My great uncle Ben, Benjamin Franklin Shields, compiled and wrote a booklet on the history of the Shields family. He, with as I recall support from several members of the family, had the booklet printed in 1945. Copies were distributed to family members at the annual family reunions. Uncle Ben was, to my eyes at least, the patriarch of the family. He was a farmer and had been a school teacher, so he held the respect of most family members because he was educated. There were actually two "Benjamin Shields" alive when Uncle Ben was young, and he was known as "Red Ben" while the other was known as "Black Ben," probably because of their respective hair colors.
In scanning the pamphlet and converting it to a word processor document, the software automatically corrected a few typographical errors or misspellings. Some errors in transcription must also be put down to my efforts, as well as breaking the booklet up into six parts. I did the latter for your convenience in reading it on-line.
The family tree that was printed and stapled in the back original booklet can be included only as a scanned image, and a rather large one at that. Family members can request a full size, good quality color print of the scanned family tree sheet from me.
James E. Shields[Return to Families Home Page]