Lydia Field McCool -- Her Story Continues

Lydia Field McCool suffered great heartache and much loss during the Gainesville Hangings. Both, her husband and father were killed in the fall of 1862. Henry Field, Lydia’s father, was the third man tried by the so-called "Citizen’s Court" in Gaineville and was executed by hanging on October 4th.  Lydia’s husband, William A. McCool, was captured by James D. Young , convicted by a court martial and hanged at Young’s Red River plantation in the later part of 1862, sometime after the Hangings in Gainesville.

Adding to the heartache and stress, Lydia was expecting a child when her father and her husband were hanged in the fall of 1862.  When her new baby boy was born, Lydia named him William after her deceased husband. Little William was born in 1863 in Texas.  It is hard to even imagine the grief, sorrow and fear, Lydia must have felt during this time.  The two men who were her protectors had just been killed by a ruthless mob and Lydia was left pregnant and alone on the Texas frontier.

Sometime after the death of her husband and prior to 1867, Lydia married a man by the last name of Tullis. Lydia had one daughter by this husband and named her Marietta. Marietta was born about 1867 in Texas. What happened to this second husband is unknown, but by 1870 he is no longer in the picture.

Prior to June 1870, Lydia left Texas and moved back to Iowa with her two young children. It would be interesting to know how she traveled from Texas to Iowa with her two young children.  In the 1870 census, Lydia had can be found living in Bellevue, Iowa, with her maternal grandparents, Daniel and Jersusha Potter, and her older sister, Laura Field. Her two children, William McCool and Marietta Tullis, are with her.

About 1876, Lydia married a third time to Robert Coulehan. They had two children, Agnes born 1876 and Lulu born 1884.

The Robert and Lydia Coulehan family can be found living in Bellevue, Iowa in 1880. Lydia’s children from three marriages are living in the household: Agnes Coulehan - age 2, Ettie Tullis age - 13 and William McCool – age 17.

The Coulehan family moved to Boulder, Colorado by 1900. Lydia's daughter, LuLu, is the only child still living in the home. Lydia states that she gave birth to six children and only 4 were still living in 1900.  Lydia and her husband Robert have a boarding house and four male lodgers are living in the home. Lydia’s daughter, Agnes, is living in Denver and working as a stenographer. The 1900 whereabouts of Lydia’s two older children, William McCool and Marietta Tullis is not known at this time and will take further research.

By the time Lydia is sixty-four years old, she is widowed again. She is found living in Long Beach, California with her daughter and son-in-law, Agnes and Claude Blakemore. One of Agnes Blakemore’s sons became well-known in the southern California banking world.

Thanks to a comment left, the burial place for Lydia has been found.  Lydia was buried in the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles,  CA.  A picture of the headstone can be found on FindaGrave.com.  The inscription on the bottom of the headstone reads:

"TO KNOW HER WAS TO LOVE HER"

Any additional information on Lydia and her son, William McCool, would be appreciated. Thanks

Henry Field

Henry S. Field, the son of Henry and Lucinda Frisbee Field, was born 12 Feb 1810 in Elbridge, New York. He settled in Bellevue, Jackson, Iowa in 1838. In 1842, Henry married Jane Augustine Potter. They had four daughters and one son: Laura, Julia, Lydia, Marcus, Jane. Henry's wife, Jane, died in 1848. Henry then married Mary Ann Bail on the 4th of July 1850 in Iowa. They can be found in the 1850 Census (Jackson County, Iowa) that was taken in September of that year.

Henry and Mary had five children, two sons and three daughters: Marcus, Gratia, Martyna, Willliam and Sarah. Sometime around 1857, Henry and Mary moved their family from Iowa to Texas. The youngest two children were born in Texas. They can be found in Cooke County, Texas in the 1860 Census. Henry listed his occupation as a shoemaker. He had $800 in personal estate and no real estate.


The following is from McCaslin's book:
"The Citizen's Court tried Henry S. Field, a shoemaker, after they condemned the Chiles brothers. Henry Chiles had admitted that he initiated Field, and a neighbor recalled a conversation in which Field unwisely asserted that if conscription were expanded to include men his age, he would rather hang than serve in the army. Field had also intemperately applauded General Benjamin F. Butler's infamous proclamation, made during his occupation of New Orleans, that any female who showed contempt for a soldier of the United States Army would be treated 'as a woman of the town plying her occupation,' and carried with him a newspaper containing the edict. Field denied being a member of the Peace party but, after being returned before the jury, admitted that he had taken the first degree from Chiles and 'afterwards did go through' a full initiation. He insisted he would have confessed earlier, before the arrests, but was afraid."

After being sentenced to hang by the Citizen's court, Henry wrote a will on 3 October 1862. Below is a copy of the will (transcript follows):


Cooke County Probate Minutes, vol. 1, 1857-1863; FHL US/CAN Film 1290682
Abstract
3 Oct 1862
"I Henry Field of Texas in the county of Cooke..I desire to be decently and privately buried in the yard near my residence with as little expense as may be, also I give and bequeath my daughter Lydia C. McKool three cows and calves also one colt known as the Roan Filley for her own use and benefit, Also I give and bequeath my wife Mary Ann Field for her and my infant childrens benefit and maintanence consisting in the public land improvement where she resides, also two large mares and one filley, one yearling colt and one colt, also two wagons, also all the remainder of cattle and all movable effects, after paying all my debts. I do hereby appoint and constitute my said wife M.F. sole executrix of this my last will and testament...
the third day of Oct 1862
Henry Field (seal)"
Diamond's account of the trials states, "Fields was called by his neighbors a clever man, and a useful citizen. His implication in this secret and wicked plot astonished the people, more perhaps, than any others."
Henry Field was hanged on October 4th. He made a speech just prior to being hanged and confessed that he was a member of the Peace Party. He also pleaded for charity toward his memory and toward "those who bear my name and are attached to me by kindred ties."

A Field family descendant posted the following on Ancestry.com's World tree (accessed 28 Oct 2007) contact unknown:
"Henry Field, Jr., son of Henry and Lucinda, settled in Bellevue, Iowa, in 1838. In 1854 they moved to Bolivar, Texas, where he resided at the breaking out of the rebellion of the slave-holding states with other northern families. He with eighteen of his neighbors were arrested for refusing to take up arms in the Confederate service, and being refused the privilege of returning north, were hung December, 1862. He wrote a farewell letter to his family of which his family ( Dorothy Dorchester Melville, his great, great niece) has a copy. He had five children by his first wife, Jane, and five children by his second wife, Mary Bail."
There are a few mistakes in the above family account, but it interesting to note the mention of a farewell written to his family.

Notes on the second wife of Henry Field, Mary Ann Bail Field. There is a marriage record for marriage record for Mary Ann Fields to Jefferson Anderson in Cooke County, Texas on 10 Dec 1863. But if this was the widow of Henry Field, then she changed her name from Anderson back to Field by 1900. Mary Field or Mary Anderson cannot be found in the census records for 1870 or 1880. But, Mary Field is found living with her daughter, Martyna, & son-in-law, James Jennings, in the Census records of 1900, 1910 & 1920. She gives her name as Mary Field in all three census records. Mary stated in the 1900 census that she gave birth to 6 children and only one (1) was still living in 1900 -- that would be her daughter, Martyna Field Jennings. Mary Ann Bail Field lived to be almost 92 years old. Her life was touched with hardship and sorrow -- she lost her husband in the Great Hanging of 1862 and five of her six children by 1900. But hopefully, she also experienced peace and joy during her life. Mary died 1 Oct 1921 in Lamar, Colorado, while living with her daughter, Martyna.
Question: Where was Mary living during the 1870 & 1880 census?

For a post about Henry's daughter, Lydia Field, click here.

Lydia Field McCool "Much esteemed for her modesty, beauty and virtuous refinement"

Lydia Field was the daughter of  Henry Field and Jane Augustine Potter. Lydia was born 12 Dec 1845 in Iowa. She moved with her father and step-mother, Mary Ann Bail, to Texas in about 1856. The family is found living in Cooke County, Texas in 1860. Lydia's father, Henry Field, is listed as a 45 year old shoemaker with no real estate and $800 personal estate value.

When Lydia is 15 years old, she married William McCool (17 Feb 1861 Cooke County, Texas).
According to McCaslin, Lydia allegedly eloped with William McCool and then they settled nearby. McCool "joined William C. Twitty's company during May, 1861, in Gainesville, but never reported for mustering. He paid taxes in 1862 in Cooke County on two cattle, and that summer joined Randolph's Partisan Battalion."

William McCool, along with two others from Randolph's command, A. N. Johnson and John M. Cottrell, were captured by James D. Young. After a confederate court martial presided over by Randolph, all three men were found guilty of treason against the Confederacy and hanged at the Young's Red River home.

Lydia Field McCool lost both her husband and father as a result of Confederate control in Cooke County during the Great Hanging in Gainesville. Lydia's father, Henry, wrote a will the day before he was hanged. Henry Field left to his daughter, Lydia, the following: "three cows and calves also one colt known as the Roan Filley for her own use and benefit."

Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging states this about the McCools:
"William McCool, who was hung with Johnson and Cottrell, was the son-in-law of Henry Fields, who was hung early after the organization of the Court.
Mrs. McCool, the daughter of Fields, is a lady much esteemed for her modesty, beauty and virtuous refinement. She was attached to her husband by the strongest ties of affection. But a short time previous she had secretly abandoned her father's roof, to join her destiny to her bold and determined lover. How sad and melancholly the reflection that she who loved so well could not have loved more wisely. Or why could he not, 'Taste the honey, and not wound the flower.'"
George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862, Manuscript Edited by Sam Acheson and Julie, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. LXVI, January, 1963, No. 3, pages 404.

Go to an update on Lydia Field McCool.