William Shields (1600 - 1655)

Born 1600 in Lough Neagh, Antrim, Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1655 at about age 55 in County Armagh, Ireland

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Biography

William was born in 1600. William Shields ... He passed away in 1655.

Research Notes

Contributed by Margaret Summitt Robe-79

The story of Shields origins has been compiled over and over, with the basic thread being as recorded in ”The Family of Dr. Seth Wesley and Isabelle Brown Shields,” by John A. Shields, Seymour, Indiana, 1951, co-authored with Ethel Shields Cummings and Margaret Shields Heller. John Edgar Shields, in “Irish Origins of the Shields Family” (p.70) comments: “The version of ancestry given below, with very minor modifications, is the same as that provided in the two other major Shields works by the above author [“The Shields Family History,” Minneapolis, 1917 and “Three Kansas Pioneer Families: Stalker – Shields – Martin” Seymour, Indiana, 1949].

Quoting John A. Shields:“The connected genealogy of the Family treated herein begins with William Shields, born on the shores of Lough Neagh, in County Armagh, Ireland, in 1600. During most of his life he lived in County Antrim, where he died in 1655, a victim of the Cromwellian persecution. He had four sons: William, James, Daniel, and John. Their descendants comprise the largest of the American Shields Families.”

“John, the youngest son, born about 1650, started to America when a very old man, about 1738; he died on the ocean and was buried at (p. 71) sea. His family arrived at Baltimore and settled in Frederick County, Maryland. The most prominent of the descendants of this family is the late United States Senator John Knight Shields, of Chattanooga, Tennessee. [John Edgar Shields comments: actually, from Bean Station, near Rutledge, Grainger County. John A. Shields is incorrect in identification of the immigrant member of this family who died at sea as John Shields; this member of the family apparently lived and died in Ireland. A son, probably named William and probably born in the 1680s, appears to have been the immigrant who died en route (see below, William of Armagh—1728-1797) reference to another part of John Edgar Shield's publication]”.

“Daniel was killed at the Battle of the Boyne, in 1690; his son became identified with the Spanish Army and was subsequently the Governor General of Cuba; his grandson settled in America [actually the generational difference was a little greater than this] and founded a numerous Catholic Shields family, the most prominent of his descendants being General James Shields, of Mexican and Civil War fame, personal and political enemy of Abraham Lincoln, and at various times a United States Senator from Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri. He is buried at Carrollton, Mo.”

“William’s elder sons, William and James, were deported to the Barbados Islands by Cromwell’s government, in 1655. In 1658 they obtained passage on a “chattel boat” (slave ship) and landed at Williamsburg, Virginia. They were the first American Shields [apparently not correct] and founded large Protestant families.”

“James, the younger of the two brothers, did not remain in Virginia, but settled in Kent County, Md. His descendants comprise the most numerous branch of the American Shields families, sometimes, for convenience, called ‘The Family of the Ten Brothers.’”

William, the older of the two Virginia immigrants, was the oldest of the four sons of William Shields of Ireland. He was born in County Antrim in 1630 and settled in Williamsburg, Va., in 1658, where he lived until his death in 1699. He engaged in the business of keeping a tavern and became a man of prominence in the colony…” Thus far the extract from John A. Shields’s family history with John Edgar Shields’s comments.

John Edgar Shields’s “Irish Origins of the Shields Family” (from which this extract is quoted) reviews published sources that he consulted when he compiled the document in April 1975. In “Irish Origins” there are many references to published sources which ought to be consulted in the search for primary documentation.

"Genealogical Notes on Shields Family" by Kevin R. O'Shiel ^[1] is another source that references documentation of the lineage of Daniel Shields, son of William Shields (1600-1655). The legend about Daniel, the son of Daniel, having rescued two girls from drowning in Lough Neagh may have a germ of truth. Apparently, his name was Patrick. Kevin R. O’ Shiel refers to sources that were consulted during the research of Father Eammon Devlin, C. C. of Donaghmore. The first reference to a Shiels at Altmore occurs between 1739-41 when a certain James Cust was Barrack-master of a number of military establishments in the Counties Armagh and Tyrone. Tenison-Groves, prior to the destruction of the archives in Dublin in 1921, made extracts from letters which indicate that a Patrick Shiels of Cappagh said he had been appointed keeper of Altmore Barracks by James Cust. This Patrick is clearly the first of his name to be associated with Altmore Barracks and this must be the man family tradition states to have married a daughter of Thomas Morris the Sheriff of Tyrone. This marriage must surely explain why Patrick Shiels, an Irish Papist, was appointed Keeper of Altmore at a very difficult period for Irish Catholics. This, too, must have been the man family tradition says came from France. If he came from France, he most likely came from Nantes...

Of this latter John Edgar Shields references a Letter of attorney of Luke Shiell of Nantes for Christopher Pippard of Drogheda, Dec. 22, 1717. Letter of indemnity, June 14, 1718. ("Irish Origins", p. 84, citing "Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilization," vol. 4, citing D 16, 416).

One profile listed the place of death for William Shields (d. 1655) as Connault Exile Reservation. A source is needed for this information.

Died a victim of "Cromwellian persecution." Known children: William, James, Daniel (died at Battle of the Boyne, 1690), and John, born 1645. History of the Shields Family by John Edgar Shields.

"William Shields of County Antrim, Ireland," by Linda, Lauren and Ronelle Shields. 29 pages. Copyright 2000 Linda, Lauren and Ronelle Shields. NGS Report

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.dippam.ac.uk/ied/records/47714.pdf

See also: