On March 22, 1870, the Galveston Daily News carried an item that P. Field was offering $750 in gold for the safe recovery of his wife who was was abducted 4 miles below Fort McKavett on the San Saba River. By August 22nd an item in the same paper said he was now offering $1,200 in specie (paper money). Various garbled accounts appeared in scattered newspapers around the country.
One account said she was the wife of a stock broker from New York who was visiting in the area and went for a ride alone. One account even gave an address in NYC for her husband.
However, this does not make any sense. This area was in constant danger from Indian raids by Comanche and Apache raids. Fort McKavett had only a small number of Buffalo soldiers with a few white officers. It had only recently been rebuilt from crumbling ruins from 20 years earlier by the soldiers themselves who had to camp out.
There was no Patrick Field or Fields in NYC with a wife named Dorothy that can be found. However a Patrick Field(s) is on the 1850 census in Milam County. He is single 24 years old and from Ireland. In 1860 he is in Mason County married to Dorothea. In 1870 he is in Menard County but without a wife months after his wife's disappearance. There are two garbled versions of a marriage date. One source says he married Dorthea Schellenberge on August 8, 1852 in Gillespie County, Another source says he married Dorothea Schellenbarger on July 20, 1852 in the same county.
Attempts were made to find her. A well known scout named Charles Christy who had recovered other women kidnapped by Indians came down from Fort Sill. He used other Indians as intermediaries to talk to Lipan Apaches in the area. He was led to a Burr Oak tree near an old shack and recovered a partial skeleton. He carried them back in his saddle bags and expressed them to NYC but never heard anything. This was from a 1911 magazine article.
Meanwhile an article carried by the Hartford, Connecticut Daily Courant on July 14, 1870 had a headline, "The Mystery of a Border Horror Revealed" Only the first paragraph is available unless you subscribe which I do not. It states that she was shot, scalped and tied to a tree to die of starvation. The article came to them from a correspondent of the St Louis Times from the Indian Territory dated June 13th. Possibley he got the details at Ft Sill from Christy or the Indians who went with him.
Patrick Field(s) is in San Antonio, Texas, in 1880 and remarried to Ellen Stinson. He died in 1899 and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in San Antonio. His wife Ellen died in 1923 and is buried with him. They had an adopted 10 year old daughter named Susie Smith in 1880.
There is an account of an earlier raid on August 5, 1866 in Menard County. A man named William McDougall was killed. His step daughter, Clara Shellenbarger. ran home and was lanced as she jumped over the fence in the front yard. Her mother saved her by making a loud commotion leading the Indians to think several people were in the house. This family was living in Mason County in 1860 along with a family next door that was related. The Wives were mother and daughter and Clara was a step daughter of the older Elizabeth Schellenbarger. Both men had married the women at the same time in San Antonio in 1859.
It appears that Dorothy was the daughter of Samuel Shellenber who died at Fort McKavett in 1856. His widow Elizabeth Rice married William McDougal.
One account said she was the wife of a stock broker from New York who was visiting in the area and went for a ride alone. One account even gave an address in NYC for her husband.
However, this does not make any sense. This area was in constant danger from Indian raids by Comanche and Apache raids. Fort McKavett had only a small number of Buffalo soldiers with a few white officers. It had only recently been rebuilt from crumbling ruins from 20 years earlier by the soldiers themselves who had to camp out.
There was no Patrick Field or Fields in NYC with a wife named Dorothy that can be found. However a Patrick Field(s) is on the 1850 census in Milam County. He is single 24 years old and from Ireland. In 1860 he is in Mason County married to Dorothea. In 1870 he is in Menard County but without a wife months after his wife's disappearance. There are two garbled versions of a marriage date. One source says he married Dorthea Schellenberge on August 8, 1852 in Gillespie County, Another source says he married Dorothea Schellenbarger on July 20, 1852 in the same county.
Attempts were made to find her. A well known scout named Charles Christy who had recovered other women kidnapped by Indians came down from Fort Sill. He used other Indians as intermediaries to talk to Lipan Apaches in the area. He was led to a Burr Oak tree near an old shack and recovered a partial skeleton. He carried them back in his saddle bags and expressed them to NYC but never heard anything. This was from a 1911 magazine article.
Meanwhile an article carried by the Hartford, Connecticut Daily Courant on July 14, 1870 had a headline, "The Mystery of a Border Horror Revealed" Only the first paragraph is available unless you subscribe which I do not. It states that she was shot, scalped and tied to a tree to die of starvation. The article came to them from a correspondent of the St Louis Times from the Indian Territory dated June 13th. Possibley he got the details at Ft Sill from Christy or the Indians who went with him.
Patrick Field(s) is in San Antonio, Texas, in 1880 and remarried to Ellen Stinson. He died in 1899 and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in San Antonio. His wife Ellen died in 1923 and is buried with him. They had an adopted 10 year old daughter named Susie Smith in 1880.
There is an account of an earlier raid on August 5, 1866 in Menard County. A man named William McDougall was killed. His step daughter, Clara Shellenbarger. ran home and was lanced as she jumped over the fence in the front yard. Her mother saved her by making a loud commotion leading the Indians to think several people were in the house. This family was living in Mason County in 1860 along with a family next door that was related. The Wives were mother and daughter and Clara was a step daughter of the older Elizabeth Schellenbarger. Both men had married the women at the same time in San Antonio in 1859.
It appears that Dorothy was the daughter of Samuel Shellenber who died at Fort McKavett in 1856. His widow Elizabeth Rice married William McDougal.
On March 22, 1870, the Galveston Daily News carried an item that P. Field was offering $750 in gold for the safe recovery of his wife who was was abducted 4 miles below Fort McKavett on the San Saba River. By August 22nd an item in the same paper said he was now offering $1,200 in specie (paper money). Various garbled accounts appeared in scattered newspapers around the country.
One account said she was the wife of a stock broker from New York who was visiting in the area and went for a ride alone. One account even gave an address in NYC for her husband.
However, this does not make any sense. This area was in constant danger from Indian raids by Comanche and Apache raids. Fort McKavett had only a small number of Buffalo soldiers with a few white officers. It had only recently been rebuilt from crumbling ruins from 20 years earlier by the soldiers themselves who had to camp out.
There was no Patrick Field or Fields in NYC with a wife named Dorothy that can be found. However a Patrick Field(s) is on the 1850 census in Milam County. He is single 24 years old and from Ireland. In 1860 he is in Mason County married to Dorothea. In 1870 he is in Menard County but without a wife months after his wife's disappearance. There are two garbled versions of a marriage date. One source says he married Dorthea Schellenberge on August 8, 1852 in Gillespie County, Another source says he married Dorothea Schellenbarger on July 20, 1852 in the same county.
Attempts were made to find her. A well known scout named Charles Christy who had recovered other women kidnapped by Indians came down from Fort Sill. He used other Indians as intermediaries to talk to Lipan Apaches in the area. He was led to a Burr Oak tree near an old shack and recovered a partial skeleton. He carried them back in his saddle bags and expressed them to NYC but never heard anything. This was from a 1911 magazine article.
Meanwhile an article carried by the Hartford, Connecticut Daily Courant on July 14, 1870 had a headline, "The Mystery of a Border Horror Revealed" Only the first paragraph is available unless you subscribe which I do not. It states that she was shot, scalped and tied to a tree to die of starvation. The article came to them from a correspondent of the St Louis Times from the Indian Territory dated June 13th. Possibley he got the details at Ft Sill from Christy or the Indians who went with him.
Patrick Field(s) is in San Antonio, Texas, in 1880 and remarried to Ellen Stinson. He died in 1899 and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in San Antonio. His wife Ellen died in 1923 and is buried with him. They had an adopted 10 year old daughter named Susie Smith in 1880.
There is an account of an earlier raid on August 5, 1866 in Menard County. A man named William McDougall was killed. His step daughter, Clara Shellenbarger. ran home and was lanced as she jumped over the fence in the front yard. Her mother saved her by making a loud commotion leading the Indians to think several people were in the house. This family was living in Mason County in 1860 along with a family next door that was related. The Wives were mother and daughter and Clara was a step daughter of the older Elizabeth Schellenbarger. Both men had married the women at the same time in San Antonio in 1859.
It appears that Dorothy was the daughter of Samuel Shellenber who died at Fort McKavett in 1856. His widow Elizabeth Rice married William McDougal.
One account said she was the wife of a stock broker from New York who was visiting in the area and went for a ride alone. One account even gave an address in NYC for her husband.
However, this does not make any sense. This area was in constant danger from Indian raids by Comanche and Apache raids. Fort McKavett had only a small number of Buffalo soldiers with a few white officers. It had only recently been rebuilt from crumbling ruins from 20 years earlier by the soldiers themselves who had to camp out.
There was no Patrick Field or Fields in NYC with a wife named Dorothy that can be found. However a Patrick Field(s) is on the 1850 census in Milam County. He is single 24 years old and from Ireland. In 1860 he is in Mason County married to Dorothea. In 1870 he is in Menard County but without a wife months after his wife's disappearance. There are two garbled versions of a marriage date. One source says he married Dorthea Schellenberge on August 8, 1852 in Gillespie County, Another source says he married Dorothea Schellenbarger on July 20, 1852 in the same county.
Attempts were made to find her. A well known scout named Charles Christy who had recovered other women kidnapped by Indians came down from Fort Sill. He used other Indians as intermediaries to talk to Lipan Apaches in the area. He was led to a Burr Oak tree near an old shack and recovered a partial skeleton. He carried them back in his saddle bags and expressed them to NYC but never heard anything. This was from a 1911 magazine article.
Meanwhile an article carried by the Hartford, Connecticut Daily Courant on July 14, 1870 had a headline, "The Mystery of a Border Horror Revealed" Only the first paragraph is available unless you subscribe which I do not. It states that she was shot, scalped and tied to a tree to die of starvation. The article came to them from a correspondent of the St Louis Times from the Indian Territory dated June 13th. Possibley he got the details at Ft Sill from Christy or the Indians who went with him.
Patrick Field(s) is in San Antonio, Texas, in 1880 and remarried to Ellen Stinson. He died in 1899 and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in San Antonio. His wife Ellen died in 1923 and is buried with him. They had an adopted 10 year old daughter named Susie Smith in 1880.
There is an account of an earlier raid on August 5, 1866 in Menard County. A man named William McDougall was killed. His step daughter, Clara Shellenbarger. ran home and was lanced as she jumped over the fence in the front yard. Her mother saved her by making a loud commotion leading the Indians to think several people were in the house. This family was living in Mason County in 1860 along with a family next door that was related. The Wives were mother and daughter and Clara was a step daughter of the older Elizabeth Schellenbarger. Both men had married the women at the same time in San Antonio in 1859.
It appears that Dorothy was the daughter of Samuel Shellenber who died at Fort McKavett in 1856. His widow Elizabeth Rice married William McDougal.
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