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William Shields was born in 1668 in Kent County, Virginia, a son of James Shields and Jane Armstrong. In 1692, he married Mary Jeanette Parker (1670-1750) daughter of Thomas Parker and Eliza Hart; they had five known children. William passed away in 1741; burial details are not known.
James Shields…. “son William, born in 1668 at Kent County, Maryland. He died in 1741, at Augusta County, Virginia, while helping one of his sons build a cabin. This William Shields married Jeannette Parker and fathered five children: James "The Cordwainer" Shields, Jane Shields (did not marry), Thomas Shields, Eliza Shields (Hathaway), and John Shields (born in 1709). The three sons migrated to Augusta County, Virginia and became major landowners, farmers, surveyors, and shoemaker/leatherworkers (cordwainer) in the Beverly Manor portion of the huge Borden Tract which included much of the central Shenandoah Valley.”
William Shields was born in 1668 in Maryland, son of John Shields and Jane Prather[1]. About 1692, he married Jeanette Parker (1670-1750), daughter of Thomas Parker and Eliza Hart of Kent County, Maryland. Parker[2] They had three noted sons: James, Thomas and John.
The Will of Thomas Parker, dated July 17, 1695 and proved September 2 the same year, left certain property to his son-in-law, William Shields. William owned Shields Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia and for a time, owned and lived on an island in the Delaware River below Philadelphia, originally called Shields Island, later Hog Island, the location of large shipyards.
The family moved to Chester County, then to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and finally to Augusta, Virginia which is now Rockingham County. William died in 1741. He was killed by a falling log while helping his sons Thomas, James and John build a house on their farm near Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Children of William and Jeannette Shields:
Shields Family History, by Martin L. Skubinna, Ph.D. Emmitsburg, Maryland[10])
The original migrating generation of the Shields family to America appears to have been the sons of a family member who lived at the turn of the 17th century in County Antrim, Ireland... William Shields, born at some time between 1590 and 1600, fathered four sons of whom we have record: William (born 1630); James (born 1633); Daniel and John (born apparently in the early 1640s and presumed by other circumstances to have been significantly younger than the two older Shields sons).
The two elder Shields offspring seem to have been involved in the roundups and deportation of young Irish men during the Commonwealth Period (1653-1659) under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell...
Family histories and tradition hold that these two older Shields brothers, William and James, were both exiled while in their early twenties to Barbados in the West Indies... How they survived their exile we do not know, but family history is agreed that within less than two years they managed to take passage via a slave ship to Virginia, arriving around 1655 at Middle Plantation, the site of present-day Williamsburg.
The subsequent histories of these two Shields brothers is extensively chronicled, chiefly in books by the late John Arthur Shields, the late John Edgar Shields, and other descendant members of the resultant family lines...
William (the William Shields of this biography and profile) meanwhile, remained in Williamsburg. He became the owner and operator of Shields Ordinary, a noted inn and tavern of the day. The tavern is noted occasionally in constabulary records, as one assumes, for occasional breaches of the peace. Shields Tavern has been restored within the past two decades as one of Colonial Williamsburg's historical points of interest and informal dining establishments, and has become a popular stop on tours of the restoration.
William became the progenitor of a lengthy family line. Later generations migrated elsewhere in Virginia, to the river settlements in North Carolina, and ultimately into Indiana Territory around 1800. Various genealogical works treat with the resultant lines which, collectively, are sometimes referred to as "the Williamsburg line."
Among prominent Americans in this branch of the family were President John Tyler, and William Tyler Page.
Memories of William Shields and his family from William Hathaway, grandson
William Hathaway, a grandson of this William Shields (son of George Hathaway, 1700–1800 and Eliza Shields Hathaway, 1704–1742) wrote in his 1790 history of the family[11]:
"My grandfather was William Shields. He was born in Kent County in the year 1668. My grandmother on my mother's side was Jeanette Parker.
"Aunt Jane was born January 15, 1696. She died in Lancaster County in the year 1750. I had four uncles. One died young. Uncle Tom was born in the year 1699. Uncle James was born in the year 1694. Uncle John was born in the year 1709.
They lived first in Chester County and then moved to Augusta County, Virginia. Mother was born June 3, 1704. She died in Chester County in the year 1742, being stricken with pneumonia.
Grandfather was killed by a falling log while helping one of my uncles build a house in Virginia in 1741. Grandmother lived with Aunt Jane until her death. Uncle James died about the year 1750. His son John was about my own age. He visited us soon after. I have never seen him since then.
He (James' son John) was living in North Carolina a few years ago.
Uncle Tom died about the year 1765, leaving several children.
Uncle John died just before the war.
Several of my cousins were in the Continental Army. Uncle Tom's children moved away, and I do not know where they are. Some of them went south, I think.
Uncle John's children have scattered. One lived in Pennsylvania. One went to North Carolina. One went to Boone's settlement in Frankland a few years ago. Some of them still live in Virginia.
My relatives on Mother's side were all large, strong, long-lived and industrious people."
Lineage discrepancy
NOTE: There has been confusion in profiles with ‘John William’ Shields, ‘William John’ Shields, William Shields. Perhaps this is contributing to confusion in this list.
Assuming that William Hathway's recollections in the biography above are correct, David M. Shields is attached to the wrong father. FamilySearch shows the following children for John William, all in need of further documentation:
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