Fieldon's parentage is not certain, but it is most likely that he was the youngest child of Thomas Ballard and his second wife Elizabeth Smith in Orange Co VA, where the Chapmans and Ballards had lived for several decades. Thomas and his brothers and sisters migrated west to what became Monroe Co VA in the 1790s and in about 1803 Thomas went on to new lands in Kanawha (later Logan) County, followed by his brothers Philip and Elijah. Thomas presumably died by 1810, for the census of that year shows Fielding, age 16-26, as head of household with a woman oveer 45, presumably Elizabeth; during that year Fielding married Peggy Brown, daughter of Joseph Brown (also buried in Smoot Cemetery). For some time it was assumed that Fielding was the son of Elijah, but Elijah and his wife and Philip and his wife are in other households in this census and Fieldon does not appear in Bible lists of Elijah's children. In 1815 Fieldon took out a land patent in Kanawha Co, but he does not appear in the 1820 census. In Sep 1821, after southern Indiana was opened to settlement, he became an original landowner in Rush Co IN and was followed by Elijah and most of his extensive family and in-laws.