Representative women of New England/Sarah E. Fielding

by Mary H. Graves

SARAH ELIZABETH FIELDING, a prominent member of the Woman's Relief Corps of Somerville, is a native of Andover, Mass. The daughter of Charles Nathan and Hannah Ja(|uith (Abbot) Ingalls, she is a descendant in the ninth generation of Edmund Ingalls, who, with his brother Francis, came from England to Massachusetts in 1629, and in 1638 went to Lynn, where they had a grant of one hundred and twenty acres of land. They were among the first settlers of that now prosperous city, and were successful as farmers, stock-raisers, and tanners of leather. The home of Francis was in that part of Lynn which is now Swampscott. He finally removed to Boston, where he died, leaving no male heirs. Edmund Ingalls, as stated in Lewis's History of Lynn, was drowned in March, 1648, by falling with his horse through the old Saugus River Bridge on Boston Street. His estate was valued at one hundred and thirty-five pounds, eight shillings, ten pence.

He had nine children: and Mrs. Fielding's father descended from Henry,² the sixth child, who had the house and lot "bought of Goodwin West" and land in what is now the city of Chelsea, Mass. Henry,² born in 1627, married July 6, 1653, Mary Osgood, of Andover, Mass. She died in 1686, and he afterward married Sarah, widow of George Abbot. He had twelve children. The second child, Henry,³ born in December, 1656, died at Andover in 1699. He married June 6, 168S, Abigail, daughter of John Emery, Jr., of Newbury, Mass. Francis,⁴ their fourth child, was born in December, 1694, and died January 26, 1759. His first wife was Lydia Ingalls, his cousin, whom he married in 1719. After her death in 1743, he married Lydia Stevens, of Andover. He had eleven children. Francis,⁵ the fifth child, who was born January 26, 1731, and died April 3, 1795, married November 12, 1754, Eunice Jennings, and .settled in Andover. They had nine children, the fifth being Jonathan,⁶ who was born February 25, 1762, and died July 9, 1837. He married in 1792 Sarah Berry, of Andover. Francis,⁷ born August IS, 1793, the eldest of their four chiklren, dk'd at his home in North Andover in November, 1850. He married in 1815 Elizabeth Barker Foster, daughter of Nathan⁶ Foster, of North Andover, Mass. Nathan⁶ was a descendant, through Stephen,⁵ John,⁴ Ephraim,³ Abraham,² of Reginald¹ Foster, an early settler of Ijxswich, Mass. (For further particulars concerning Reginald and other Foster immigrants in colonial days, and their descendants, see " Foster Genealogy," by F. C. Pierce.) John Foster, printer, of Boston, was son of another early colonist, Hopestil¹ Foster, of Dorchester; and Elizabeth Foster, who married Isaac Vergoose in 1692, was the daughter of Captain William¹ Foster, of Charlestown.

The second child of Francis and Elizabeth B. (Foster) Ingalls was Charles Nathan,⁸ born in North Andover, Mass., July 9, 1820. Enlisting in 1861, he served in the Union army sixteen months, when he was honorably discharged on account of illness resulting from sunstroke at Ball's Bluff. He was an architect and builder, and previous to the Civil War had charge of the construction of important works on the Connecticut River and of public buildings elsewhere. In 1864 he superintended government work in Tennessee, and was present at the battle of Nashville.

Returning to Danvers, he was appointed master carpenter of the Eastern Railroad, which position he held fifteen years, when he accepted a similar appointment on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and removed to Dakota. He subsequently went to the Yellowstone Park, and erected the large hotel at Mammoth Hot Springs. He constructed many bridges and buildings on the branches of the Northern Pacific Railroad. His last work was on the Duluth and Manitoba Railroad, with headquarters at Hawley, Minn., where he died in 1886.

He was a prominent Free Mason, a member of Amity Lodge and Holten Royal Arch Chapter, of Danvers, of Pilgrim Commandery, of Lowell, Mass., and was also a thirty-second degree Mason, Scottish Rite. His funeral was conducted by the Rev. George J. Sanger, of Essex, and he was buried at Danvers with Masonic honors. He married Hannah Jaquith Abbot, of Andover, by whom he had four children, namely: Sarah Elizabeth, the subject of this sketch; George W.: Frank; and Albert. His wife died in 1868, and he married Miss Mary J. Morse, of Andover, Me., by whom he had one son, Charles.

It may be added as worthy of mention that Jonathan Ingalls, grandfather of Charles Nathan, was brother to Theodore Ingalls, grandfather of the late John J. Ingalls, of Kansas, United States Senator.

Sarah Elizabeth Ingalls was born in Andover, November 8, 1846. Her parents subsequently removed to Danvers, and she was graduated from the high school of that town. She married July 9, 1874, George Washington Fielding, and settled in Bangor, Me. They have also lived in Connecticut and New York, and in Charlestown, Mass., but have resided in Somerville for the past twenty-five years. Mrs. Fielding, on her mother's side, descended from the Jaquiths of Billerica, the house in which her grandmother was born and married having been used as a garrison house.

Two of the family united with the old church in Charlestown, in 1649.

Mrs. Fielding is a member of the Prospect Hill Congregational Church, and is deeply interested in all its work. She is deaconess of the church, has been a teacher in its Sunday-school during the past eleven years, and is an active worker in the home missionary department, of which she has charge. She is also vice-president of the Woman's Auxiliary, and conducts monthly meetings, which have been addressed by prominent speakers. The various charities and missions connected with the local church have been aided by her efforts, and she has contributed to the educational and other enterprises of the denomination at large, in all of which she takes a special interest.

When the Associated Charities of Somerville began its beneficent work, Mrs. Fielding accepted an invitation to serve as agent for Ward Two, and for nearly four years devoted her time and energy to its duties without compensation. With heartfelt sympathy for the unfortunate, and with excellent judgment and ability, she conducted the work in a zealous manner; and regrets were expressed when she felt obliged to decline a reappointment.

In 1878 a Relief Corps was organized in Somerville by Willard C. Kinsley Post, No. 139, G. A. R., and Mrs. Fielding was chosen secretary, serving until the corps was reorganized, three years later, as one of the corps of the Department of Massachusetts, W. R. C., when she was elected to the office of treasurer. She has continued her membership, and is interested in all Grand Army work, having inherited a patriotic spirit from her father, who joined the Andrew Sharp-shooters in August, 1861. She was a member of the Committee on Information during National Convention week in Boston in 1890, and is a member of the Press Committee for the National Convention in Boston in 1904.

Mrs. Fielding's husband, who is a member and past officer of Willard C. Kinsley Post, No. 139, G. A. R., enlisted in Company A, Forty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Colonel Francis L. Lee, and was in continuous active service in the campaigns in North Carolina under General Foster and General Burnside in 1862 and 1863.

Mr. and Mrs. Fielding reside on Berkeley Street, near Sprhig Hill, Somcrville. They have no children.