[1] He moved with his parents to Cato, New York, and attended public schools and graduated from the academy in Victor, New York In 1844, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits.

He built a house beyomd the then eastern limits of Detroit, at a location where it would be placed on Field Avenue (named for him) later, which his mother-in-law thought was too far from the center of town.

Field was instrumental in organizing the Independent Greenback Party, having called the national convention at Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 17, 1876.

[9][10] Governor Josiah Begole appointed him a trustee of the Eastern Asylum for the Insane in 1883.

[12] At the time of his death, he lived on his farm, "Linden Lawn," (where Field Avenue would later be built) in the township of Hamtramck, the still largrly rural area to the east of the city of Detroit.