He graduated from Williams College in 1832 and then studied law in the office of his brother, David Dudley Field Jr. in New York City. In 1833 he moved to Michigan and the next year was admitted to the bar. He practiced law in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1834 to 1841, when he came back to his roots in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he again practiced law from 1841 until his death. He married Mary Ann Stuart on 18 May 1835. After her death in 1849, he married a second time to Huldah L. Hopkins on 17 October 1850. He was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1854 and at one point, served as President of that body as well.

Photo is of the 6 sons of Rev. David Dudley Field Sr. and his wife, Submit Dickinson, who all became renown in their field. Left to right: Cyrus, Henry, Matthew, David Jr., Jonathan and Stephen.

There is some question about where Jonathan actually died. Jonathan Edwards Field's (J.E. in the record) death was recorded in Stockbridge VR as 24 April 1868. But there is also a note on that record that says: Died in Binghamton, NY. Most of his obituaries state that he died in Stockbridge, but there is one that says he died of National Hotel disease. It was printed in the Massachusetts Weekly Spy, Friday, May 8, 1868, Worchester, MA., page 3 and reads: "Hon. Jonathan E. Field, recently deceased, was one of the victims of the "National Hotel Disease". Not a week before his death, he told his physicians that he was one of the last survivors of that fatal malady. He died in an inebriate asylum." The location of the asylum is not mentioned, but could well have been in Binghamton or perhaps even in Stockbridge itself. The disease affected guests at the National Hotel in Washington D.C. in early January 1857, settled down a bit, and then flared up again when guests came and stayed for the inauguration of President Jonathan Buchanan on March 4, 1857, an event to which Jonathan could have well gone to.