References:
(1) Royal Ancestors of Some American Families, compiled by Michel L. Call.
(2) The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, George
Andrews Moriarty.(3) Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists, Frederick Lewis Weis.
(4) Stammtafeln Zur Geschichte Der Europaischen Staaten, Wilhelm Karl, Prinz
Von Isenburg.(5) Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne.
(6) The Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Gerald
Paget.(7) The American Genealogist.
(8) The Genealogist.
(9) The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.(10) The Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet and Cecily Neville, Ernst Friedrick
Kraentzler.(11) The Plantagenet Ancestry, W. H. Turton.
(12) Tableaux Genealogiques des Souverains de la France et de seu Grands
Feudataires, Paris, 1863.(13) The House of Adam, Georgia B. Schwartz, 4 volumes.
(14) Archive Records, The Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(15) Tablettes Chronologiques.
(16) From Whence We Came, Burdick.
(17) Magna Charta Sureties.
(18) Manga Charta Barons.
(19) Magna Charta, Wurts.
(20) Americans of Royal Descent, Browning.
(21) Royalty for Commoners, Roderick Stuart.
Historical Notes:
(1) Aethelhelm, Prince of Wessex, Earldorman of Wiltshire; secured Compton and
Crondoll, probably from King Alfred; he held Aldingbourne and Newnton.
References:
(1) Royal Ancestors of Some American Families, compiled by Michel L. Call.
(2) The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, George
Andrews Moriarty.(3) Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists, Frederick Lewis Weis.
(4) Stammtafeln Zur Geschichte Der Europaischen Staaten, Wilhelm Karl, Prinz
Von Isenburg.(5) Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne.
(6) The Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Gerald
Paget.(7) The American Genealogist.
(8) The Genealogist.
(9) The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.(10) The Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet and Cecily Neville, Ernst Friedrick
Kraentzler.(11) The Plantagenet Ancestry, W. H. Turton.
(12) Tableaux Genealogiques des Souverains de la France et de seu Grands
Feudataires, Paris, 1863.(13) The House of Adam, Georgia B. Schwartz, 4 volumes.
(14) Archive Records, The Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(15) Tablettes Chronologiques.
(16) From Whence We Came, Burdick.
(17) Magna Charta Sureties.
(18) Manga Charta Barons.
(19) Magna Charta, Wurts.
(20) Americans of Royal Descent, Browning.
(21) Royalty for Commoners, Roderick Stuart.
Historical Notes:
(1) Aethelgyth, was heiress of Risborough, which was laterin 903, granted to
her son Aethelfryth, by King Edward, because the chater had been destroyed by
fire.
References:
(1) Royal Ancestors of Some American Families, compiled by Michel L. Call.
(2) The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, George
Andrews Moriarty.
(3) Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists, Frederick Lewis Weis.
(4) Stammtafeln Zur Geschichte Der Europaischen Staaten, Wilhelm Karl, Prinz
Von Isenburg.
(5) Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne.
(6) The Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Gerald Paget.
(7) The American Genealogist.
(8) The Genealogist.
(9) The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.
(10) The Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet and Cecily Neville, Ernst Friedrick
Kraentzler.
(11) The Plantagenet Ancestry, W. H. Turton.
(12) Tableaux Genealogiques des Souverains de la France et de seu Grands
Feudataires, Paris, 1863.
(13) The House of Adam, Georgia B. Schwartz, 4 volumes.
(14) Archive Records, The Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(15) Tablettes Chronologiques.
(16) From Whence We Came, Burdick.
(17) Magna Charta Sureties.
(18) Manga Charta Barons.
(19) Magna Charta, Wurts.
(20) Americans of Royal Descent, Browning.
SHIELDS FAMILY HISTORY by John Arthur SHIELDS, 1917. pg. 16
The year 1761, the date of the marriage of Robert SHIELDS and Nancy Stockton, marks the beginning of the "modern" history of our division of the SHIELDS family. To this union were born eleven children; a daughter and ten sons. The probable order of their births is observed in the following list, as nearly as the writer has been able to determine it from correletive information.
1) Janet 6) Robert
2) Thomas 7) John
3) David 8) Joseph
4) William 9) Benjamin
5) James 10) JesseAll of these were born in what was then Augusta County, Virginia, their birthplace being perhaps within what is now Rockingham County. It is my purpose to set down the family histories of these eleven children and their descendants in so far as I have been able to gather the facts concerning them.
SEEKING A NEW HOME
Between 1732 and 1770 numerous groups of people from Maryland and Pennsylvania, largely Scotch and Irish, had wended their way southward through the mountain troughs; and among these pioneers of 1740 we find the three SHIELDS brothers previously referred to. Not a few penetrated to the Shenandoah Valley through the passes of the Blue Ridge from Eastern Virginia and the Carolinas. The line of settlement had been gradually pushed forward until at the close of the Revolution it had the upper waters of the Yadkin River, in the northwest corner of North Carolina, and there were no longer any free lands in that entire region. The far outlying frontier upon which Robert SHIELDS father and uncles had reared huts forty years before no longer abounded in game and free pastures for roving herds; indeed, the frontier had been pushed forward to the west roving herds; indeed, the frontier had been pushed forward to the west flowing streams -- to the head waters of the Monongahela, wqatauga, Clinch, French Broad, and Holston.
At about this time Robert SHIELDS, with a large family of boys, some of them already full grown, began to feel the pressure for more room caused by the rising tide of population in the fertile Shenandoah. The forbidding mountain ranges had long hemmed in the settlers, and the Indians had formed a still more serious barrier to the slowly advancing outposts of civilization. The treaty at the close of the Revolutionary War had given to the United States the territory between the Alleghany mountains and teh Mississippi, and wiht increasing knowledge of the mountain passes, and growing pressure of population behind, there had arisen a general desire to scale the hills and to seek free lands and exemption from tax collectors beyond them.
Already Daniel Boone had been making excurtions across the mountains. His glowing tales of desireable supplies of game, the great fertility of the land, the desireability of the climate and the beauty of the country had persuaded other restless spirits to visit the west country. In the early 1780's the government of North Carolina, of which the present state of Tennessee was then a part, began offering very liberal inducements to settlers to occupy the western lands. Land offices were established in May, 1783, to sell to the immigrants for a few cents an acre, and grants were made to Revolutionary soldiers to repay them for services rendered during the war. A large number of families, particuliarly of the Irish and Scotch-Irish settelments of Virginia and North Carolina, moved westward. With this tide of immigration, in 1784, came Robert and Nancy Stockton SHIELDS, with their daughter, Janet, and the "ten brothers". During that year the new settlements extended westward as far as the big island in the French Broad River, thirty miles above the present site of Knoxville, and on the very outskirts, on the banks of the Middle Creek, which flows into the Little Pigeon River, which is in turn a tributary of the French Broad. Robert established his family in SHIELDS Fort, built on what is now T. D. W. McMahon Farm, near the present village of Pigeon Forge, close by SHIELDS Mountain, in what is now Sevier County, Tennessee. Etc.....Robert was an officer all during the Rev. War.
Robert and Nancy Stockton Shields moved with their family to Sevier Co.,
Tenn., which was then a part of North Carolina, soon after the close of the
War of 1783 or very early in 1784.Birth and death information by Tom Rasmussen.
Shields Gen. by Mary O. Derrick Coleman page 2.
Jeanette (or Janet) oldest child and only daughter of Robert and Nancy
Stockton Shields was born March 7, 1762. The family given in order of their
birth are as follows: Thomas, 1763; Richard, 1764; David, 1766; William, 1768; John, 1769; James, 1771; Robert, 1772; Joseph, 1775; the missing brother in 1778; Jesse, 1782.
Jeanette married Joshua Tipton, son of General John Tipton. Their
children were Rhoda, John and Agnes. In April, 1793 a call came for volunteers to put down a threatened raid of the Indians. Among those responding were Joseph Shields then a lad of 18 and Joshua Tipton, his brother in law. After starting, Joshua rode back and requested Jeannette to name the expectant baby, if a boy, for him if he failed to return. His premonitions were correct, they were ambushed by a band of Cherokee Indians April 18, 1793. Joshua was killed and Joseph Shields was severely wounded. The baby was named Elizabeth. What trying days of anxiety were those, testing ones faith and trust in God.
Of Jeannette's family, Rhoda married her cousin, Joshua Shields. Their
four children were John Tipton, Nancy, Thomas and Arnet. We have the names of only Nancy's children and those of Arnet's. Nancy became the wife of John
Lindsey, his second marriage. Agnes Tipton married William Edwards in 1811,
this may have been a relative of Susan Edwards, wife of David Shields.
Elizabeth married John Denbo in 1818. Jeanette moved with her family and
other of the Shields relatives, among them her brother, James Shields, into
Southern Indiana in 1807, settling first in Harrison Co. at Brindley Ferry
later moving into Jackson Co. and establishing a fort near the present city of Seymour, Indiana.
John Tipton, only son of Joshua and Jeannette Tipton, married his cousin
Jeannette or Jennie Shields, daughter of John Shields.
Page 3 of Shields Genealogy by Margaret Coleman
Janet, Thomas, Richard and David, children of Robert and Nancy Shields were married soon after the family settled in the fort, as the dates of children born to them are given in 1784 and 1785. THomas Shields, oldest child of Robert and Nancy Stockton Shields was born in 1763 and married Rhoda (last name not known). He was the only member of his family killed by the Indians. (See under Thomas)In the book, THE DESCENDENTS OF ROBERT AND MARGARET EMMERT SHIELDS
by A. Randolph SHIELDS, 1987Robert and Nancy Stockton SHIELDS produced a family of one daughter and ten sons. All were born on the headwaters of the norht prong of the James River in, what is now, Rockbridge County, VA. Their order of birth was: Janet, 1762-1822; Thomas, 1763-1797; Richard, 1764-1825; David, 1766 -?; William, 1768-1822; John, 1769-(1840's); James, 1771-1847; Robert, 1772-1823; Joseph, 1778 -?; Benjamin, 1780 - 1819; Jesse, 1782 - 1848. This is commonly known as THE FAMILY OF TEN BROTHERS.
After the War of Independence, and with the establishment of some semblance of law and order on the frontier, but not completely ending the danger of Indian raids, new lands in Kentucky and western Norht Carolina were beckoning pioneer famileis deeper into the wildernss. In teh previosly cited annals, pp 315 ff, there is a vivid account of one of these migrations. In October of 1783, several families gathered at teh courthosue in Staunton, the seat of government of Augusta County, VA, to begin a westward march by way of the Wilderness Trail toward Kentucky. This road was well known, and well traveled, into the 'Holston Country'. From Staunton it passed to the North Fork of the James River, thence to Botetourt Courthouse. Frm tehre it crossed the Alleghany Mountains to the New River. One fork went up the New River, southeast into North Carolina. The main road continued by way of Fort Chiswell to the headwaters of the Holston River, a large spring at teh presennt site of marion, VA. From Ft. Chiswell to Abingdon, VA, teh road was used extensively during the Revolutionary War, and was maintained in good shape for wagon travel. At Bean Station, now in Tennessee, The Wilderness Road joined The Boone Trail from North Carolina, then continued through teh Cumberland Gap into the wilderness of 'Kaintuk', to Boonesboro and environs. By the time the Virginia migrants reached Abingdon " The party had increased to three hundred persons, and when they arrived at Bean Station ... they were joined by two hundred more from North Carolina. Three fourths of these were women and children". It is possible that Robert Shields and his entourage had joined this trek early on. They were not in the group that assembled at the Staunton Courthouse, however. We do know that they were on the move to western North Carolina during the same period. They possibly left the group after Abingdon, diverting to reach the North Carolina Land Office, located on the North Fork of the Holston River. At this point he signed papers and paid fees for his new acres located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Earlier, two of the Shields brothers had spent almost a year scouting for a suitable spot. The site selected was as remote as could be reached at that time. It was located on Middle Creek, near its confluence with the Little Pigeon River, in Green (now Sevier) County.
A McMahan family was traveling with the Shields. He was married to a sister of Nancy Stockton, and settled close by. The trail down the Holston River was well traveled, but the path up the Pigeon River was no more than a sparsely traveled man-way at the time. The land had to be cleared and a blockhouse (fort) erected, for they were settling in Cherokee Indian Territory.
The Shields Fort was never subjected to an attack by the Indians. The son in law, Joshua Tipton, was killed in a skirmish with the Indians in Greene County, in 1793. A son, Thomas, was killed while out of the Fort clearing a peach orchard, in 1797.
By 1808, the large family was again feeling the restraint of an overflowing population and there was a major exit from Tennesse to a new frontier in the mid-west. Five of the brothers, Willliam, James, Robert, Joseph and Jesse, along with their widowed sister, Janet Tipton and her family, traveled to Indiana and beyond. A brother, David stopped off in Kentucky, and became a renowned Ohio River boatman. David later returned to Tennessee and settled near Athens. Benjamin moved his family to Roane County, near Kingston, Tennessee. John was a blacksmith and scout with the Lewis and Clark Expedition which explored the overland route to the Pacific Ocean. After a tour of duty in the War of 1812, Robert returned to Sevier County from Indiana, and became a wealthy land owner and a leading citizen of the County.
VIRGINIANS IN THE REVOLUTION, 1775-1783, by John H. Gwthany, 1938Brothers: Robert SHIELDS, Capt. Lang's Company, Augusta County;
William SHIELDS, Capt. Tate's Company, Augusta County;
John SHIELDS, Capt. Tate's Company, Augusta Co.
also: James SHIELDS, Capt. of Militia, March, 1784, Augusta Co.
David SHIELDS, Capt. John Cunningham's Company, Augusta Co.Annals of Augusta County, cited above:
Capt. James Tate's company of Augusta Riflemen participated January 17, 1781, in the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina, and later in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, NC. Capt Tate was killed in the Guilford Courthouse battle.FROM SHIELDS HISTORY, 1980, pg. 54
Robert SHIELDS departed Augusta Co., VA prior to the 1790 listing of the Heads of the Family. (American Genealogical Index, Fremont Rider, Editor, Middleton, Conn. Vol. 36, published 1950). This index lists names of the Heads of Families published by the U.S. Bureau of Census. SInce the 1790 Census for VA was destroyed by teh British when they entered the Capital during the War of 1812, no doubt this listing was taken from teh tax lists of VA. Robert is not listed and this would indicate his departure prior to 1790. This migration is also doucmented by a District Court Record, (Chalkey, Vol I, p. 520, dated Sept. 1802, where "Robert SHIELDS, Tenn. is shown as a tax delinquent."The Court referred to as "Court of Rockingbridge", says Robert SHIElDS lived for a time in Rockbridge (Rockingham CO., VA) formed in 1778 from parts of Augusta and Botetourt Counties. In 1781 he acquired land on Smith Creek, a branch of Little River of Calf pasture (Chalkeley Vol 3, p. 565). The Calf pasture River lies in what is presently known as Augusta and Rockbridge Co. In 1782, as the heir of his brother, John, of Botetourt Co, he conveyed land to William SHIELDS, (Chalkeley Vol 3, p. 566). His daughter, Janet, married Joshua Tipton about 1785 in Botetourt Co., VA.
Robert SHIELDS later served in the Militia in Captain Long's Company in Augusta Co., VA.
At this time the State of NC offered much cheap land to the pioneers for their mere settlement upon htis land. The incentive to the early settlers was to offer two hundred acres to anyone who would settle on it, build a house not less than twenty feet square and seven feet stud, clear and make fit for tillage five acres within three years and live on the premises for at least seven years.
Daniel BOONE and other hunters and explorers had brought glowing reports back to the kinsman about the fertile land, the abundance of game and other exciting things about the wilderness. Robert was not immune to these reports. With a large family to provide for, he could see many advantages to seeking other land.
In about 1784, Robert SHIElDS and the Archibald McMahan family, men who had married sisters, Nancy and Debora STOCKTON, could resist the temptation no longer. They packed their possessions in at least three wagons, so the story goes, and embarked upon the long journey to the Southweset.
The route to the Southwest was called Traders Trail. It ran up the Shenandoah Valley in VA crossing the divide to the headwaters of the Holston River in Southwestern VA. At about the present site of Kingsport, TN, a vehicle road ran west toward Kentucky and another ran south to the Watagua. The main route of Traders Trail beyond this point remained for pack animals to travel. It followed the Holston River to a point near the present town of Rogersville, turned south through the mountains to the Nolichuncky River and followed it to the French Broad River; thence to the mouth of the Little Pigeon, where the Trail turned southwest.At the Watauga Land Office, Robert SHIELDS bought a tract of land on Middle Creek, a tributary of the Little Pigeon Rier (now Sevier Co., Tenn.). This was probably one of the most remote of the frontier settlements.
In 1784, Robert and his five oldest sons carried on theirbacks equipment that was essential to the building up of their settlement at Big Island n the French Broad River. Leaving the regular trail at the Little Pigeon River, they turned south up that stream to their new home.
On what is now known as the old T.D.W. McMahan place on Middle Creek, a branch of the Little Pigeon, they built a temporary cabin at the foot of what is now known as SHIELDS Mountain. They started a clearing and began the erection of SHIELDS fort.
On the frontier, a fort was an essential building which offered protection from hostile enemies. Most of all teh ealry settlers lived in forts. Some of these were large community affairs and others would only house a single family. Most all were constructed along the same genearal lines.
SHIELDS Fort when completed was a long building 16 X 100 feet with a low ceiling and attic. It was constructed of heavy logs, cut form teh land, with a fireplace at either end. There were four outside doors, several small window openings without glass adn numerous portholes at convenient places upstairs and down. The original buildign contained living quarters for large families, with a large common kitchen at one end and a common living room at the other. The building was in the center of an oblong yard of about a quarter acre, surrounded by walls 12 feet high. The walls consisted of a double row of logs standing on end, closely spaced, sharpened at the top and fastened together with raw hide or wooden pins. High sentry boxes at each endof the stockage gave a commanding view of the clearing of several acres. Stables for the live stock and other storage buildings were also within the enclosure.
Fortunately, the SHIELDS Fort was several miles off the regular Indian Trails and it was never attacked by large war parties. However, it was frequently disturbed by small roving bands of two or more Indians who might light fire upon workers in the clearing.
Nearly four years was required to complete the original structure. It was in this Fort that Robert SHIELDS, his children and his grandchildren lived nearly 20 years. Seven of his sons brought brides to the Fort. Eventually, the sons began to purchase their own land and build their own homes nearby. With the early burning of the Court House at Sevier Co., many of these early land transactions are lost. (Records began around 1830)
Robert SHIELDS died 18 January 1802, Intestate. Nancy Stockton SHIELDS died while living at the Ft., but the date is unknown. Both she and Robert are buried at the Middle Creek Cemetery. Her stone says, "In memory of Nancy, wife of Robert SHIElDS, daughter of Richard and Agnes Stockton. SHIELDS came to Sevier Co. in 1784."
To Robert and Nancy were born at least 11 known children. Many families histories have been written on these ten brothers and their descendants. It is not the purpose of this compiler to research each of these sons and one daughter. This would be a life time undertaking. However, each of these children will be listed and it is the hoope that the descendants of these children would someday pick up their ancestor and bring them down to the present generation.
All of the children of Robert and Nancy were born in Augusta Co., VA, their birthpalce being probably within what is now Rockingham Co., VA.Christine Brown says Robert was born 9 November 1749 near Harrisburg, Virginia.
In addition to the 10 sons shown here, Bill Navey lists (1) Ezekiel Shields b. 1778 and (2) Joshua Shields b. 10 March 1782 at Harrisonburg, Virginia, d. 16 September 1848 in Indiana.
Private in Francis Lang's Company in Revolutionary War. (Christine Brown says Robert was a captain.) Moved to Sevier County, Tennessee in 1784.
John A. Shields in one manuscript put Robert's birth at 1740. He says there were 11 sons, one of whom died in infancy. Another source says there were 12 brothers and two died in infancy.
Court records indicate that Robert acquired land in 1781 on Smith Creek, a branch of the Calfpasture River in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, Virginia. As heir to his brother John of Botetourt County, Robert conveyed land to William Shields in 1782.
John A. Shields says the family settled in the western wilderness near Pigeon Forge because the government of North Carolina was offering cheap land and tax exemptions and because they were pressed in Virginia by high taxes, poor markets, ruinous competition of slave-labor plantations (the Shieldses were not slave holders), hard times and the increasing needs of a large family. Daniel Boone, described as "a kinsman," and other hunters and explorers had brought back glowing accounts of the fertility of the land, abundance of game and beauty of the country, all of which was added to accounts by the eldest son, Thomas, who had spent three years exploring the unsettled region of East Tennessee.
In 1784, the Shields and McMahan families (Mrs. Deborah McMahan was Nancy Stockton's recently widowed sister) loaded their possessions in three wagons and embarked on the long trail down the Shenandoah Valley. At Big Lick (Roanoke), the party divided. One wagon, in charge of Robert's son James, 13, with Nancy, Janet and the smaller Shields boys, went to Yadkin Settlement in North Carolina, where they remained with Robert's cousins a year before proceeding to Tennessee. The other two wagons proceeded as far as the settlement on the Watauga where the McMahan and Thomas' and Richard's wives remained until the following year. In 1785, the McMahan and the Yadkin party of the Shields family went on with the pack animals via the old Traders Trail.
At the Watauga Land Office, Robert Shields bought a tract of land on Middle Creek, a tributary of the Little Pigeon River in what is now Sevier County, Tennessee. This was far beyond the most remote of the frontier settlements. The most remote settlement up until that time was at Big Island in the French Broad River, about 20 miles northeast of Robert's land. From Watauga to Middle Creek was about 100 miles as the crow flies and more than 200 miles by the pack-animal trail and about 150 miles via the footpaths through the forest.
In 1784, Robert and his five older sons, carrying on their backs such scanty equipment as was absolutely essential, proceeded on foot by mountain paths known to Thomas. They often traveled days without seeing a settler's cabin. Once they were stalked by two Indians with flintlocks and tomahawks. Thomas, becoming aware of the lurking danger, took two long-rifles, going some distance ahead of the others, and hid until the trailing Indians passed him. He killed both of them.
After about two weeks, they reached the mouth of the Little Pigeon River. Leaving the regular trail, they turned south up that stream to their new location. On what is now known as the old T. D. McMahan place on Middle Creek, a branch of the Little Pigeon River, they built a temporary cabin at the foot of Shields Mountain, started a clearing and began the erection of Shields fort.
On the frontier, a fort was a prime necessity for protection from hostile Indians. Following the Revolution, Spain claimed the land west of the Alleghenies and bitterly opposed settlement from the United States. The Spanish incited the Indians, especially the Cherokees, offering large bounties for white settlers' scalps. Some accounts say that between 1780 and 1795 half the male settlers were killed by Indians.
Shields Fort, when completed was 16x100 feet with low ceilings and attics. It was constructed of heavy logs with a fireplace at each end. There were four outside doors, several small window openings without glass and numerous portholes at convenient places upstairs and down. The original building contained living quarters for six families with a large common kitchen at one end and a common living room at the other. The building was in the midst of an oblong yard of about a quarter-acre, surrounded by walls 12 feet high. The walls consisted of double rows of logs standing on end, closely spaced and sharpened at the top and fastened together with wooden pins. A high sentry box at each end of the stockade gave a commanding view of the clearing of several acres. The spring was within the enclosure, as were stables for the stock and all the other buildings.
Nearly four years was required to complete the original structure. It was in this fort that Robert Shields and his children and grandchildren lived for almost 20 years. Seven of his sons brought brides to the fort. As the family grew, the size of the stockade was increased. Eventually, the McMahan and some of the Shields boys moved into their own separate quarters nearby.
John A. Shields says Robert and Nancy Shields died at the fort about 1805 and were buried in unmarked graves on a nearby hillside. In 1976, the Spencer Clark Chapter of the DAR marked Robert's and Nancy's graves, which are now part of a small cemetery at the rear of the Middle Creek Methodist Church. Other members of the Shields and McMahan families are buried there as well.
Robert's grave marker reads: "Robert Shields Pvt. Francis Lang's Co. Revolutionary War Nov 9 1749-Jan 18 1802." E. R. Walker III says the dates on tombstones of Robert Shields and Nancy Stockton cannot be documented.
Joe Funderburk reports, in addition to the 11 children listed here, a son, Ezekiel, born 1778, and a son, Joshua, born 10 March 1782 at Harrisonburg, Virginia, died 16 September 1848 in Indiana.[v28t2460.FTW]
Served as a Private in Captain Long's Company from VA during Rev. War
Robert, Nancy and family along with Nancy's sister and her family (the McMahans) left VA in 1784 because of high taxes, and migrated to the wilderness of Tennessee near the present town of Sevierville. Robert purchased land at the Watoga Land Office. They built a fort at the foot of Shields' Mountain on Middle Creek, a tributary of the Little Pigeon River. In 1784, the most remote settlement in the region was at Big Bend in French Broad River about 20 miles NE of Robert's land. The fort was needed for protection from indians. Spain claimed everything west of the Alleghenies and bitterly opposed settlers from the former British Colonies. Spain payed the Cherokee Indians for white scalps resulting in the killing of many settlers. Many gave up and moved back to VA and the Carolinas.
The Shields and McMahans stayed. Their building was 16 x 100 feet with a low ceiling and an attic. It was constructed of heavy logs with a fireplace at each end. It had four doors to the outside with several small open windows and numerous firing ports both upstairs and down. The original building contained living quarters for six families. The building was on an oblong lot of about 1/4 acre, which was surrounded by a 12-foot high wall of upright, sharpened logs fastened together with wooden pins. It took four years to complete the fort, which was about 12 miles off the main indian trail. The fort was only bothered by small war parties.
The Robert Shields family lived at this fort for nearly 20 years. Seven of their sons brought brides to the fort. Nancy and Robert both died there, and were buried on a nearby hillside.
On 21 November 1976, the Spencer Clark Chapter of the DAR marked their graves. This cemetery is on a hill in back of a white country church. Other Shields and McMahans are buried there. In 1978, Oliver Shields from 22805 Willow Lane, Veneta, OR visited the area, and spoke with Glenn McMahan who lives on part of the original Shields property.
Information from G. Ronald Hurd of Vienna, VA, and letter to Walter Davidson from Ila and Oliver Shields of Veneta, OR (1 May 1983).Robert and Nancy had one daughter and ten sons.
SHIELDS FAMILY HISTORY by John Arthur SHIELDS, 1917, pg. 13.
John SHIELDS, the grandfather of the "Ten Brothers," around whom this sketch centers very largely, purchased 225 acres of land from Beverly Manor in 1742. His will was filed January 23, 1772, in which he is called a free holder. It mentions his wife, Margaret (We do not know her maiden name but have reason to believe that it was Perry), and sons, John, Thomas, and Robert, and a daughter Mary. Robert was the father of the "Ten Brothers." He was married n 1761 to Nancy Stockton.
Chalkey: RECORDS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 1745 - 1800, Vol. III, 1966
The will of John SHIElDS was dated 23 January 1772. All of the property was left to wife, Margaret Perry, and to sons John, Thomas and Robert, and daughter Mary.
Codicil, dated 24 January 1772: "To son William, 1/2 of tract whereon son John lives".
"I ordain Thomas SHIELDS an William Hayes my sole Executors".
"Teste: John SHIELDS, William SHIELDS and William HAYES. Teh will was proved 16 November 1773, by John SHIELDS ad William SHIELDS. William SHIELDS refused to qualify. 17 Novemeber 1773, administrator was granted Margaret and Thomas SHIELDS, who qualified with Matthew THOMAS and William SHIELDS.SEE PAGE 46 of SHIELDS HISTORY, 1980
John SHILEDS as born abt. 1709 in Chester Co., PA, the son of John SHIELDS. In about the year 1740, he with his two brothers, Thomas and James and his father, William moved to Augusta Rockingham Co., VA in teh lower Shenandoah Valley of VA.
John and his brother, Thomas, were closely associated in their activities in the wilderness. In 1749, both purchased land from Beverly Manor in Augusta Co., (Chalkey Records, Vol. 3, pp. 273, 275). The description of their property indicates John's tract adjoined land owned by Robert Christian and Thomas's tract was not far away. The names of John, Thomas and James appear on several documents such as witnesses to will, and buying and selling of property within the county.Prior to the Revolution, both John and Thomas were in the Augusta County Militia. Perhaps John's advanced age was the reason for his serving in the Militia rather than the Continental Army. John served with Capt. John Willsons Co. and Thomas served with Capt. John Christian's Co.
John Married Margaret Perry, daughter of Robert and Leah (Morris) Perry. From a copy of the Robert Perry Bible (Microfilm, SLC, UT), we find that Robert Perry, Margaret's father, was born 2 Feb. 1676 in England. He married 10 Feb. 1699, Leah Morris in the Colony of Maryland. Leah was born 10 Feb 1679. Robert and Leah (Morris) Perry had:
1) Elizabeth Perry b. 20 Dec 1699 m. Perez Chipman
2) Morris Perry
3) Leah Perry
4) Margaret Perry b. 21 Oct. 1710 m. John SHIELDS
5) Mary Perry b. 4 May 1712 m. Norcott BairdJohn made his will dated 23 of January 1772 and it was probated 17 Nov 1773. The sons that he named in his will, Thomas and William refused to act in this capacity an don the son, Thomas, as Administrators of the Will (See Will, included). No death date has been found for Margaret.
WILL OF JOHN SHIELDS
In the name of God Amen: The twentieth third day of January 1772: John SHIELDS of Augusta free holder, being very weak of body but of perfect mind and memory Thanks be given unto God therefor calin gunto mind hte mortality of my Body adn knowing that it is apointed for me once to die do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament, that is to say principaly and first of all I give and recomment my soul unto the Hands of Almighty God that give it and my Body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent Christian Burial at teh Descreation of my Excedutors nothing doubting but at teh genearl I shall receive the saem again by the mighty Power of God, and as touching such worldly estate where with it has pleased God to Bless me in this Life, I give demise and despose of the saem in teh following manner and form, ----First, I give and bequeath to Margaret my dearly beloved wife is to heave her vittels and Deinck and the House wee Live in and the Belld coe and the Brinled cow and four Evs and her bed and to calfs. Nothing to be taken off this estate at her last bequeat her death. I give to my son John the Half of the Estate he now possesses and a Ewe and Lamb also to my son William I give Ewe and Lamb also to my son Thomas I give this estate I Now Live on by him to be possessed and enjoyed and a Cow and a hepher and Calve and a Black and White Hepher also he is to ansuier all Debts or Demands Lagaly Due on said Estate allso to my son Robert I give a Cow and Hepher and a Ewe and Lamb and to my Daughter Marrey I give thirty pounds to be paid to hir by my son Thomas in the spease of too years and hir Horse and hir Cow and too sheepe and I also constitue and apoint and ordain Thomas SHIELDS and my son William SHIELDS and William HAYS my sole escecutors of this last Will and Testament and I do Hear by utterly Disalosee -- revock and Disannul all and every other Testametns wills Ligacees Bequests and Excecutors by me in any ways before named willed and bequested satisfing and confirming this and no other to be my last will and Testametn In witness where of I heave hereunto set my Hand and Seal the Day and Year above written
Signed Sealed published peronunced and declared by the said John SHIELDS as his last will and Testament in the Presence of us the Subscribers
John SHIELDS
William SHIELDS John SHILEDS (his mark)
William SHIELDS
William HAYSBe it known to all Men by thise Presents that I John SHIELDS of Augsta Freeholder heave made and declared my last Will and Testament in writiting heaving Deat the Twentith Forth January 1772 I the Said John SHIELDS by this Present Codicil do ratify and confirm my said last Will and Testament and do give and bequeath unto my son William the other Half of that Estate were my son John now Lives in Securety untill he be Paid the moeny he has Lade out for it, and the Said half Estate by valied as Sold and he Paid his money ----- I also give to my beloved wiff the half of the remander and the otehr half I give to my son Robert to be Paid by my Esecutors and my Will and meaning is that this Codicil be adjudged to be apart and parcel of my last Will and Testament and that all things thearein mentioned and contained by Faithfully and truly performed and as fully and amply in every Resepct as if the Same Were So. Declared and set down in my Said last Will and Testament witness my and this Twentith forth Day of January 1772.
Signed John SHIELDSAt a court held for Augusta County November the 15th 1773. This Last Will and Tesamnet of John SHILEDS decd was proved by the Oath of John SHIELDS and William SHIELDS two of the wits tehreto who also made oath that they saw him sign the Codicil annexed and orded to be Record (and William SHILEDS oe of the Estes thereon named refused to take upon him the burden of the execution of the said Will)
At a court law held for Augusta County, Nov. the 17th 1773 This Last Will and Testament of John SHIELDS decd was yesterday proved by the Oaths of Two of the Wts, thereto and ORd. to be Recorded and on teh motion of Marg. SHIELDS and Tho. SHIELDS Admin. wit the Will Annexed Granted them they havign with Sec (Security) entered into the Admin. their Bond according to Law.
Recorded in Augusta County Clerk's Office, Staunton, VA Will Book 5, page 393. Was administrator of the estate of his brother John, who died leaving a widow and a minor son.
John bought land in 1742. His will filed 23 January 1772 mentions his wife, Margaret, and sons John, Thomas and Robert and daughter Mary. Robert was the father of the Ten Brothers.
In 1740, John and his two brothers and their father moved to Augusta County, Virginia, settling near Harrisonburg.
John and his brother Thomas were closely associated in activities in the wilderness. In 1749, both bought land from Beverly Manor in Augusta County. The description of their land indicates John's tract adjoined land owned by Robert Christian, and Thomas' land was nearby.
Prior to the Revolution, John and Thomas were in the Augusta County Militia. John served with Capt. John Wilson's company and Thomas with Capt. John Christian's company.
John's will dated 23 January 1772 was probated 17 November 1773. His son William declined to act as executor of the estate, and the probate court appointed Margaret and the son Thomas as administrators. John's will as deciphered by Christine Brown:
In the name of God Amen. The twentieth third day of January 1772: John Shilds of Augusta free holder, being very weak of body but of perfect mind and memory Thanks be given unto God therefor calling unto mind the mortality of my Body and knowing that it is appointed for men once to die do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament, that is to say principly and first of all I give and recommend my soul unto the Hands of Almighty God that give it and my Body I recommend to the earth to buried in decent Christian Burial at the Desecration of my Escecutors nothing doubting but at the general I shall receive the same again by the might Power of God, and as touching such worldly estate where with it has pleased God to Bless me in this Life, I give demise and despose of the same in the following manner and form, --
First, I give and bequeath to Margaret my dearley beloved wife is to heave her vittels and Drinck and the House wee Live in and the Belld coe and the Brinled cow and four evs and her bed and to calfs. no. . . . to be l. . . . off this estate at her last bequeath her death. I give to my son John the Half of the Estate he now possesses and a Ewe and Lamb also to my son Thomas I give this Estate I Now Live on by him to be possessed and enjoyed and a Cow and a hepher with Calve and a Black and White Hepher also he is to ansuier all Debts or Demands Legaly Due on the said Estate allso to my son Robert I give a Cow and Hepher and a Ewe and Lamb and to my Daughter Marrey I give thirty pounds to be paid to hir by my son Thomas in the spease of too hears and hir Horse and his Cow and too Sjeepe and I also constitue and apoint and ordain Thomas Shields and my son William Shields and William Hays my sole Escecutors of this last Will and Testament and I do Hear by utterly Disalosee revock and Disannul all and every other Testaments wills Ligacees Bequests and Esceduutors by me in any ways before named willed and bequested satifing and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament In witness whereof I heave here unto set my Hand and Seal the Day and Year above written.
Signed Sealed published peronunced and declared by the said John Shields as his last will and Testament in the Pesence of us the Subscribers.
John Shields (his mark)
John Shields
William Shields
William Shields
William HaysFollowing is a codicil to the John Shields will:
Be it known to all Men by thise presents that I John Shields of Agusta Freeholder heave made and declared my last Will and Testament in writting heaving Deat the Twentith Forth January 1772 I the Said John Shields by this Present Codicil do ratify and confirm my said last Will and Testament and do give and bequeath unto my son William the other Half of that Estate where my sons John now Lives in Securety untill he be Paid the money he has lade out for it, and the Said half Estate be valied as Sold and he Paid his money - - - -
I also give to my beloved wiff the half of the remainder the the other half I give to my son Robert to be Paid by my Esecutors and my Will and meaning is that this Codicil be adjudge to be apart and parcel of my last Will and Testament and that all things thearein mentioned and contained by Faithfuly and truly performed and as fully and amply in every respect as if the Same Were So. Declared and set down in my Said last Will and Testament witness my hand this Twentith forth Day of January 1772.John Shields
[v28t2460.FTW]
Robert moved to Tennessee, and the other brothers moved to VA, NC, and PA.
Information from G. Ronald Hurd of Vienna, VA, and letter to Walter Davidson from Ila and Oliver Shields of Veneta, OR (1 May 1983).
In her fathers will, spelled Marrey.
Some sources give Mary Shields' name as Mary Ambers Shields.