John Sutherland Shields: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Father’s Day”

 

John Sutherland Shields: 1865-1959
Honoring a Special Father on Father’s Day

Father of May Shields Aird, Grandfather of John Aird, and Great-Grandfather to Steve, Kris and Bruce

Early Years:

            John Sutherland Shields was born on November 3, 1865 in New Monkland, Lanarkshire, Scotland to parents Thomas Shields and Margaret Sutherland Shields. He was named for his maternal grandfather, John Sutherland.

            John’s daughter, Ruth Shields McNiven, recounted a few small details from his childhood to John and Laurel Aird. She said John attended a private school in the Old Monkland community of Gartsherrie called Gartsherrie Academy. Apparently his formal schooling did not continue past this grammar-level school. The 1881 census shows John living with his Sutherland grandparents in Muirshill Cottage in New Monkland, Lanarkshire. (I have not been able to locate this cottage on any records) John’s brothers Archie and Thomas were also living with the Sutherlands. Thomas, age 13, was listed on the census as a “scholar”, presumably at Gartsherrie Academy which was nearby. Curiously, while John and Archie were only 15 and 17 years old, they were identified as employed, with their jobs listed as “pattern maker engine”.

Gartsherrie Academy Building Today--originally constructed in the 1870s

Ruth told John and Laurel that engineers in the Victorian era received apprentice-like training on-the-job rather than a college degree in the subject as they do now. Apparently both John and Archie had entered that engineering apprentice stage. The name of the company that employed them was not listed.

Ruth also told John and Laurel that when her father John Shields was eleven years old, he traveled to South America with his father, and spent most of a year living on the sugar plantation where Thomas was working (this was while Thomas was working for the Crum-Ewing sugar estates in British Guiana, before he bought Alliance Plantation in Suriname). While John apparently was eager to experience this new, exciting country and to have his father’s undivided attention, he ended up unhappy with life at the plantation. John and Thomas just didn’t get along, so it was a long and difficult year for the boy.

Despite that experience, John followed his father and brother Archie into engineering, apparently intending to use his training in sugar manufacturing. At some point, he moved to Glasgow, where he met met his future wife, Jane Pollok. They appear to have been involved by 1891 when Scotland’s census was taken. Jane Pollok appears on the census as a “visitor” at 12 Queens Crescent, where several members of the Shields family were living. She lists her age as 23 and states she is employed as a music teacher. Head of the small household was John Shields’ younger brother Thomas, then 23. Also residing in the house were John’s 21 year old sister Euphemia, listed as “Affie” on the census, and John’s youngest brother Robert, then 16. There was also a 17 year old servant girl named Jane Gardner living at Queens Crescent.

12 Queens Crescent today

But where was John that year? Was he in Suriname with his father and older brother Archie? Was he employed or in training as an engineer somewhere? And where was his mother? The living arrangement was unusual for the time period; I am surprised that Jane’s family permitted her to live with unmarried men, even if she was already betrothed to John.

John and Jane were married the following year on June 1, 1892. The marriage record states that John was a mechanical engineer and foreman, and resided at 12 Queens Crescent in Cathcart, a Glasgow neighborhood. No. 12 still exists—a charming white limestone townhouse. Jane had no employment notation, and her residence was listed as 305 Crown Street, Glasgow (note: this address no longer exists. Twentieth century buildings line Crown St., and the numbers end in the mid-200s.) Her father was described as a “Proprieter of Houses”—I am not sure what that means.

            The couple were married by a Rev. James Kidd, minister of the Erskine United Presbyterian Church. According to records, the church was then located on South Portland Street in Glasgow, but the marriage took place at 59 Union Street, Glasgow. The Union Street site is now the location of a Victorian era hotel called the Rennie Mackintosh Station Hotel. The witnesses to the marriage were Jane’s sister Maggie Jessie Pollok and John Sutherland, who was either John Shields’ grandfather, his uncle, or his cousin on his mother’s side. John’s grandfather Sutherland died just two months after his June 1 marriage, so it seems likely that one of the younger John Sutherlands did the honors.'

Erskine United Presbyterian Church in early 1900s. Building became a warehouse.

            So when did the family join the Plymouth Brethren sect? Obviously they were not members at the time of the wedding, as the Brethren would not condone a Presbyterian ceremony. Another family puzzle to solve….John Shields siblings were also married in the Presbyterian Church; none of the Shields family were part of the Plymouth Brethren sect.

            In part 2 of this post, I will cover John’s life following his marriage.

 

Sources:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/12+Queen's+Cres,+Glasgow  Street view photo of 12 Queens Crescent accessed Jun 14 2021.