There will always attach an interest to the history of the pioneer families of the West, which can never properly belong to others who came at a later date, as they have laid the foundations of our social and material status, and coming generations can only modify and develop that which was by their energy and perseverance at first established. By their strong arms the forests were felled, the tangled undergrowth cleared away, the stubborn glebe broken, and the primitive cabin, school house, and church erected.

Among the several families who first settled Mason county, and one which served an important part in its early history and improvements, was the Field family. Drury S. Field, father of Algernon, was born in the State of Virginia and city of Petersburg, October 6, 1792. He was raised in his native State, where also he married a Miss Frances Taylor, daughter of William Taylor, a native of North Carolina. By this wife he raised seven children: Allen J., Mrs. Maria Gatton, Mrs. Sarah Steele and Mrs. Lucy Woodberry, the wife of William Woodberry. Of these, the two eldest were born in the city of Richmond, the next two in the State of Alabama, and the three last in Tennessee. Of the sons-in-law, Mr. Smith Turner is a resident of Chillicothe, Missouri, and is Judge of the Circuit Court for his District. Mr. Ruggles, an old settler of Mason county, and for many years a leading dry goods merchant of Bath (where in company with Mr. William Nelms, he established the first store), also once State Senator, resides in Havana. Mr. Steele, a well known minister of the Episcopal church, is located in Rantoul, Illinois, and Dr. Woodberry, a leading physician of his neighborhood, resides in Danville, Illinois.

There are now living of these children only Algernon, Albert, Mrs. Ruggles and Mrs. Steele, the mother of whom died in 1832, in Fayette county, Tennessee. In 1833 Mr. Field married his second wife, formerly Miss Amelia Steele. This marriage took place in Petersburg, Virginia, the place of the bride's nativity. Two children were born, one of which only was raised, viz: Mrs. Amelia, the wife of Dr. Bertree, of Bath. The other child, William, was accidentally smothered when an infant, a short time after the parents came to Mason county, when they arrived in the spring of 1835. Mr. Field settled in the prairie afterwards named after him as one of its first settlers. Here he lived up to the time of his death, which occurred April 9, 1938. He was a physician by profession, and was the first practitioner of the county. Religiously he was an Old School Presbyterian, in which communion he died in full hope of the redemption. He was a man of strong force of character, popular in his community and county, and raised up his family in the highest standing for truth, honesty and industry.

Mr. Algernon Field, of this history, was born March 6th, 1823, and was twelve years old when he came to this county, where he has lived ever since, and is among the oldest, if not the oldest citizen in it. His memory runs back and takes in the pioneer condition of this section of the state and all the changes which have occurred in the transformation of Mason county from almost a wilderness to its present high improvement and civilization. In an early date he read medicine under his father, when he assisted in the duties of his practice till the time of his father's demise.

His inclinations, however, for agricultural life predominated over the profession of medicine and he determined to devote the freshness and energy of early manhood to the acquirement of a farm. In this determination he has succeeded and accordingly now owns a fine farm of some 320 acres of good land in Field's Prairie, the best part of Mason county. He was married December 10, 1845, to Miss Bessie Craggs, of this county. Her parents, William and Isabella Craggs, settled in Mason the same year of their daughter's marriage to Mr. Field and who has borne to her husband seven children, four of whom are living, viz: Drury T., Miss Frances, Algernon and Albert Henry. William, the eldest, and John, the fourth in order of birth, died in infancy. Sarah died about a year after her marriage to Mr. George Blake. Drury is married and settled in Kilbourne township.

Religiously Mr. Field is a Baptist, which denomination he joined some three years ago, transferring his membership from the Christian Church. Politically he has been a life long Democrat of the Jeffersonian and Jackson School, and is a strong believer in the capability of the people for self government, which doctrine he has inherited from Edmond Field, his grandfather who served his country throughout the revolutionary war, in the defense of those very ideas. Mr. Field has worn out, as "thumb papers," in his school days many of the old continental bills with which his grandfather was paid off for his army services.

Edmond was born and raised in Virginia, near Petersburg, where he lived till near the close of his life. He died in Alabama at the residence of his son Drury. He raised three sons to manhood: James, Drury and Edmond. These all married and raised families. The two eldest were soldiers and surgeons in the war of 1812, and took part in the memorable battle of New Orleans, fought January 8, 1815.

The name of the great-grandfather is not now known, and we have no information concerning him further than that he emigrated from Scotland to the American colonies when he was quite young.

History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, 1879, by Miller and Ruggles
Kilbourne Township
Page 806