Benjamin Hazard Field

Benjamin Hazard Field (May 2, 1814 – March 17, 1893) was an American merchant philanthropist. Early life Field was born on May 2, 1814, at the Field home in Yorktown in Westchester County. He was one of three sons born to Hazard Field (1764–1845) and his second wife, Mary (née Bailey) Field (1780–1832), who married in 1806. His father was previously married to Frances "Fanny" Wright June. His paternal grandparents were John Field and Lydia (née Hazard) Field, who had sixteen children, of which his father Hazard was the oldest. Career After schooling in Westchester and at North Salem Academy, he moved to New York and entered the mercantile business of his uncle, Hickson W. Field (grandfather of Princess di Triggiano Brancaccio, lady in waiting to the Queen of Italy), at 170-176 John Street. At the age of 18, Field became a partner in 1832. After his uncle retired in 1838, Field assumed control of the entire business, rapidly gaining "both fortune and fame." Field eventually retired from the business, which his son Cortlandt joined in 1861, and renamed Cortlandt de P. Field & Co. in 1865. He fully retired from business in 1875.