Elizabeth "Eliza" Field (June 1, 1804 – August 17, 1890) was an English-born Canadian writer and artist. She was also known as Elizabeth Jones, Elizabeth Jones Carey and Kecheahgahmequa. ElizaFieldsDrawnByMatildaJones

Biography

The daughter of Charles Field, a soap and candle manufacturer, and Elizabeth Carter, she was born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

and attended a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. When her mother died in 1820, she returned home to look after her younger brothers and sisters. In 1831, she met Peter Jones, an

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

Methodist minister from Canada who was raising funds to support his missionary work; they married in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1833 despite opposition by her parents and many of her friends. They settled in a cabin on the Credit River Indian Reserve. She was frequently ill and suffered two miscarriages and two still births. However, she taught the children about Christianity and taught the young girls how to sew. She visited England in 1837–38 with her niece Nahnebahwequa and, when she returned, gave birth to a son. From 1841 to 1849, they worked at the Muncey mission near

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. Her husband's was frequently ill during this period. In 1851, they moved to a house in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

; her husband died five years later. In 1858, she married John Carey, a farmer from New York. It was not a happy marriage and she appears to have separated from Carey several years later. She taught painting in Brantford and continued to write for a time. Around 1880, she lost her sight. In 1838, she published ''Memoir of Elizabeth Jones, a little Indian girl'', an account of the life of her niece. In 1854, she received a prize for her miniature

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

s at the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibition. She arranged for the publication of Peter's diaries as ''Life and journals'' in 1860 and of his ''History of the Ojebway Indians'' in 1861. Field also added her own drawings to ''History''. She wrote ''Sketch of the life of Captain

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain du ...

, Thayendanagea'' which appeared in the ''New Dominion Monthly'' in 1872. Field died in

at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Elizabeth 1804 births 1890 deaths 19th-century Canadian women writers 19th-century Canadian writers 19th-century British women writers 19th-century English writers Canadian women painters English emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada Pseudonymous women writers Artists from London People from Lambeth Writers from the London Borough of Lambeth 19th-century British women artists Painters from London 19th-century pseudonymous writers English women memoirists Canadian women memoirists