Simon M. Fields
Simon M. Fields, retired farmer and trader, Dunkinsville, was born on the old Fields homestead, on Ohio Brush Creek, in Jefferson Township, April 1, 1833. He is a son of Samuel R. Fields and Hannah Evans, his wife, a daughter of Thomas Evans, who lived in Adams County until 1852, when he moved to Iowa, where he died. He was a soldier of the War of 1812 and received a land warrant for his services which he located in Iowa. Samuel R. Fields was born August 13, 1803, and died August 15, 1870. He was a son of Simon Fields, the pioneer, who has a separate sketch herein. Simon M. Fields, the subject of this sketch, was reared to man's estate in Jefferson Township, where he received the benefits of a good common school ducation. February 28, 1853, he married Miss Maria C. Osman, a daughter of James Osman, of Tiffin Township. To them have been born Henry C, David H., Thomas W., James P., and Ruth, wife of William Wade. In 1861, Simon M. Fields enlisted at Camp Hamer in the famous 70th Regiment, O. V. I., and continued in the service until discharged for disability, June 28, 1862. He was at Shiloh and in other engagements of his regiment until his discharge. He came home and afterwards recruited a company in the National Guards, which he commanded as Captain in the hundred days' service at Fort Hurricane, W. Va. He was honorably discharged September 2, 1864.
Mr. Fields cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, and remained with the Republican party till it demonetized silver in 1873, when he cast his vote for the Greenback ticket. He afterwards became a Populist, and is now a firm believer in the principles of the Chicago platform of the Democratic party of 1896. He is an enthusiastic admirer of that great apostle of Democracy, William J. Bryan. He was a member of the M. E. Church for forty years, in which he was steward and class leader. He is now a member of the Christian Union Church at Jacksonville. He has been successful in life, and now resides in a modern constucted dwelling, 0n the site of the "Old Stone House" on the Andrew Ellison farm on Lick Fork, once the site of the town of Waterford.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900