The Field family of Massachusetts is one of the most remarkable and accomplished families in the history of the United States. They may not have been as wealthy as the Rockefellers or as the Fisher brothers of General Motors, but each Field reached the pinnacle of success in his respective sphere of influence. England’s Lord Chancellor Cairns once said, "David Dudley Field has done more for the reform of law than any other man living." The statement was made in the 1870s, but remains as true today as it was then; Field single-handedly revolutionized American and English law, weaning American jurisprudence from common law into codified civil law and procedure. Stephen J. Field, helped found a city in California, Marysville, became a California legislator, served as a justice on the California Supreme Court until Lincoln appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court--a seat he held for 34 years! One brother was president of the Massachusetts State Senate, another built bridges, still another was a prolific author. And there is Cyrus Field. He made a fortune and used it to pursue a dream deemed impossible at the time--to lay a transatlantic cable, irrevocably joining America and Europe. Cyrus Field made his fortune by the time he was 24, but his vision, determination and perseverance were reserved for an undertaking so unprecedented , one journalist called it "impractical and absurd," while Horace Greeley labeled it "utopian." Laying the transatlantic cable was the 19th century's version of the Apollo moon mission, but its accomplishment is attributable to one individual--Cyrus Field. Award-winning author Daniel Alef tells Cyrus Field's story of great adventure in spanning an ocean, the countless failures and his ultimate success. [2,825-word Titans of Fortune biographical profile]
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