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<DIV><SPAN class="b w xsm"><FONT face=Calibri>Laura, Looks like your
ancestors? BONNIE BARTLETT who wrote this Bio has a family tree
on line with Elizabeth A Carter in it, looks like she has pictures too
if interested I can send you that
site.?
Nancy</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class="b w xsm"><STRONG><FONT color=#2200cc
size=1></FONT></STRONG></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class="b w xsm"><STRONG><FONT color=#2200cc
size=1>[DOC]</FONT></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<H3 class=r><A class=l
onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'','','res','1','','0CA0QFjAA')"
href="http://www.orgenweb.org/bios/Thomas_Fields.doc"><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3>BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS FIELDS</FONT></A></H3>
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Microsoft Word - <A onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'','','html','1','')"
href="http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:ptZOfM6sfrQJ:www.orgenweb.org/bios/Thomas_Fields.doc+George+Fields+Brush+Creek,+Linn,+Oregon,&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us"><FONT
color=#2200cc>View as HTML</FONT></A><BR>From there they headed for
<STRONG>Brush Creek</STRONG> Valley in <STRONG>Linn</STRONG> County,
<STRONG>Oregon</STRONG> where <B>...</B> Their daughters Nancy Jane married
<STRONG>George Fields</STRONG>, Mary Catherine married <B>...</B><BR><CITE><FONT
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<P align=center><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>THOMAS <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">FIELDS</B></B></FONT> <BR></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Thomas <B style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B>,
the elder son of Ebenezer and Sarah (Burden) <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> was born the
4</B><SUP><B>th</B></SUP><B> of May 1809, Bourbon County, Kentucky. Thomas’s <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B> Donation Claim say’s
he was born in Ohio, but other records indicate that he was born in Bourbon
County, Kentucky. His siblings were Betsy, Dorcas, Peggy, James, Lizey, Ebenezer
Jr., Stephen and Eldridge. All the children except Stephen and Eldridge were
born in Kentucky and they were born in Ray County, Missouri.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Ebenezer and family removed to Missouri about 1815, which they may
have came by the Tennessee River to the Ohio River, then the Mississippi River
as that’s the route most of the pioneers from Kentucky came to
Missouri.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>The family settled in Crooked River Township, Ray County, Missouri
after a short stay in Howard County, Missouri where some of the <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> that had came to
Missouri before they did.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Thomas <B style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B>
married Rebecca Riggs, daughter of Thomas & Leah (Hunt) Riggs, January
1</B><SUP><B>st</B></SUP><B> 1829 in Ray County, Missouri. They had eight
children, William, Harvey, John, Eliza, Reuben, Nancy Jane, Preston and Thomas
Newton while in Ray County, Missouri.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>When the Heatherly War of 1836 started, Thomas <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> joined Mathew T
Long’s outfit that commanded a Militia Company from Ray County, Missouri
formally called Longs Independent Company, Missouri Mounted Militia, War of
1832.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><STRONG>Shortly before or after Thomas Fields father, Ebenezer died in
1847, Thomas had decided to go west to the wild frontier and the promise of
</STRONG><NOBR><A class=GVAdLink id=GVLINK_1_0_1
href="http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:ptZOfM6sfrQJ:www.orgenweb.org/bios/Thomas_Fields.doc+George+Fields+Brush+Creek,+Linn,+Oregon,&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us#"><FONT
color=#006600>free</FONT></A></NOBR><STRONG> land. His wife Rebecca’s parents
had left for Oregon in 1846 where Rebecca’s father Thomas Riggs died on the way
on Oregon Trail near the Iowa Point. </STRONG></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><STRONG>According to records, each pioneer heading out west, loaded their
wagon with a grub box with a lid, that each wagon had that sat in the front of
the wagon. At the end of this box was a place for the Dutch oven, coffee pot and
kettle that were packed in a sack. There was usually a outside box attached to
the front of the wagon bed for halters, hobbles, rope, axe, shovel, hammer,
chain, bell, a rack for the guns, a small keg with a lid in which was their
</STRONG><NOBR><A class=GVAdLink id=GVLINK_2_0_0
href="http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:ptZOfM6sfrQJ:www.orgenweb.org/bios/Thomas_Fields.doc+George+Fields+Brush+Creek,+Linn,+Oregon,&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us#"><FONT
color=#006600>drinking water</FONT></A></NOBR><STRONG>. They put their frying
pans, water bucket and a kettle at the rear of the wagon. They hung their tar
buckets for greasing the wheels beneath the wagon. Their food they bought was
flour, beans, sugar, coffee, lard, ham and bacon that had been cured, corn meal,
dried fruit, molasses, butter, vegetables, homemade soap, salt and medicine.
Each wagon. Each wagon team had at least four oxen’s, a couple horses and a
couple milk cows.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>After getting their wagon ready for the trip out west, Thomas <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> and family joined the
Nathaniel Bowman Company at Caples Landing, twelve miles above St. Joseph,
Missouri May 2, 1847. They crossed the Big Blue on May
8</B><SUP><B>th</B></SUP><B> and came into the Independence road the next day,
arriving on the evening of May 16, at the head of the Little Blue River. Before
reaching Fort Laramie, Wyoming, the company split up into three
divisions.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>After crossing the Missouri River, they were in Indian Territory and
the </B></FONT> <BR></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>1</B></FONT> <BR> <BR></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>Indians were very hostile. After many
nights of trouble with the Indians, Thomas </B></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B><B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> and family decided to
stay back behind the wagon train.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>They used buffalo chips for fuel when there was no wood. There was a
lot of cholera and other sickness on the <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B> Trail.
</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>In
some places on the trail, there were herds of antelope and buffalo. The men or
boys would kill them for meat. Crossing the rivers was quite a chore. They would
have to raise their wagons several inches, attach ropes to the front so that the
horseman riding along could help if it was needed to urge the teams into the
water. Some places the roads were so sandy, that they would be knee deep in
sand.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>In
what few places there were to buy food along the trail, they’d stop and reload
what they could get by with. They’d have to stop, feed and rest their cattle and
horses. At this time they would do various other things, such as reset their
wheels as they had to be taken off and soaked over night to keep them from
falling off. They also had to grease the wheels and brake blocks had to be built
and tighten</B></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>up.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>In
the evening time they’d play their guitars, fiddles, singing, and dancing.
They’d have a lit campfire that they’d gather around and visit.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>On
Sundays, they had church services for the ones that wanted to attend. They
gathered for the services in a group, by one of their wagons.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>After months crossing the <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B> Trail, the dust,
heat, sometimes lack of water, food, just before the real hard snow hit the
mountains, they came to a place four miles above Willow <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff9999">Creek</B> on the Columbia River,
some of the wagon train went by raft down the Columbia River. Thomas <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> and his family headed
to Tygh Valley, to the Cascade’s and crossed over the Barlow Road. The cost to
go over the Barlow Road was $5.00 a wagon, 10 cents a head for cattle. Some of
the pioneers sold their rifles, quilts or anything they could use for payment.
The ones that were flat broke were able to use IOU’s. This Barlow Road saved the
pioneers from going down the Columbia River, on the make shift rafts as going
down the river was a terrible experience that many drowned. There were some
terrible places </B></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>going over the Barlow Road. One of
those places was called Laurel Hill. It was the worst part of this road. The way
the pioneers got down this hill was by cutting a tree down and chaining a tree
behind the way for it would slow the wagon down. Even then some lost their
belongings. </B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Many women went out of their minds under the hardship of the <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B> Trail.
</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>After arriving in the fall at the end of the <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B> Trail, Thomas <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> and family spent a
short time in <B style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B>
City, <B style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B>. >From there
they headed for <B style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #99ff99">Brush</B> <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff9999">Creek</B> Valley in <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Linn</B> County, <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B> where Thomas’s wife
Rebecca’s mother and brothers were living. During the fall and winter of 1847
the Indians annoyed the Thomas <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> family so they moved
down the Calapooia River and stayed with Rebecca’s mother and brothers, Leah,
Timothy and Thomas Riggs till the spring of 1848. Then in the summer of 1848,
Thomas applied for an <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B>
</B></FONT> <BR></P>
<P align=center> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>2</B></FONT> <BR> <BR></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Donation land claim, near Chandler Mountain. He was granted 640 acres
in 14 S Range East, located in Section 13 and 14. Their neighbors were, R. C.
Finley family, James McHargue family, Robert Montgomery family and Rebecca <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> mother and brothers,
Leah, Timothy and Thomas Riggs.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>After Thomas and Rebecca <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> moved to <B
style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">Oregon</B>, they had four more
children, Mary, Lucinda, Louise and Franklin.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Thomas farmed the land and raised bees, hogs, and
cattle.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Thomas and Rebecca <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> joined the
Reorganized Latter Day Saints Church. Thomas and Rebecca were baptized May 25,
1868. Thomas was an elder in the church.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Before Thomas and Rebecca <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> passed away, they had
lost two children, Eliza and John. John drowned in the Calapoola River July 18,
1867.</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Rebecca (Riggs) <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> passed away January
29, 1874 and Thomas <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> passed away July 1,
1875. Where they are buried is unknown so far as I write this story.
</B></FONT></P>
<P> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><B>Thomas and Rebecca’s sons William married Elizabeth Carter, Harvey
married Nancy Jane Carsner, Franklin married Syrena Davis, Reuben married,
Catherine <B style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> later
married Mary Black, Thomas Newton <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> married Louisa Ellen
<B style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B>, Franklin married
Syrena Davis. Their daughters Nancy Jane married <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff66">George</B> <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B>, Mary Catherine
married Jason Butler, Lucinda married Charles Aldrich.</B></FONT> <BR></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><B>(This information came from Court,
land, census records, Harvey <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> obit stories and what
Harvey told his family. Some of the deceased Harvey <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> family claim that his
grandfather, Ebenezer was a brother to the Joseph and Ruben <B
style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Fields</B> that was on the Lewis
& Clark Expedition but so far I have not found any information to verify
this. Some of this information came from records on what little that I could
find out on the Nathaniel Bowman train.)</B></FONT></P>
<H1><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><B>WRITTEN BY BONNIE BARTLETT @ MAY 29,
2005</B></FONT></H1></DIV></CITE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>