Joseph Field (abt. 1733 - 1780)

Born about 1733 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Husband of Lydia (Julian) Armfield — married 1760 in Rowan, North Carolina

Descendants

Died 7 Oct 1780 at about age 47 in Battle of Kings Mountain, South Carolina

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Biography

Joseph Field was born about 1733, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He was named in his father William Field's 1748 will and was under age 21 at that time. Along with his mother, brothers, and sisters, he moved to what are present day Guilford and Randolph Counties, North Carolina. The first record of Joseph in North Carolina was on 15 April 1761 when Robert Field and his wife Anne sold him 186.5 acres on a line dividing Orange and Rowan Counties for 10 pounds Virginia money.^[1] That tract in Rowan County would become part of Guilford County on its formation in 1770.

It was probably about this time that he was married to Lydia Julian, the daughter of Peter Julien/Julian. Joseph and Lydia were the parents of ten children, five of which are known to have lived to adulthood.^[2] After Joseph's death, Lydia married William Armfield, Sr. (1720-1812) a son of John Armfield (1695-1792). Lydia and William named one of their two sons Joseph, presumably in honor of Joseph Field.

Joseph Field appeared in a 1768 Rowan tax list.^[3] On 12 May 1772 Joseph Field witnessed a deed from Jeremiah and Susanna Reynolds to William Field on the North Fork of Polecat Creek in Guilford County.^[4]

The Field family were Loyalists during the American Revolution. William, Robert, Joseph, and Jeremiah Field surrendered themselves about 10 February 1776, shortly before the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge which took place on 27 February 1776.

A list of prisoners in the Halifax goal (jail) on 5 April 1776 showed Col. William Field, Leut. Col. Robert Fields, and Captains of the Foots Jeremiah and Joseph Fields.^[5] By 19 May 1776 William Field, Robert Field, and Joseph Field had been moved to Frederick County, Maryland where they were ordered to be held prisoner in the Poor House of Abraham Faw. They were each to receive one pound of beef or three quarters of a pound of pork, one pound of flour or bread, three pints of peas or other vegetables equivalent, and one quart of Indian meal per week, and a gill of vinegar and a gill of molasses per day.^[6]

On 12 October 1776 Mary Field, Lyde Field, Ann Field and Lyde Field, along with wives of other Guilford County men, petitioned the Council of Safety at Halifax of the release of their husbands who had been taken prisoner about the 10th of February last.^[7]

On 24 February 1777 William, Robert, Jeremiah and Joseph Field, along with others, petitioned from Frederick Town, Maryland, to Gov. Caswell and the then convention of North Carolina. They stated they had been confined as supposed enemies to their country since 12 February 1776; they pray for leave to return to their families on parole, giving security for their good behavior.^[8]

William Field was still held prisoner, for on 19 April 1777 eighteen petitioners to the Governor, Council, and Assembly signed asking for the parole on security of William Fields, confined in the jail at Frederick Town, Maryland. Robert Field, Jeremiah Field and Joseph Field, among others, escaped from their confinement, for on 25 April 1777 in Guilford County, North Carolina they petitioned the Governor, Council, and Representatives showing that they were confined fourteen months without benefit of parole; a desire to see their families led them to break custody from Frederick Town, Maryland; on arriving home they gave bail for their appearance before any court in the province; they pray that they may not again be removed from their families.^[9]

William Field in a 1785 petition to the North Carolina General Assembly stated he was sent to the British Army. This may have been a prisoner exchange. He had been one the persons called Regulators, and had been compelled to take an Oath of Allegiance to the then King. “.....he thought it Incumbent (u)p(o)n him at the time the British & American Contest began to Interfere in behalf of sd King under the Restriction aforesd and in Complyance with Orders dericted from the late Govr Josiah Martin.....he did Imbodie some Royalists and attempted to march to Wilmington but Broke up at one Ditto’s in Chatham County where they had marched...my wife receiving som Information from persons in the County, If your petitioner would Surrender himself and arms at Guilford Courthouse he would receive no Injury which he comply’d with; the committee then setting propsd to him the Signing, an association paper which he declined for the reasons before mentioned, he was then order’d to Guilford Goals.....from thence to Halifax, & from thence to Fredericktown in Maryland at which place he was detained a prisoner some time before the Independence of the United States was declared. there your petitioner Sufferd a Years Imprisonment and was afterward Sent to the British Army, where he was offerd a Commission, which he was Glad to receive for subsistance.....” ^[10]

After arriving in Guilford County and seeing his family, Joseph Field perhaps returned to Maryland to secure William’s release at about the same time he was sent to the British Army. Joseph may have been captured or joined the British Army with William, for both appear on a list of North Carolina Loyalists paid at New York. Joseph Field was number 38, being paid from 5 February 1776 to 27 October 1778 for 995 days.^[11]

It is uncertain what happened to Joseph Field after this time. On 23 February 1780 Col. John Paisley, Col. John Gillaspy, and James Miller, Commissioners for Guilford County sold 33 sheep, 11 cows, 1 calf, 13 steers, 4 yearlings, 1 heifer, and 7 young cattle. They were the property of William and Joseph Fields. Col. James Martin bought for 250 pounds, 198 acres formerly Joseph Fields property. Also sold were two slaves, formerly the property of William Fields.^[12]

In the summer of 1780, another band of Loyalists was recruited in North Carolina. This entire force of Loyalists was either killed or captured on 7 October 1780 at the Battle of King’s Mountain, South Carolina. Joseph Field’s widow Lydia secondly married to William Armfield and settled on South Buffalo Creek in Guilford County. Her son Joseph B. Armfield by this second marriage stated that his mother’s first husband was killed at the Battle of King’s Mountain.^[13]

Joseph Field was killed at the Battle of King's Mountain, which took place on October 7, 1780, in Cherokee county, South Carolina, nine miles (14 km) south of the present-day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina. The battle was between the Patriots and the Loyalists and has been described as "the war's largest all-American fight." The surprising victory of the American Patriot militia over the Loyalists came after a string of Patriot defeats at the hands of Lord Cornwallis, and greatly raised the Patriots' morale. ^[14]

Joseph is buried in the Kings Mountain Battleground Cemetery, in Blacksburg, Cherokee county, South Carolina. ^[15]

Sources

1. ↑ Rowan County, North Carolina , Record of Deeds 4, pp. 401-402, Robert Field and wife Anne deed to Joseph Field, 15 April 1761, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-898Q-73G8
2. ↑ Greensboro History Museum, "G. Will Armfield Family Papers; MSS Coll. #112, from Series 5.2, page 19, https://www.familysearch.org/memories/memory/108149372, Sallie Stockard, The History of Guilford County, North Carolina, (Knoxville, Tenn.: Gaut-Ogden Co., Printers and Book Binders, 1902), p. 151 image 179, https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/379854-the-history-of-guilford-county-north-carolina, stated much of her section on the Armield family was taken from information written at the dictation of Joseph B. Armfield (son of William Armfield and Lydia Julian) "about twenty-five years ago." [about 1877] by his grandson G. Will Armfield of Greensboro. The first link is part of that dictation.
3. ↑ North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal, Volume 9, p. 214.
4. ↑ Guilford County, North Carolina, Record of Deeds 1, pp. 129-130, Jeremiah an Susanna Reynolds deed to William Fields, 15 May 1772, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L983-X9G
5. ↑ North Carolina State Archives, Military Collection, Troop Returns, Militia and Cont. Returns (Box): 1770-78
6. ↑ “Journal of the Committee of Observation of the Middle District of Frederick Co., Maryland,” Maryland Historical Magazine 11, pp. 309-313, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3609500&seq=323
7. ↑ William L. Saunders, editor, The Colonial Records of North Carolina</i>, (Raleigh: Joseph Daniels, Printer to the State, 1890), Volume 10, p. 841, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSSR-V8W5
8. ↑ David Leroy Corbitt, Calendars of Manuscript Collections, (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Company, 1926) Volume 1, p. 106 [image 110], https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/101733-calendars-of-manuscript-collections
9. ↑ David Leroy Corbitt, p. 107, image 111
10. ↑ North Carolina State Archives, North Carolina Legislative Papers, Box #61, year of 1785
11. ↑ Murtie June Clark, Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1981), p. 346
12. ↑ Dr. A. B. Pruitt, Abstracts of Sales of Confiscated Loyalists Land and Property in North Carolina (no location: Pruitt, 1989), pp. 45-46
13. ↑ Sallie W. Stockard, The History of Guilford County, North Carolina (Knoxville, Tenn.: Gaul Ogden Co., 1902), p. 151 image 179, https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/379854-the-history-of-guilford-county-north-carolina
14. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kings_Mountain
15. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38758011/joseph-field

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Rena Donze for creating WikiTree profile Field-1254 through the import of Davis_Howell Family.ged on Jun 13, 2013 Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Rena and others.
• Thank you to Rena Donze for creating WikiTree profile Field-1191 through the import of Bocock Family Tree.ged on Apr 20, 2013
• Field-1760 was created by Earl D House through the import of Earl Dewayne House Ancestors Jun Small 2014_2014-06-29.ged on Jun 29, 2014