Tuberculosis Leads to Loss in the Shields Family: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Loss”

A Tragic Loss: James Laing Smith Dies of “Galloping Consumption”

James Laing Smith: exact dates of birth and death unknown

 

            Bethia Shields was born on January 26, 1863 to Thomas and Margaret Sutherland Shields. She was the oldest of their seven children. Her father, Thomas, spent most of his time abroad in the Demarara region of Dutch Guiana assembling and managing sugar processing equipment for large sugar plantations. Her mother raised the children back in Scotland. Thomas’ visits home to Scotland must have been times of great excitement for the children. His stories of life in colonial South America probably fascinated them, inspiring a longing to join him and see this exotic place for themselves. Thomas likely looked forward to bringing family to Demarara too.

            When Bethia reached her late teens, her parents sent her to cooking school, preparing her to become her father’s housekeeper in the Georgetown area of what is now Guyana. At age 18 or 19, she accompanied her father to South America to take on her new role. He had been living at a plantation called Vryheid’s Lust, so that is probably where Bethia first lived.

Georgetown, Guyana circa 1880

            She met a fellow Scotsman in the region and fell in love. James Laing Smith was working as a manager for another sugar plantation. Little is known about the young man. Even his birth date is unknown; some family trees show his birth as early as 1847, which would have made him sixteen years older than Bethia. Others claim he was born as late as 1862, which would have made the young couple only a year apart in age. His parents’ names and his birthplace are also unknown. It is believed his middle name was Laing, which would presumably be a grandparent’s surname, but that hasn’t helped to identify the correct Smith family in Scotland. His origins remain a mystery.

            According to Ruth Shields McNiven, who was Bethia’s niece, Bethia returned to Scotland to assemble her trousseau before marrying James Smith. Her entire trousseau, including the wedding cake-- a fruit cake heavily laced with rum--was lost when the ship carrying it sank off the coast of Ireland. Bethia’s brother Robert teased her about her sunken wedding cake, saying “Oh what a feast for the fishes!”

            It is unclear whether Bethia was on board the ship when it foundered; presumably the crew and passengers were rescued if so. She collected a new trousseau and returned to Georgetown, Guyana, where she and James were married in 1882.

Georgetown in 1880s. Water St. and wharf area where Bethia's ship would have landed

            The couple had four children: James B. Laing Smith, born in 1884; Margaret Sutherland Smith, born in 1886; Mary “May” Howie Smith, born in 1888; and Euphemia Laing Smith, born in 1892. All the children were born in Georgetown, Guyana, the largest city in the Demarara region.

Georgetown was a lovely town, with wide streets and European-style construction and amenities. Scottish and Dutch families who ran the plantations and businesses in the region all socialized together and enjoyed a much more comfortable life than might be imagined. It is easy to imagine Bethia and her children strolling down these charming boulevards.

Georgetown High Street in 1880s or 1890s. Women in Victorian gowns.

            Meanwhile, Thomas Shields had taken over management of two plantations near Nickerie, Suriname. Careful management and improvements in efficiency at the Hazard and Waterloo plantations, including sourcing new fuel for the boilers, helped to make the plantations more profitable. 

Sugar processing plant at Waterloo Plantation which Thomas managed

            Around 1890, Thomas Shields had built up a large enough fortune to purchase his own sugar plantation, Alliance, in Suriname. James Smith had been working as a manager for other plantation owners in Guyana. At some point, probably after Euphemia’s 1892 birth (Aunt Ruth was not clear on the timing), Thomas, believing his son-in-law would be an asset at the plantation, offered James a job as Alliance’s manager.

The Smith family moved to Suriname. Tragically, shortly after arriving, James developed a virulent form of tuberculosis. Due to the speed of the disease’s development, doctors referred to the variant as “galloping consumption.” Within three months of becoming ill, James was dead. He was buried in Paramaribo, Suriname. There are no records available that provide a specific death date or a burial location.

            Fortunately, no one else in the family developed consumption. Following her husband’s death, Bethia and her children returned to Scotland. Thomas Shields must have felt great guilt since his job offer had inadvertently led to James’ death, for according to Ruth Shields McNiven, Bethia was given one quarter interest in Alliance. This enabled Bethia and the Smith children to live in comfort. They returned frequently to Alliance for extended visits.

            James Smith’s loss was painful for the family. Bethia Shields Smith never remarried. She died in Kirn, Scotland, on June 18, 1956 at the age of 93.

Sources:

Sugar factory pix: Waterloo, Nickerie, Suriname, Coenraad Liebrecht (Coen) Temminck Groll photographer. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suikerfabriek_-_20651612_-_RCE.jpg

https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2018/01/21/galloping-consumption/

The Sweet Power of Engineering: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Power”

 

Thomas Shields and the Machinery of Sugar Processing

Thomas Shields: 1837-1905

 

            Thomas Shields, John Shields Aird’s grandfather, was an engineer whose knowledge of sugar processing machinery led him to South America and a new life. The equipment he installed and maintained had the power to transform sugar cane into sugar and molasses, and also had the power to change the destiny of the Shields family.

            Thomas Shields was born in the West Lothian area of Scotland in 1837. According to John Aird’s Aunt Ruth Shields MacNiven, he came from an engineering family. My examination of Scottish census data, marriage records and death records casts doubt on this. Thomas’ father, Archibald Shields, born in 1806, was listed on most documents as a “farm servant”. Thomas appears to be the first engineer in the family. During the mid-nineteenth century, most engineers trained through apprenticeship, so he didn’t need expensive schooling or a university education.

            Thomas married Margaret Sutherland on December 20, 1861; he was 24 and she was 23. Her family owned a foundry in the town of Airdree, so Thomas may have used his father-in-law’s connections to advance in the engineering field.

            According to Ruth Macniven, Thomas went to work for the company of McOnie Harvey. According to Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History,

            “In 1883, McOnie Harvey and Co., Glasgow engineers, was formed by the amalgamation of Robert Harvey and Co. and McOnie’s. By 1907, after Harvey’s death, his son Robert took over and developed the business as Harvey Engineering Company, Ltd., makers of sugar machinery and erection of central sugar factories, with a high reputation in all sugar-producing countries.”

            Thomas obviously went to work for the company well before the 1883 merger, back when it was called A & P W McOnie, for by the 1871 Scotland Census, when he and Margaret already had five young children ranging from age eight to one, he was listed as an “engine smith employing 3 Nat men”, which I assume meant three “native” men. It isn’t clear if Thomas had brought South American natives back to England, or if the entry meant he employed them abroad.

            According to Ruth McNiven, McOnie Harvey sent Thomas to the Demerara region of what was then British Guiana and is now the South American county Guyana, probably in the 1860s. He was charged with installing sugar processing equipment for a large sugar plantation there. Demerara was a sugar cane growing region along the Demerara River. A type of raw cane brown sugar became known as Demerara sugar because it was processed from cane grown in this region. Most Europeans reached the area by sea, landing in the city of Georgetown and then proceeding inland to the sugar plantations.

            It appears that most plantations had their own sugar processing equipment. Rather than ship the raw cane for miles in rugged territory, the cane would be processed into a more easily shipped product—raw brown sugar and molasses. This led to a booming business for the equipment manufacturers. As you can see from the illustrations, the equipment was huge and complex. An expert like Thomas Shields would have been essential to correctly assemble and train operators of the equipment on the plantations.  

            According to Ruth, Thomas was so well-thought of by the plantation owners that he was asked to stay on as Consulting Engineer for the Crum Ewing estates, which comprised five sugar plantations. Many owners would amass more than one plantation, and would centralize the sugar production plant on one or two of the properties. The Crum Ewing plantations were owned by Scottish businessman Humphrey Crum-Ewing and the James Ewing & Co.  According to a biography of Crum-Ewing,

“With the abolition of slavery the value of plantation land (in the West Indies was) reduced substantially and Humphry took the opportunity to purchase a series of plantations for the company in British Guiana (now Guyana, South America). The purchases included the plantations on the Atlantic coast east of the Demerara River known as Better Hope, Vryheid’s Lust, Brothers, Montrose and Felicity.”

Thomas made his headquarters at Vryheid’s Lust, which is Dutch for “Freedom’s Hope”. This sugar plantation still exists today just outside of Georgetown, Guyana, and the plantation name is also shared by a desperately poor, mostly black community.

Canal along edge of Vryheid's Lust Plantation, circa 1890

            Eventually, Thomas Shields decided to purchase his own plantation in the neighboring country of Suriname. Alliance Plantation also had its own sugar processing facility, a photo which is below.

            Thomas Shields’ life, and those of his children, were transformed by the powerful McOnie Harvey equipment. Thomas’ training and skill in assembling and maintaining the desperately needed equipment transformed him from an engineer employed by a Scottish manufacturer into a wealthy landowner in colonial South America in a matter of two decades.

 

Sources:

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Robert_Harvey_and_Co

https://www.glasgownecropolis.org/profiles/the-crum-ewing-memorial-beta-compartment-of-glasgow-necropolis/