My Old Ohio Home

I have become interested in the family of Preston Fields who was born about 1795 probably in Tennessee, and if so, then likely in Hawkins County. According to a descendant, ‘Preston was raised by a couple, Hiram Fields and Fanny Mays but the oral tradition in the family is that Preston's biological father was a Hamilton, possibly James or William Hamilton.'¹

Recently my cousin's daughter submitted our Hamilton y-DNA from a family member and the results show that our Hamilton DNA matches that of a Preston Fields' descendant on 37 of 37 markers.

This series of articles will discuss 1) Preston Fields family, 2) his adoptive parents Hiram and Fanny (Mays) Fields, and 3) possible biological fathers for Preston. None of the research is original--I'm just putting it all in one place for my own benefit and that of my family.

Preston and Elizabeth (Rutherford) Fields

The earliest record I have found for Preston is a transcription of marriage consent papers for his marriage to Elizabeth Rutherford. The papers are dated December 15, 1817, in Floyd County.² They were married on December 24, 1817.³

Preston and his family are found on the 1820 Census of Floyd County, then on the 1840 and 1850 Censuses of Pike County, which was formed from Floyd on 19 Dec 1821. Then in 1860 they are living in Wise Court House, Wise County, Virginia.⁴ Preston and Elizabeth may have died in Wise County, Virginia. (Further research: Why did they go to Wise County?)

Based only on the census information, the children of Preston and Elizabeth Fields were:

Robert Fields, born about 1822
William Fields, born about 1822
Jason Fields, born about 1825
Joseph Fields, born about 1830
John Fields, born about 1834
Reuben Fields, born about 1836
Harrison Fields, born about 1840
Matilda Fields, born about 1841
Elijah Fields, born about 1842.

I was only trying to get an "outline" of Preston's family. There were daughters besides Matilda, based on other trees on rootsweb and ancestry.com, and which could be verified by marriage records, etc. Also the first two sons must have been born before 1820, since Preston's census for that year said he had two sons in the household.

Continued in Hiram Lansford Fields, of Hawkins County, Tennessee.

Footnotes

1. Message posted by Diana Fields, July 24, 2009 at the Genforum Fields Family Genealogy Forum.
2. Transcribed Floyd County Kentucky Marriages Consent Papers 1808 -- 1851
   These are evidently transcribed from: Skeens, Joe R., Floyd County, Kentucky consent papers, 1808-1851, (Prestonsburg, KY, J.R. Skeens, c1993). According to J. Mark Lowe, "Using Kentucky Marriage Records," (October 10, 2013), at archives.com, consent papers meant that either the bride or groom was under 21.
3. Kentucky Marriages, 1802-1850, ancestry.com.
4. 1820 Census, Prestonburg, Floyd, Kentucky. Series M33 Roll: 22 Page: 47
   1840 household of Preston Fields found at familysearch.org.
   1850 household of Preston Fields, Pike County, Kentucky, dwelling 459, NARA film M432, roll 217.
   1860 household of Preston Fields, Wise Court House, Wise, Virginia; Roll: M653_1384; Page: 285.

Credits

The image of a DNA strand comes from Wikipedia:File:DNA orbit animated static thumb.png.