Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Field, Enos 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 26, 2006, 1:26 am

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

ENOS FIELD.

In the way of modern improvements Morris, Illinois, is not behind her sister 
towns of the state, and among these improvements is its electric-light plant, 
of which it has just reason to be proud. The Field Electric Light Company 
which operates this plant, was incorporated in 1891, with a capital stock of 
thirty thousand dollars, and on October 2d of that year the plant was put in 
successful operation. The prime mover and organizer of the above-named company 
was Captain Enos Field. He is still actively interested in it, and is regarded 
as one of the most enterprising and public-spirited citizens of the town. 
Briefly, a sketch of his life is as follows:

Enos Field was born in Windom Center, New York, August 15, 1834, and traces 
his ancestry back from, the same source from which the distinguished Cyrus W. 
Field sprang. The parents of Enos Field were Cyrus and Malissa (Clark) Field. 
The latter was born in Connecticut, August 15, 1806, a daughter of Jordan 
Gark, who was of English descent, and it is supposed was a native of 
Connecticut. Cyrus Field was born in New York state in June, 1806. They were 
married in 1828; in 1837 moved to Delaware county, Ohio, and in 1845 came to 
Illinois, locating at Ottawa, LaSalle county. Both died at this place, Mr. 
Field in 1885 and his wife in 1886. Their children were as follows: Anna; 
Evander, who died in 1872; Enos, whose name introduces this sketch; Emily, 
deceased; Norton, deceased; and Chapman, who was killed in the army during the 
civil war.

The father of these children was by trade a carpenter, at which he worked in 
early life, but later turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, which he 
followed for a number of years. Politically he was an old-line Whig up to the 
time the Republican party was organized, after which he gave his support to 
it. When the civil war came on he and two of his sons offered their services 
to the Union. He was a member of the Fifty-third Illinois Infantry; was a 
participant in the battle of Shiloh, and was in the service six or eight 
months, at the end of that time being honorably discharged on account of ill 
health, he having contracted a chronic disease in the army. One son, Norton, 
was in the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois Infantry, and Chapman first entered 
the service as a member of the Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry, later re-
enlisting at St. Louis in the Marine Brigade on the "Autocrat," and meeting 
death bravely at the siege of Vicksburg.

When Enos Field was a boy he was bound out at Cincinnati to a tailor for a 
term of seven years, and remained with him three years of that time. In the 
meantime the family had moved to Illinois, as already stated, and in the fall 
of 1847 Cyrus Field returned to Cincinnati and brought his son Enos home with 
him. Here the youth was for some time engaged in farm work. From 1854 to 1881 
Mr. Field's interests were chiefly on the canal. He was the owner of a steamer 
and barges which he ran for a number of years, and it was while he was thus 
engaged that he received the title of captain. In this business he got his 
start in the financial world. In the meantime he spent some months in Texas 
and Tennessee in railroad construction work, and was thus occupied in the 
former state at the time the civil war broke out. He retired from boating in 
1881, and the next eleven years was engaged in the saloon business in 
Wilmington, Illinois. At that place he had a third interest in the Electric 
Light and Power Company, which he sold just previous to his removal to Morris 
and his investment in the electric-light plant at this place. He has resided 
here since August 28, 1891.

Mr. Field was married January 1, 1871, to Miss Theresa Mead, a native of 
Twelve-Mile Grove, Illinois, and they have had four children, namely: Roy, 
interested in business with his father; Allie, who died at the age of nine 
years; Frank, who died at the age of two and a half years; and Bessie.


Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p611-612

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