From Judy Bayless, jbayl@catt.com, 1/20/2003
Hello Again,
I am still trying to pin point my Robert Richard SHIELDS dob: 1792. Augusta Co., VA.
I cannot find any info in books, etc., that states he is the son of Richard SHIELDS and Matilda Arnett... their Robert does not have same year of birth.
My Robert came to Walker Co., GA before the 1850 census with James Monroe SHIELDS, dob 11-28-1818, married Celia Elizabeth Jones, dau of Lewis Jones, J.P. of Cades Cove, TN. I found their marriage bonds in Blount Co., TN library.
As you know all the SHIELDS named their children by the same names.
I do believe my Robert Richard SHIELDS first wife's given name was Elizabeth _____, and that she died before he came to GA ... and was the mother of William, James Monroe, Samuel, and possibly John SHIELDS. ... My Robert Richard SHIELDS remarried two more times in GA ... his second wife was a sister to James Rowland Jones, (Don't know her name) and his third wife was Mary Huskey. ... He had two more children here. ... Catherine and Robert, Jr.; but they are deceased and their children moved away years ago, before I became interested in tracing my roots.
I have the Randolph book, but I have not found any reference to my Robert SHIELDS. I am happy to accept Richard and Margaret as his parents but as you well know, it has to be documented to be entered into any organization such as DAR, UDC, etc. This is what I am hoping to do. I also have lineages from Ireland to TN, if I can make connection from TN to GA on these SHIELDS.
Thanks, J Bayless.Born while the family was staying with family along the New River, around Yadkin area of NC. Robert probably born there as the family would not have traveled until spring of 1784. Robert SHIELDS purchased 1600 acres in the western end of Cades Cove and operated a mill there. See notes. Robert SHIELDS was elected Justice of the Peace for the 16th Civil District of Blount County (Cades Cove) when the district was established in 1836. He served in that capacity until his death in January of 1850. He was active in church (Primitive Baptist) and community affairs. He was a delegate to the Tennessee Baptist Convention in the 1830's. He was appointed (by the County Court) to several road survey 'juries'. One of his first acts as a member of the County Court was to petition for a new road from Tuckaleechee Cove to Cades Cove. The original Indian Trace had served the settlers up to 1832, when the County Court directed teh Cades Cove Militia, with Capt. Wiseman in charge, to make the Trace suitable for wagon travel. The new road was completed by 1840, and was in use until early 1920's, when the present road was completed. Robert SHIELDS came into financial difficulty, and in 1848 D.D. Foute foreclosed the mortgage and moved onto the property, taking over the operation of the mill and store. Robert and some of his children remained on the property until his death. Foute's son, Thomas, and Curran Lemons assisted with teh farm management. Lemons was postmaster from 1856 until after the Civil War. It seems possible that Margaret SHIELDS had joined her children in Murray County, GA, prior to 1850. I have not been able to find her in the 1850 census records. At that time only the children Matilda, George Washington, and Robert, Jr. were with the father in Cades Cove. Five of the Children had already settled in Murray County, GA. Shortly after the death of Robert the other three children moved there. Margaret died at the home of her son, George W. in 1862. Two sons, Henry Harrison and Frederick had married Oliver sisters of Cades Cove and remained there. Henry Harrison married Martha Oliver and settled in the eastern end of Cades Cove, adjacent to the Oliver property. This area is now (1986) occupied by the campground and picnic area. Henry was not disturbed by the Foute takeover. Frederick was married to Mary (Polly) Oliver, and was settled on the home place in the western end of the cove, as the operator of the mill and store. At the Foute takeover he moved his family back to the 'Sugar cove' where his father had first moved to. There the family resided through the Civil War, well out of the way of agents seeking conscriptions, and of the roaming brigands of the time. Foute died in January of 1865, without a will. All of his Cades Cove properties, in excess of 15,000 acres, were sold to the highest bidders by the Blount County Chancery Court. The land, on the most part, was bought by residents of Cades Cove, many of whom had foreclosed by Foute. Frederick Shields 'bid in' the SHIELDS home place, including the mill, plus about 600 adjacent acres. He moved back to the home place and built a large, two story, dwelling house, said to have been the largest log structure of the area. A large house was a necessity. There were thirteen children in the household. See the Appendix for a copy of the will of Frederick SHIELDS, for the distribution of the estate upon his death.
SEE pg. 59 of SHIELDS HISTORY 1980
Robert was a wealthy farmer in Cade's Cove, Blount Co., TN. His descendants are numerous. Robert farmed and was a justice of the peace (1835-50) in Blount County, Tennessee.
Robert and Margaret started their family in Emmert's Cove, Sevier County, Tennessee and, after the signing of the Calhoun Treaty in 1819, moved the family to the valley of the Little Tennessee River in 1820. They later moved deep into the Smokeys to the Cade's Cove area near the headwaters of what is now called Forge Creek. This move was no later than 1823 and was made because of an outbreak of typhoid.
In 1831, Robert purchased 1,600 acres in the western end of Cade's Cove, now a part of Smokey Mountain National Park, from William and Thomas Tipton. He financed the purchase through a loan from D. D. Foute. He and his brother-in-law, Daniel Emmert built a large water-powered mill for sawing lumber and grinding wheat and corn. The mill operated in one form or another until 1936.
In 1848, Robert had financial problems, and Foute foreclosed the mortgage and moved to the property to operate the mill and store.
It is possible Margaret Emmert Shields moved to Murray County, Georgia soon after Robert's death in 1850. Five of the children were already in Murray County, and three more moved there a short time later. Henry Harrison and Frederick remained in Cade's Cove.
Dr. Arthur Randolph Shields gives the date of Margaret's birth as about 1781.
Matilda Shields never married. She and her brother George and their mother moved to Murray County, Georgia in 1860, and Matilda continued to live with George after their mother's death.
George Shields is listed in the "Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865." George never married. He lived with his mother and his sister.
Was killed at the Battle of Antietam.