed to
America, settling in
Baltimore, at that
tinie the Mecca of the
Roman Catholics. He
became a publisher
and brought out the
first American Cath-
olic almanac. He
left two sons, Mat-
thew, a poet, and
Joseph, the actor,
poet, journalist and
story writer. Jo-
seph M. Field
founded in St. Louis,
Mo., the Reveille which he edited for .some years
and also had his own theatre in St. Louis, and in
Mobile. He died in the latter city in 1856 at the
age of forty-five. His wife died at sea in 1871.
Their daughter, Kate (baptized Mary Katherine
Keemle Field), at the age of nine corresponded
with her parents in French and for recreation
copied French poetry. She wrote for newspapers
before she was fifteen, and at that age was
placed in a seminary near Boston. A little later
she was sent to Florence, Italy, where she was
under the care of Isa Blagden, Mrs. Browning's
devoted friend. Through tliis companionship,
Mrs. Browning became deeply attached to the
young gill and often had her at her home, Casa
Guidi. She was taught Latin by Walter Savage
Landor, from whom she received a portfolio of
valuable drawings from the old masters. She
inspired a warm friendship from George Eliot ;
and Vedder painted her portrait, which is placed
in the Museum of fine arts, Boston. Miss Field
developed as a writer of comedies, an exceptional
press correspondent, a musician, a poet, a dra-
matic critic, and a lecturer who was also an orator.
She passed most of her life in America although
through various years she was in London, Paris
and Italy, and she made two trips to Alaska. An
injury resulting from a fall from a horse im-
paired her voice and ended her preparations for
the lyric stage. She turned to the drama, to lite-
rary work and the lecture platform. She inade
her debut on the English stage under the name
of Mary Keemle and plaj-ed for two years in Lon-
don and the provinces with a fair degree of suc-
cess: but when she appeared at Booth's theatre,
New York, in 1876, to make her American dfibut
