Friday, September 3, 2010

Plugging Away

It's been radio silence for a while, I know, but I hope to get back on track and post some interesting things.  Interesting to me at least.

 
I have traced the Field family back as far as I can go - I think.  Although I obviously cannot guurantee that everything is 100% accurate, I'm pretty confident in most of it.  Most of the geneology comes from a book "Field Genealogy" by Frederick Clifton Pierce, 1901.
So, keeping that in mind, I have traced the family back to our 25th Great Grandfather Hubertus del Feld, born in 1030 in Colmar, Alsace Lorriane, France.  The biggest tragedy of all, is that this man is the common ancestor between George W Bush and us.  I could stab myself.  I have pulled together the following information from my research; there is a line of "Fields" in Ireland who's name evolved into Delfield, but the Anglicised version that came to Amercia evolved into "Field".

  • The ancestor of the Field family, the first of whom there is any record, was Hubertus De la Feld who went to England with William, the Conqueror, in the year 1066 from near Colmar in Alsace on the German border of France situated in a pass of the Vosges mountains, about three days journey from Colmar. He was of the family of the Counts De la Feld, who trace back to the middle ages, about the sixth century. In Alsace, the De la Felds entertained the eleventh century Pope Leo IX and his Court on the way to consecrate the Cathedral of Strasburg.
  • The De la Fields were also lords of considerable possessions in Lorraine, they claimed an alliance to the Earls of Flanders, and the House of Hapsburg through marriage. Hubertus De la Feld received of William, the Conqueror, for his reward land grants in Lancaster and Kent Counties; the city of Chester Coat of Arms has three garbs of wheat like that of the Field family. Sir Hubertus De la Feld resided near that city and it may be that part of the Chester arms was copied from those he bore. He died at Chester in Lancaster County in 1092 at the ageof 62. In the fourteenth century in consequence of wars between England and France, the English De la Felds dropped their French prefix De la and adopted the name Feld, Felde and, finally Field.