Christopher Shields (abt. 1737 - abt. 1803)

Born about 11 Mar 1737 in England

Descendants

Died about 1803 at about age 65 in Louisa, Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Darrell Shields [send private message]

Biography

From "Shields and Stewart Families" manuscript by William Chapman Shields circa 1860, with additions: "Christopher Shields was born in England, March 11, 1737. He came to America in Company with several of his brothers at the age of 18 years. He married a lady, Miss Mary Allison, of English decent. By her he had one child, George Allison Shields. He settled in Virginia, and for several years before the revolution he was Gardner and overseer of the plantation of George Washington at Mt. Vernon. But when the war of the revolution broke out, he joined the continental army and signalised [sic] himself for bravery. His first wife died, soon after she had her first child, in fact he was but a few days old. Thus he had nothing to bind him to his home, and he could better leave home for the camps and battlefields. But soon after the close of the war he married a Miss Kenedy [sic] by whom he had the following children, Nathan, William, Elisabeth [sic], Jeremiah, Thomas. The exact time of his death cannot be determined, about 1802 or 1803, in Louisa County, Va."

We are fortunate to have the basic information that we do have about Christopher Shields in the manuscript. That being said, it is equally unfortunate that we do not know anything more about the brothers that emigrated with him from England. How many brothers were there? Where did they settle and who did they marry? How many more branches of the family did they spawn? We have some information about Christopher's second group of children by Miss Kenedy, but even so we know nothing about the lives of Jeremiah and Thomas. The search for information often creates more new questions than it answers. by Darrell Shields.

Sources

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Darrell Shields for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Darrell and others.

"Louisa, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9XF-2HRP : September 22, 2023), image 333 of 422; Virginia. Commissioner of the Revenue (Louisa County), Virginia. County Court (Louisa County).