From "The Greensborough Patriot," 13 March 1852:

"DIED -- In Randolph county, on the 10th instant, William FIELD, son of Jeremiah (dec'd) and Eleanor FIELD, in the 32d year of his age. There are melancholy circumstances connected with the death of Mr. FIELD, which we will state: In November last a tree fell across his spine, which so injured it as to produce paralysis of the lower extremities, consequently he was entirely helpless. In this condition he remained in great suffering til some two weeks ago, in the night, when he and the family were all asleep, his bed cloths caught fire and so burnt those already paralysed limbs as to be beyond the power of medical aid. The deceased had been a consistent member of the M. E. Church for the last 22 years -- having embraced religion when a boy. He leaves a wife, three small children, an aged mother, and numerous relatives and friends, to mourn the loss of a kind and affectionate husband and father, dutiful son, and worthy citizen."

William A. Field was the youngest of eleven children born to Jeremiah Field (c.1764-1830) and his wife Eleanor Sherwood (1776-1859). His paternal grandparents were William Field (c.1725-1805) and his wife Lydia Elswick (1743-1829); and his maternal grandparents were Daniel Sherwood III (1749-1838) and his wife Frances Linthicum (1749-1806).

William probably attended Union Institute (which later became Trinity College, and still later became Duke University). He was a school teacher and a farmer. He married Cleopatra Henley (1824-1907) on 18 Nov. 1845. She was a daughter of Nathan Henley and his wife Ruth Dicks. Cleopatra was a Quakeress, but left her faith to marry William, who was a devout Methodist.

William and Cleopatra actually had four sons, one born after his death: Julius Eugene Field (c. 1847-aft. 1880. was in Chesterfield, SC in 1880), Stephen Augustus Field (c.1848/9-aft. 1882, was an attorney in Meadeville, Linn Co., Missouri in 1882), Rev. Melville Chafin Field (1851-1919, m. Flora Ledbetter, was a Methodist minister in North Carolina) and William A. Field (c.1852-after 1930, m. Margaret E., went to California).