Benjamin Franklin Fields, Sr.

Benjamin Franklin Fields, Sr.

Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells

Quick Facts

Significance:

Alabama homesteader

Place of Birth:

Washington County, Alabama

Date of Birth:

April 10, 1862

Place of Death:

Mobile, Alabama

Date of Death:

December 15, 1950

Place of Burial:

Washington County, Alabama

Cemetery Name:

Fields Cemetery

Benjamin Franklin Fields, Sr. could neither read nor write. But for a man who could neither read nor write, Ben Fields, Sr. created quite a legacy for the large family that would follow him.

Fields was born enslaved on April 10, 1862, according to family records, in rural southern Alabama (Washington County). His mother, Amanda, is believed to have been descended from ancestors who had been enslaved from Ghana. In Washington County, Amanda was owned by a family with the surname, Harrell. A member of the Harrell family is said to have fathered Ben Sr., giving him the name Benjamin Franklin Fields.

As an African American in the segregated South immediately after the Civil War, Fields faced challenges and difficulties. But after enslaved persons in this country were granted their legal freedom by the ratification of the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865, he dared to believe that he could improve his lot.

Benjamin Franklin Fields, Sr. continued to live in the same area where he had been born and where he and his mother had been enslaved. On January 3, 1887, he. married Mary Jane Miler, who was born a free person on December 8, 1868. To their union were born nine children, whose births were recorded in her Bible: Henry (September 6, 1887), Amanda (April 22, 1889), Augusta (August 5, 1892), Julia (August 17, 1894), Ardella (March 18, 1896), Elizabeth (“Lizzie,” June 16, 1897), Edna (May 4, 1899), Benjamin Franklin Fields, Jr. (June 20, 1902), and George (June 16, 1904).

Photo Credit: Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells

Benjamin Franklin Fields Sr., a young husband and father, applied for land under the Homestead Act of 1862. He filed a claim at the Montgomery land office on May 25, 1888. He successfully “proved up” his claim. Fields received 120 acres of land in a community known as Sunflower, in Washington County, Alabama. The patent, authorized by President Grover Cleveland on June 17, 1894, created a legacy for Fields’ family. As the years passed, Ben Sr., Henry, Ben Jr., and George lived on and farmed the land, providing livelihoods for the family. The three sons had a total of twenty-nine children who were raised on the homestead.

Henry had sixteen children who grew up on the homestead: nine through his first wife, Virginia (“Jenny”) Woodyard Fields (Robert, Janie, Ola, Ruth, Willie Lee, Henrietta, Henry, Ella, and Loyal), and seven through his second wife, Amanda (Gertrude, Perlia, Uriah, David, Bessie, Jonathan, Mary). Ben Jr. and his wife, Thelma Belton Fields, had ten children who grew up on the homestead (Benjamin, Irving, Robert, Norman, James, Leo, Joe, Ella Mae, Maureen, Julia). George and his wife, Clara, had three children who grew up on the Homestead (Augusta, Mildred and George, Jr., who died in childhood).

Ben Sr. believed that his family would only experience true freedom when they could be educated, but there was no school near the homestead that Black students could attend. When Ben Sr.’s son, George, married a woman who could read and write, Ben Sr. oversaw the construction of a schoolhouse on the homestead in the 1920s. Known as the Fields School, it was the school of elementary-level education for Ben Sr.’s grandchildren, preparing them to be able to attend high school at the all-Black McIntosh Union High School a few miles away. George’s wife, Clara, was the teacher for all of the Fields children.  The educational foundation that Clara provided at the Fields School was significant: Most of the children went on to become college graduates – an unheard-of accomplishment for Black persons at that time. Many of those graduates went on to outstanding careers as teachers, helping Black students achieve the learning that would create opportunities for better futures.

Photo Credit: Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells

In 1924, the family created a cemetery on the homestead, which is still in use today. Henry’s first wife, Jenny, was the first person interred in the cemetery after she died in childbirth with the couple’s ninth child. Benjamin Franklin Fields, Sr. passed away in December of 1950 in Mobile, Alabama. He, his sons Henry, Ben Jr. and George, and daughters Augusta, Julia, Edna, and Lizzie are interred in the family cemetery, as well as some of their children. While family members moved away, the family ties to the homestead continue; the land remains in the family – a legacy which has lasted a century and more.

~ Contributed by Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells

More from the contributor: We are a family cognizant of the fact that without the vision and foresight of my great-grandfather – in securing land and providing a means of education for his family – we would not be the people we are today. Our family counts among us teachers and education administrators/professionals, persons who have honorably served our nation’s Armed Forces (including several WWII veterans), nurses and healthcare professionals, business persons, ministers, and attorneys. From the humble start of a man born into slavery, a man who could neither read nor write, six generations later (and more descendants than I can count!), Benjamin Franklin Fields, Sr. has indeed created an incredible legacy.

About the contributor: The author, the Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells, lives in Memphis, Tennessee, and is Rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church. She entered the world of ordained ministry after having practiced law in Memphis for 18 years. She enjoys writing and teaching, and has written for a number of Christian publications.