Peter Eli Shields (1887 - 1983)

Born 21 Aug 1887 in NY, NY

Ancestors

Husband of Adelaide Mary (Richardson) Shields — married 10 May 1904 in Winsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 20 Apr 1983 at age 95 in St. James, NY

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Harold Templeton [send private message]

Biography

Peter was born August 21, 1887. He married Adelaide Mary Richardson on May 10, 1904. They met a Bible Meeting someplace in the Bronx. When he saw her, he had to sit next to her. No one seems to know how she came to be in the Bronx when she lived in Winsted, Connecticut.

Peter's occupations included machinist (as noted on the birth certificate of Miriam Amelia, his youngest daughter), a clockshop in Winsted, Connecticut, and some kind of a railroad worker. When I was very young, he told me how railroad crossing gates worked. (I didn't understand his explanation.) He said he knew this because he used to work for the railroad. At the time of the birth of his daughter, Grace Carolyn, possibly earlier, he worked as a brakeman on the railroad. His last known occupation was Personnel Director for the Neptune Meter Company.

Peter (Pete) Eli Shields was born on the 21st of August 1887 at 24 Jane Street, New York, NY. Pete’s working career started at a wholesale grocery business in downtown New York City. Exactly what his duties were at this place isn’t known. As far as is known, he then became a switch tower operator for the Third Avenue Elevated Railroad. During this period, they lived in the Bronx. At some time after 1912, he moved his family to Winsted, Conn. and worked as a machinist in the clock factory there. In 1917, he moved back to the Bronx in New York City and began working as a machinist at the Neptune Meter Company located in Long Island City. In the early 1920’s Pete was promoted to the position of Personnel Manager for the company and remained in that position until he retired in September of 1952. It was while working as a machinist on a lathe at Neptune Meter Company, that he accidentally cut off the end of his right index finger to the first knuckle.

Pete had many diverse hobbies and pastimes during his life. During the 1920’s, he was so involved with photography that it became a sideline business for him. He not only took pictures of his own family, he also took pictures for others on their important occasions. He also processed films brought in by the general public. He had two dark rooms in the cellar to carry out this work on a rather large scale, processing an average of about 200 prints a day. This large scale of film processing could not have been accomplished without the help of his wife, Ada. Pete would do the developing of the negatives in the evenings and then Ada would do a lot of the printing of the photos during the day while Pete was working. However, the drain on his time and energies seemed to make him lose interest in photography by the end of the 1920’s.

During the early 1920’s, radio was in its infancy and he built radios from kits for the family. Often times many folks from the neighborhood came to the house when big events were happening to listen to them. This was before electricity was installed in the house so the radios used storage batteries for their power. After the electricity was installed in the house, this hobby ended and he then bought factory built radios.

Pete was also interested in wood working, but early on this was only directed toward making things needed in the home. Just before retiring, woodworking became his primary hobby. He purchased several machines such as a lathe, table saw, drill press, sanders, etc. This lasted for several years until, as he got older, he felt that it wasn’t safe for him to work with the machinery so he gave them all to his son.

Another of Pete’s hobbies, that figured quite prominently, was making audio recordings. He began this in the late 1930’s with machines that made recordings by cutting grooves in blank discs. As the industry progressed to tape recorders, he switched to making audio cassette recordings. This hobby continued until his death in 1983. Pete was very handy and knowledgeable regarding things around the house and could fix most anything that needed repair.

Pete was also very musically inclined. Early in life he played the violin, but didn’t continue with this. He also sang in church choirs and other musical groups throughout his lifetime. Additionally, his baking skills cannot be overlooked along with the “care” packages of ‘goodies’ which he made up at Christmas time and sent them to his grandchildren that where in college.

Peter married Adelaide Mary (Ada) Richardson on the 10th of May 1904 in Winsted, Conn. The family lore is that they met at a large evangelistic meeting in the Bronx, NY. He spotted her and just had to sit next to her. Why Ada was in NYC at this time (she lived in Winsted, Conn.) and other details are not known, but it must have worked! (See maternal grandparents for a possible reason why she might have been in NYC at the time.)

In 1905 they lived on East 138th Street in the Bronx where Adelaide was born. In 1907 they lived at 635 East 135th Street where Grace was born. Then they moved to Haskin Street near East Tremont Avenue in the Throgg’s Neck section of the Bronx where Lillian was born in 1909, Peter in 1910 and Evelyn in 1912. Their next move was to Winsted, Connecticut where Edna was born in 1914 and Miriam in 1916. After moving back to NYC in 1917, they lived at 514 East 148th Street in the Bronx where Herbert was born in 1921. In 1922, they moved to 3371 East Tremont Avenue. While living there, Ada started having heart problems so Pete built a “summerhouse” in the yard so that Ada could get out of the house in the hot weather. During their stay at this location, their three oldest daughters were married and moved to their own homes.

In the summer of 1930, they moved to a house at 464 East 144th Street, Bronx, NY. However, this was during the worst of the depression years when jobs were very scarce. Since Pete was the only one in the family with an income, it soon became necessary for two of their married daughters, along with their families, to move in with them. This situation created some very difficult times for everyone with fifteen people in one house. There was an especially hard period when five of his grandchildren and his own young son came down with whooping cough.

As the depression became less severe, the married daughters and their families were able to make it on their own and Evelyn was married so that only left six in the family. Pete and Ada along with her father (see grandparents for details) and their three youngest children moved to an apartment at 474 East 141st Street. Then in 1933 they moved to a house at 1035 Trinity Avenue; in 1934 to an apartment at 410 east 135th Street where Edna was married leaving only five in the family. The next move was to another apartment at 451 East 140th Street in 1935. At the end of January 1936 they moved to an apartment at 439 West 57th Street in Manhattan in order to be closer to Calvary Baptist Church where they were quite active and also to cut down on Pete’s commuting time. It was while living here, that Ada’s father, Frank Richardson died in the summer of 1940. Late in 1940, they moved to an apartment at 87-39 Elmhurst Avenue in the Elmhurst area of Queens.. In 1943, their son, Herbert, was married so that left only Pete, Ada and their daughter Miriam. In1946, they moved in with their daughter and son-in-law, Edna and George Roff. They lived in a house on 108th Street in Ozone Park, Queens, NY. Miriam was married in 1948. In 1952, Edna and her family moved to a house on 242nd Street in Bellrose, Queens and Pete and Ada went with them. It was while living in Bellrose that Ada died in 1953. Pete continued to live with Edna and moved with her to Smithtown, LI and later to Head of the Harbor, LI until his death. Pete died at the age of 95 years and eight months on the 20th of April 1983 after a six-week illness at St. John’s Hospital, St. James, and NY. He was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in Queens, NY on April 23rd, 1983.

He died on April 20, 1983 in St. James, NY. ^[1]

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UPD

UPD 25 OCT 2009 10:49:38 GMT -0500

Record ID Number

Record ID Number: MH:I128

User ID

User ID: A0E50594-7WTY-3K14-A0E5-A0E505940PUR

Sources

• WikiTree profile Shields-928 created through the import of cz1254_67155820735zf10x84z954.ged on Nov 27, 2012 by Bryan Rowe. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Bryan and others.

1. ↑ Entered by Harold Templeton, Friday, September 27, 2013. Biography by Herb Shields.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Harold Templeton for creating Shields-1261 on 27 Sep 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Harold and others.