Cyrus W. Field
Financier who led the first transatlantic telegraph cable project.
Cyrus West Field was an American businessman and financier who, with other entrepreneurs, founded the Atlantic Telegraph Company and oversaw the first successful laying of a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858.
Field was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the eighth of ten children. His father was a Congregational minister, and his mother was the daughter of a Revolutionary War captain. Among his siblings were a future U.S. Supreme Court justice and several other notable figures. At fifteen, he moved to New York City and began working as an errand boy for a dry goods firm. After a three-year apprenticeship, he returned briefly to Stockbridge before eventually coming back to New York. He married Mary Bryan Stone two days after turning twenty-one, and they had seven children.
Field chose a career in business. He first worked for his brothers, then in 1838 became an assistant in a paper mill in Lee, Massachusetts. In 1840, he started his own paper manufacturing venture in Westfield, Massachusetts, and later that year became a junior partner in a New York wholesale paper firm. When that firm failed, leaving large debts, Field negotiated with creditors, dissolved the old company, and formed a new partnership with his brother-in-law under the name Cyrus W. Field & Co. Through long hours and hard work, he supplied mills like Crane & Company and bought finished paper wholesale. He succeeded by serving the growing penny press and the demand for stocks and bonds, eventually becoming one of New York's richest men. In 1853, though under no legal obligation, he repaid in full all debts from the earlier failed firm, including interest.
At age 34, Field had earned enough to partially retire with a fortune of $250,000 and built a home in Gramercy Park. In 1853, he financed an expedition to South America with his friend, the artist Frederic Edwin Church. They explored present-day Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama, following the route taken by Alexander von Humboldt fifty years earlier. Church's sketches from this trip and a later one in 1857 inspired some of his most famous paintings. Field's list of places to visit in South America included not only natural wonders but also gold mines and emerald mines.
Quick Facts
- Birth Name
- Cyrus West Field
- Birth Date
- 1819-11-30
- Birth Place
- Stockbridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Death Date
- 1892-07-12
- Death Place
- Irvington, New York, U.S.
- Occupation
- businessman, financier, telecommunications pioneer
- Spouse
- Mary Bryan Stone · December 2, 1840
- Parents
- David Dudley Field, Submit Dickinson (1782–1861)
- Children
- Four sons, three daughters
- Relatives
- Frederick Vanderbilt Field (descendant)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Field turned his attention to telegraphy in January 1854 after being contacted by Frederic Newton Gisborne, a British engineer who aimed to establish a telegraph connection between St. John's, Newfoundland and New York City but had failed due to lack of capital. Field joined with Peter Cooper, Abram Stevens Hewitt, Moses Taylor, and Samuel F.B. Morse in the so-called Cable Cabinet of entrepreneurs, investors, and engineers. Through this group, Field became instrumental in laying a 400-mile telegraph line connecting St. John's, Newfoundland with Nova Scotia, coupling with telegraph lines from the U.S. He then convinced the Cable Cabinet to extend the line from Newfoundland to Ireland, leading to the formation of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company.
In 1857, after securing financing in England and backing from the American and British governments, the Atlantic Telegraph Company began laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable, utilizing a shallow submarine plateau between Ireland and Newfoundland. The cable was officially opened on August 16, 1858, when Queen Victoria sent President James Buchanan a message in Morse code. The cable broke down three weeks afterward and was not reconnected until 1866. In 1866, Field laid a new, more durable transatlantic cable using Brunel's Great Eastern, then the largest ocean-going ship in the world. On his return to Newfoundland, he grappled the cable he had attempted to lay the previous year and made it into a backup wire to the main cable.
Reader's Guide
Field's work on the transatlantic telegraph cable represented a major advance in global communications, reducing the time for messages between North America and Europe from weeks to minutes. The first cable of 1858, though short-lived, demonstrated the feasibility of submarine telegraphy across the Atlantic. The successful laying of a durable cable in 1866 provided almost instant communication across the Atlantic and became a permanent link. Field's efforts earned him a gold medal from the U.S. Congress and the grand prize at the International Exposition in Paris in 1867. His activities brought him into contact with prominent figures on both sides of the Atlantic, including Lord Clarendon and William Ewart Gladstone. In later years, Field entered the transportation business, serving as president of the New York Elevated Railroad Company and collaborating with Jay Gould on developing the Wabash Railroad. Bad investments deprived him of his fortune, and he lived modestly during the last five years of his life in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he died in 1892. His headstone reads: 'CYRUS WEST FIELD To whose courage, energy and perseverance the world owes The Atlantic Telegraph.'
Did You Know?
- Field was the brother of Stephen Johnson Field, the 38th United States Supreme Court Justice.
- He financed an expedition to South America in 1853 with artist Frederic Edwin Church, exploring present-day Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama.
- The community of Field, British Columbia, Canada was named in his honor in December 1884 by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Cyrus W. Field?
Cyrus West Field (1819–1892) was an American businessman and financier best known for financing and overseeing the first successful telegraph cable laid across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858.
What was Cyrus W. Field's role in the transatlantic telegraph cable?
He founded the Atlantic Telegraph Company and served as the project's driving force, shepherding the 1858 cable and later a more durable replacement in 1866.
How did Cyrus W. Field get into the telegraph business?
Born the eighth of ten children in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, he moved to New York at fifteen, worked as an errand boy, and eventually built a career in commerce that positioned him to invest in and lead the transatlantic cable venture.
What recognition did Cyrus W. Field receive for the telegraph cable?
In 1867 he was awarded a gold medal by the U.S. Congress and a grand prize at the International Exposition in Paris for his role in completing the transatlantic link.
When and where did Cyrus W. Field die?
He died on July 12, 1892, leaving behind his wife Mary Bryan Stone, whom he had married in 1840, and seven children.
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