Mary Elizabeth (Veatch) Shields (1783 - 1839)

Born 27 Aug 1783 in Sevier County, Tennessee

Ancestors

Wife of Benjamin Shields — married 22 Aug 1799 in Sevier, Tennessee, United States

Descendants

Died 30 Jun 1839 at age 55 in Astoria, Fulton County, Illinois

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Biography

Mary Elizabeth “Polly” Veatch was born August 27,1783 in Sevier, Tennessee, a daughter of Nathan I. Veatch and Elizabeth Craig. She married Benjamin Shields on August 22, 1799 [see note below], they had six known children. Benjamin died in 1819 in Indiana where he was buried at Little Flock Baptist Cemetery in Harrison County, Indiana. Polly moved to Illinois with her sister and brother-in-law, Martha and Joseph Shields. She passed away there June 30, 1839 in Astoria, Fulton County, Illinois.

Children of Mary and Benjamin Shields:

• Kinzy B. Shields 1803–1874; m. 1825 Catherine “Katy” Saffer (1803-1879)

• Asahel “Asa” Shields 1805–1880; m. 1836 Mary Ann Miner (1817-1863)

• Robert Shields 1809–1885; 1m. 1828 Ida née Brewer Snodgrass (d. bef. 1-19-1848), widow of Charles Snodgrass; 2m. 1848 Lavinia Smith

• Joseph Shields 1811–1883; 1m. 1829 Mary McLaren (1810-1879); 2m. Rachel Louise Moore (1831-1901)

• Jesse Veatch Shields 1814–1894; m. 1836 Rebecca Ann Miner (1818-1912)

• Richard Shields 1816–1863; 1m. 1836 Alice Waters (1816-1853); 2m. Isabella née McCallister Bergeoff

Research Notes

An account of Benjamin’s brother Joseph. Fulton County Illinois Heritage, published 1988.

Joseph, his wife Martha and Benjamin Shields' widow put their families and belongings on a flatboat in Harrison County, Indiana in the mid-1830s and floated down the Ohio to the Mississippi, went upstream to the Mississippi, up the Illinois to the Spoon River to Woodland Township, Fulton County, Illinois. Says the Robert Shields family (the Ten Brothers) settled on the eastern slope of the Smokeys on what is now Shields Mountain near Pigeon Forge in Sevier County, Tennessee. Some members of the family were already married and had families of their own. They built a fort. Thomas was killed by Indians. Says members of the Veatch and Onion (O'Nion) families, which had married into the family, made the trip as well.

The marriage date, August 22, 1799, for Polly and Benjamin is the same recorded for their married a siblings. It was not uncommon for siblings to be wed on the same day; so, this may be the case or it is a transposition error

Sources