Preserving Family Legacies, No. 1, Part 4

Letters from Aunt Helen, Part 4

An update on the West Clasp Letter Filing System

The next section of the file provided the answer I needed. Instead of each tab being a divider followed by that letter's surnames, the previous section was actually the "D" section with the letters lying on top of the the dividers.

Therefore, the previous section represented the DARLING Family. . . .

. . . . and now, on to the next section in use: "F" for FIELD.

All roads lead to Northampton, MA

The first letter came from a Mrs. Hugh Victor Mercer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, dated October 23rd, 1940.

My dear Mrs. Beers: Your letter via the Times has reached me and since I visited our Historical Library last Wednesday, I looked for the Field-Stanley reference about which you inquired. The Field Genealogy does not give Mary Stanley as the wife of Zachariah Field, but I found other references which do name her as his wife viz; Daughters of the American Colonists National Number I899 and 2089; "300 Colonial Ancestors" by Rixford and The Compendium references which you mention. . . .

With the exception of the National Society Daughters of the American Colonists, all the other resources are available on Ancestry.com. I started digging into the Field Genealogy and discovered that my ancestry paths are crossed once again . . . . and I am beginning to wonder if all roads lead to Northampton, MA.

According to The Field Genealogy, by Frederick Clifton Pierce (1901),

112. ZECHARIAH FIELD (John, John, Richard, William....), b. East Ardsley, Yorkshire, England, in 1596; md. about 1641, Mary ----. She d. about 1670. He d. June 30, 1666. Res. Dorchester, Mass, in 1629; Hartford, Conn., in 1636; Northampton, in 1659, and Hatfield, Mass., in 1663 (p. 97).

After several pages of narrative, the genealogy continues:

155. i. MARY, b. about 1643; m. Oct. 6, 1663, Joshua Carter, Jr. of Northampton. He was b. in 1638; was son of Joshua, of Dorchester, Windsor and Hartford. Was in Northampton in 1660, and was one of the first settlers of Deerfield . . . .

156. ii. ZECHARIAH, b. about 1645; m. Sarah Webb.

157. iii. JOHN, b. about 1648; m. Mary Edwards.

158. iv. SAMUEL, b. about 1651; m. Sarah Gilbert.

159. v. JOSEPH, b. about 1658; m. Joanna Wyatt and Mary Belding(pp. 100-101).

The second letter was from Mrs. G. Roy Phelps in Albany, Wisconsin, dated November 13, 1940.

Dear Mrs. Beers: . . . . I think the other correspondent is correct in thinking there were two Mary Stanleys. It looks so from the references given. I have also seen the History of Hadley. There are several histories in that vicinity which give the Field family, one being the History of Hatfield. The following I am quoting from David Dudley Field book, in case you have not seen it: "Zechariah Field, eldest son, m. Sarah Webb, of Northampton, moved to Deerfield. Had three sons, Zechariah b. Sept. 12, 1669, Ebenezer b. Oct. 31, 1671, John b. Dec. 8, 1673 . . .

So now my searches return to my old stomping grounds, thus rounding out the KING family history. . . .

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