James Fielding : Early Years

I have been spending some of my personal genealogy research time focusing on my Fielding family, because, well, they fascinate me so.  I don't know if it is because they are the quintessential blue-collar family, or just because I did not know much about them when I was growing up.  Anyway, here is another blog on my Fielding family.

My pap's maternal grandfather was a man named James Fielding, who had lived a very full life, according to multiple documents.  I wanted to find out more about him, as the Fielding family once was one of the biggest brick walls in my tree, and certain records I stumbled upon led me to find a landmine of information.  After spending a great deal of time processing his Civil War Pension file, I knew I wanted to write about him as well.  But I had too much information to write just one blog post on him, so bear with me as I tell the tale of this wonderful man in a series of them.

James was the son of the shoemaker John Fielding, who already has a post written about him, as he is one of my elusive family members.

James Fielding was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania on 14 September 1837 as the third son and one of several children of the aforementioned James Fielding and his wife Martha.  His father at least was English, having been born in Manchester.  

John, I have discovered since I wrote his blog post, likely came over as a "servant" aboard the packet ship Columbia, which arrived on 21 January 1828 in New York City. 

James' mother's parentage remains a mystery, as does her correct surname, but I will keep checking for cracks in that brick wall.

While James is not listed by name on the 1840 census, he is enumerated as one of two free white male children under the age of five in his father’s household in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, where John was listed as "Jno. Fealding".  Brother Joseph was enumerated as the other son. James was listed as living with his parents and family on the 1850 census where the family was enumerated in Allegheny City's Fourth Ward. He was marked as having attended school that year, and both of his parents could read and write since neither was marked as illiterate on the census.

By 1860, James had been trained as a machinist and was living on Ohio Street in the Fourth Ward of Allegheny City with his parents, though the census enumerator for that district simply listed each member of the family by their first initial and misspelled their surname, putting Fielden instead of Fielding.

Machinists in the period before the Civil War saw a great deal of change in the way they worked, as many different machines were being invented to make machining more precise and uniform.  After all, it appears that precision machining got its biggest push from the event known as the Mexican-American War, when the U.S. Government requested bids for rifles with interchangeable parts.  Tools, such as planers, presses, and various machines, were invented that allowed machinists to make higher quality and more uniform parts faster.   Apparently, there was still a great deal of hand shaping needed for parts cast by machines, and James was likely trained in this kind of work, as later pension documents suggest.

While no documents state where he was employed, James first appears as a machinist in city directories in the 1861 Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Cities, residing at 104 Ohio.  Thie address was his father John's and brother Cooper's address of residence as well.  As his father was listed as living on Ohio Street in city directories as early as 1850, it could be assumed that James lived there for a period of years with the family.  Ohio Street was the borderline for the Third and Fourth Wards of Allegheny City according to the 1855 map, The Cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny With Parts of Adjacent Boroughs, Pennsylvania, and since the family lived on the Fourth Ward side in the 1860 census, they had to have lived on the south side of the street.

On 27 November 1861, James married a young woman by the name of Sarah Virginia McDonald (also spelled MacDonald).  

Sarah was the daughter of Henderson McDonald and Emeline Peterson and the stepdaughter of Elmon McLaughlin.  She was born 1 September 1839 somewhere in Allegheny County as Henderson and Emeline's eldest daughter.  Through her mother, she was descended from Anthony Morris, one of the English Quaker founders of the city of Philadelphia, and of whom I am still doing research.

Unlike James' family, the McDonald family appears to have moved around a bit.  In 1840, Sarah was listed as the one free white female under the age of five in the household of Henderson McDonald in Pittsburgh's South Ward on that census, and in 1850 was living probably on Federal Street in Allegheny City's Third Ward, as that census and the 1850 city directory state.  In 1860, she was living with her widowed mother and sister in Allegheny City's First Ward in the household of one Ann Aiken.

The couple was married on 27 November 1861, just as the Civil War was taking place.

Where the couple was married is a bit of a mystery.  It was somewhere in Allegheny County, that much is known, but conflict exists in just where in Allegheny County.  When sent a form asking personal questions in regards to his pension in 1898, James Fielding answered that he and Sarah had been married in Sharpsburg, which was upriver and up the railroad tracks from Allegheny City.  However, a small blurb in the Pittsburgh Presbyterian Banner in March of 1862 gave the following:

"On the 27th of November, at the residence of the bride's mother, by Rev. John Williams, Mr. JAMES FIELDING to Muss SARAH V. McDONALD, all of Allegheny City." ~ 

"Married," Pittsburgh Presbyterian Banner (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 22 March 1862, page 3

Since the marriage was listed in a Presbyterian paper, it can be assumed that Rev. John Williams was a Presbyterian minister.  However, further research on the man did not yield any information, leaving it a bit difficult at present to locate a church with which the marriage might be registered. 

The city directory for the 1861-1862 period for Sarah's mother lists Emeline as living on Robinson in Allegheny City.  It is possible she resided briefly in Sharpsburg in November of 1861, but it is more likely that James' recollection of where he was wed by 1898 was a bit fuzzy.  

The marriage had but a brief interlude, for James, like most of the young men of his generation, went off to the war.  But that's a story for the next post.

More posts on James Fielding:

• James Fielding: Man of Many Hats
• James Fielding: Police Officer
• James Fielding: The Grand Army of the Republic and the 1890s
• James Fielding: The House on Norwood Avenue
• James Fielding: The Stay at the Home for Disabled Veterans and Death

Sources Used:

Ancestry.com, "1840 United States Federal Census," database online, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 July 2016), Year: 1840, Census Place: Pittsburgh South Ward Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Roll: 441, Page: 373, Image: 764, and Family History Library Film: 0020536 (Entry for Henderson McDonald).

Ancestry.com, "1840 United States Federal Census," database online Entry for Jno Fealding and household, Year: 1840, Census Place: Allegheny Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Roll: 440, Page: 290, Image: 592, and Family History Library Film: 0020536.

Ancestry.com, "1850 United States Federal Census," database online, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 July 2016), Year: 1850, Census Place: Allegheny Ward 3 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Roll: M432_744, Page: 152B, and Image: 310 (Entry for Henderson McDonald and family).

"1850 United States Federal Census," database online, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 July 2016), Entry for John Feilding and household, Year: 1850, Census Place: Allegheny Ward 4 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Roll: M432_744, Page: 217B, and Image: 440; citing Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Ancestry.com, "1850 United States Federal Census," database online, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 July 2016), Year: 1850, Census Place: Allegheny Ward 4 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Roll: M432_744, Page: 217B, and Image: 440.

Ancestry.com, "1860 United States Federal Census," database online, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 July 2016), Year: 1860, Census Place: Allegheny Ward 1 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Roll: M653_1067, Page: 635, Image: 102, and Family History Library Film: 805067 (as Emaline McDonald and daughters).

Ancestry.com, "1860 United States Federal Census," database online, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 July 2016), Entry for J. Fielden and family, Year: 1860, Census Place: Allegheny Ward 4 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Roll: M653_1068, Page: 676, Image: 63, and Family History Library Film: 805068 (enumerated as J. Fielden and family); citing 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

APIAMS, "The History Of Precision Machining," American Precision Industries, American Precision Industries Metal Specialties, 30 November 2017 (https://apiams.com/blog/appreciating-the-history-of-precision-machining/ : accessed 24 June 2021).

Application for Reimbursement, certificate number 11390, deceased pensioner James Fielding, E, 155th Pa Inf., dated 11 April 1913; Scanned copy provided in the pension file for James Fielding from NARA sent to Kelley Wood-Davis 29 Jan 2020 by Deidre Erin Denton, genealogist; citing Pension application files based upon service in the Civil War and Spanish-American War ("Civil War and Later"); Records Relating to Pension and Bounty-Land Claims 1773-1942, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, RG 15; 2,807 rolls, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

The Cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny With Parts of Adjacent Boroughs, Pennsylvania (New York City, New York: J.H. Colton and Company, 1855); digital images, Historic Pittsburgh (www.historicpittsburgh.org : accessed 24 June 2021), viewed Ohio Street.

Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1861-1862 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: G. H. Thurston, 1861), 93, "Fielding James, machinist, 104 Ohio, A(llegheny)"; digital image, University of Pittsburgh, Digital Research Library, Historic Pittsburgh (http://historicpittsburgh.org : accessed 30 July 2016).

Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1861-1862 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: G. H. Thurston, 1861), 218, "McDonald Emily, widow Henderson, dressmaker, Robinson n Darragh, A(Allegheny)".

Fahnestock's Pittsburgh directory for 1850: containing the names of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, & vicinity : their occupation, places of business and dwelling houses : also, a list of the public offices, banks, &c, 1850 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Geo. Parkin & Co, 1850), 30, "Fielding John, shoemr, Ohio, Al"; digital image, University of Pittsburgh, Digital Research Library, Historic Pittsburgh (www.historicpittsburgh.org : accessed 30 July 2016).

Fahnestock's Pittsburgh directory for 1850: containing the names of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, & vicinity : their occupation, places of business and dwelling houses : also, a list of the public offices, banks, &c, 1850 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Geo. Parkin & Co, 1850), 61, "McDonald Henderson Capt. Federal, Al(llegheny)".

"Married," Pittsburgh Presbyterian Banner (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 22 March 1862, page 3; online images, NewspaperArchive (www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 12 January 2021).

"Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963," database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 July 2016), Entry for Sarah V. Fielding; died 4 October 1907; Certificate number: 95518; citing Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Smith, Robert F. "Machining and Machinists," article, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia (https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/machining-and-machinists/ : accessed 24 June 2021).

Soldier's Application for Increase of Pension for James Fielding, filed 14 Sept 1907; Scanned copy provided in the pension file for James Fielding. 

Voucher circular questions for James Fielding, certificate number 11390, dated 5 July 1898; Scanned copy provided in the pension file for James Fielding.