Early Settlers--Jesse Fields Family
THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union
County, Georgia
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Early
Settlers--Jesse Fields Family
In 1837 Jesse and Catherine
Fields moved
from North Carolina
to Union County, Georgia.
The 1840 and 1850 census records of the
county can be somewhat confusing on this Fields family.
In 1840 they were listed as "Jesse
Fielder" by the enumerator with six in the household.
By 1850, the enumerator listed them as the
Jesse Fields household, and since names were given in that year's
census, we
learn that Jesse, born in SC, was 38, his wife Catherine, born in NC,
was 38,
and children in their home were: James, 15, born in NC, Elizabeth, 13,
born in SC, and those born in
Georgia were Sarah, 12, John 9, Thomas 7, and William 2.
The family settled in the
Owltown District
of Union County and built a log cabin which was later expanded to
become the
Crump residence, well-known as one of the historic houses of the
district.
Jesse Fields was involved in
county and
community life. It is said that he cut
trees and hewed logs for the building of Union County's
first log courthouse.
He and his family were among the
early
members of Harmony
Grove Baptist
Church founded in
1847. Jesse Fields served as the
church's clerk from 1858-1860.
The Civil War came and the Jesse
Fields
family was affected by it, as were most of the residents of Union County
who sent soldiers either to the Union
or to the
Confederate Army. Two of Jesse's sons,
John and Thomas J. served in the Confederate Army.
Before Thomas went away to war,
he married
Sarah Allen. She had come from Holland with her
family
and often had stories to tell her family and others about the hardships
they
endured on the journey by ship from Holland.
With Thomas away at war, Sarah
was doing
what she could to maintain their farm and make a living for the family. Then she got word that her husband, Thomas J.
Fields, had been killed in the war. He
had first been a bugler in the 6th Regiment of the Georgia Calvary, and
then
assigned to the 65th Regiment of the Georgia Infantry.
One day, Sarah was plowing on
their farm
along the Nottely
River. She had an oxen hitched to the plow, but it
had balked and was lying down in the river.
Sarah, tired and displeased with the stubborn ox's behavior,
bowed her
head in resignation and perhaps to pray.
When she lifted her head and looked toward the rail fence that
surrounded the plot she was cultivating, she saw her husband, Thomas
Fields,
two years reported dead, crossing the fence.
The impact of seeing him made her fall into the river in a faint. Records show that he was discharged May 12, 1865, more
than a
month after the war was declared ended at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
Thomas and Sarah and their
family lived at
the Fields (later Crump) residence in Owltown for a number of years
after he
returned from the Civil War. He had
artisans Bascomb and Woodford Nelson add the gingerbread decoration to
the old
Fields cabin that had been added onto throughout the years and was a
stately
two-story white frame house. He became a
doctor. In 1915 he and Sarah moved to Mt. Airy, Georgia
near Cornelia.
The Fields family, descending
from first
settlers Jesse and Catherine Akins Fields, have figured prominently in Union County's
growth. As descendants went to other geographic locations, they became
solid
citizens and hard-working people. After Catherine's death, Jesse Fields
married, second, to Lavina Cook.
Catherine, Jesse and Vinie
Fields were
interred in the Harmony
Grove Baptist
Church Cemetery. Catherine
Fields' stone does not have a birth
date; her death date was November 15, 1857. Jesse
Fields was
born June 12, 1812
and died November
16, 1904. Vinie, Jesse's second
wife, died November
23, 1877. Her stone has no
birth date. The tribute inscribed on Jesse
Fields's
tombstone speaks of his character: "He lived a Christian life."
c2009 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published April
2, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA.
Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved.
Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator, freelance wirter,
poet, and historian. She may be reached
at email [email protected]; phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708
Cedarwood
Road, Milledgeville, GA 31061-2411
Updated July
26,
2009
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