Freeing George Leachman’s Slaves: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Free”

Too Little Too Late: Leachman Slaves Freed Months After Civil War’s End

George Leachman: 1794-1866
 

After President Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday last month, Americans are being forced to finally recognize that the Emancipation Proclamation, enacted on January 1, 1862, wasn’t an immediate Get Out of Slavery Free card. Actual implementation of Lincoln’s proclamation relied on Union Army enforcement. That didn’t come for months or even years to large parts of the Confederacy. Now with the new holiday, people believe that slavery’s end came on June 19, 1865—Juneteenth-- when Union forces publicized the act in Texas following the end of the war. However, there were regions where freedom came even later than Juneteenth. I didn’t discover this until I found the will and probate records for Bruce’s third-great-grandfather George Leachman.

George Leachman appears to have been born in Prince William County, Virginia, to parents Sampson Leachman and Nancy Ann Davis. All of George’s siblings were born in Kentucky, so it appears Nancy had returned to Virginia briefly before giving birth to George, perhaps on a visit to family members--she too was born in Prince William County. She returned to Kentucky, however, and George grew up near Atoka in Boyle County, Kentucky. (Note: there are errors in this section of tree regarding George’s siblings that must be investigated.)

After a brief youthful marriage that ended with the death of his wife Polly Crow Leachman in 1817, George married Mathilda Robertson on October 28, 1819. George and Mathilda had ten children over the course of thirty years of marriage. Mathilda died April 23, 1849 giving birth to their tenth child, Samuel Leachman. Little Samuel lived for ten months after Mathilda’s death before he too died in February of 1850.

George remarried for a third time on December 4, 1856 when he was 62 years old. His bride was Permelia Murray Davis, a widow of about 46 years old. They had no children.

While George and his family apparently lived on the same farm from 1819 onward, the federal census moves him from Daviess County to McLean County, beginning with the 1860 census. Wikipedia helped to explain this discrepancy. In 1854, Daviess County ceded some land to McLean; apparently the Leachman property was part of the land ceded to McLean County. The 1840 census listed the farm as part of the community of Panther Creek; later census forms stated the post office used by the rural residents was in Calhoun, Kentucky. These two communities are about ten miles apart to the southwest of Owensboro. Presumably the Leachman farm lay somewhere between the two towns.

The 1840 census did not identify individuals by name other than the head of household. Family members were only distinguished by category—age, sex, and whether they were free or enslaved. That is how I first discovered that George Leachman owned two slaves.

The next two censuses in 1850 and 1860 included separate Slave Schedules, where the homeowner identified the slaves by age and sex. George had fewer slaves than most of his neighbors—three neighbors had 14, 15 and 20 slaves respectively, and several others had four to six. George’s two slaves in 1850 are listed as a 47 year old woman, and the other a 27 year old man.

In 1860, George still owns the same two people, now listed as being 55 and 33. It is unclear which set of ages was incorrect, or if George really knew how old these people were. It is interesting to note that some of the Leachmans’ neighbors had acquired more slaves between 1850 and 1860—William Johnson started with four slaves, and by 1860 had 22. Other families no longer appear on the schedule—did they leave, or sell their slaves? Many of the slaves listed on the schedules were children—Kentucky had outlawed the importation of new slaves from out of state, so growing numbers of slaves often reflected the formation of slave families on the farms and plantations.

George was too old to fight in the Civil War when it broke out in April 1861. However, the war apparently came to him. A battle was fought at Panther Creek on September 19, 1862. The Confederate Army had taken the town of Owensboro, and Union forces from neighboring Indiana crossed the river and attacked them. Despite being outnumbered nearly two-to-one, the Union forces prevailed and drove the Confederates back. I’m sure the Leachman family could hear the battle raging; they were at most five to ten miles away.

George died just thirteen months after the Civil War ended. He died at age 71 on May 2, 1866, and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in McLean County. 

George’s will was probated May 4, 1866. The provisions included $1000 to his widow Permilia “in accordance with my agreement with her before marriage”, with the remainder of his property divided equally between his nine surviving children; each child was identified by name in the will.

The will’s final provision was the shocker. “My slaves Eliza and Ben I wish freed or manumitted, but with the provision that Eliza shall be under the guardianship of W.P. Leachman.”

How can this be? The will was probated in 1866, a year after the end of the Civil War and four years after the Emancipation Proclamation. How could George still own slaves? Did he actually still own slaves at the date of his death, or was the will just written years earlier and never updated to reflect their free status?

I started researching, and was shocked to discover that in the slave states of Delaware and Kentucky, the Emancipation Proclamation hadn’t applied to slaves held there. The Proclamation was only directed against states that seceded from the Union. Delaware and Kentucky never seceded, so their slaves were not freed by Lincoln’s proclamation!

As Tim Talbot noted in his paper cited below, “…slavery only truly ended in Kentucky with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which the state chose not to ratify.”

The 13^th Amendment wasn’t ratified until December 6, 1865, months after the end of the war, and since Kentucky refused to ratify the Amendment, it is hard to say exactly when the remaining slaveholders in the state actually freed their slaves. So it is possible that poor Eliza and Ben were still working involuntarily for the Leachmans when George died. However it is equally possible that they had been freed either at the end of the war or in December 1865.

At least George had planned for Ben and Eliza’s freedom at his death and hadn’t intended to pass them on to his children along with the furniture, land and livestock.

I don’t know if Eliza and Ben were mother and son or unrelated, and I am not sure what surname they chose to use following their emancipation. I wonder if Eliza really remained under the “guardianship” of W. P. Leachman, or if she preferred to make her own way in the world. She was not a member of William Parker Leachman’s household on the 1870 census, but that could mean she had died. Since George felt she needed protection, Eliza may have been in poor health.

As for Ben, I found a mulatto farmer named Ben Leachman on the 1870 census living with another black family in McLean County. The age listed, 42, would be close to the right age for the Leachman’s slave Ben. Since Ben Leachman is listed on the 1870 census record as a mulatto, it occurred to me that George Leachman might actually have been Ben’s natural father as well as his owner. I found a black man named Benjamin Leechman on the 1900 census—a widower born in 1825 in Kentucky to a father born in Virginia—that would fit with George Leachman, born in Virginia, being his father, and the slave Eliza his mother. However, these details, while suggestive, are not proof of any parental relationship.

1870 census

I hope Ben and Eliza had a good life wherever they ended up, but sadly, freedom often meant a life of poverty and difficulty for former slaves.

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daviess_County,_Kentucky

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/battle-at-panther-creek-kentucky.146816/ Battle at Panther Creek Kentucky. By Taylin.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/juneteenth-holiday-five-myths/2020/06/18/4c19fff8-b0e1-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html

Tim Talbott, “Slavery Laws in Old Kentucky,” ExploreKYHistory, accessed July 3, 2021, https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/180

Bolt of Lightning Sparks Shocking Disaster: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Shock”

Young Marine Trumpeter Dies in Shocking Munitions Explosion

Mason DeWilton Eidson: 1904-1926
 

One of the best parts of genealogical research is learning about some forgotten but fascinating historical event—the sort of thing you never learned about in History Class in school because it was embarrassing or ugly and didn’t fit the history class narrative of American exceptionalism. The fate of Bruce’s third cousin once removed Mason DeWilton Eidson led to one of those discoveries. Mason died at the shockingly young age of twenty-two in something called the Lake Denmark Explosion.

Mason Eidson was born on July 22, 1904 in Kentucky to parents Charles Eidson and Cora Belle Phillips. He was the grandson of Bruce’s first cousin thrice removed Matilda Houston, a Leachman grandchild. Mason was the third of the six Eidson children, and was only thirteen when his mother Cora died after a long illness. After her death, the family moved to Vanderburgh County, Indiana.

Mason joined the Marine Corps, and became a corps trumpeter. In 1926, he was stationed in New Jersey at the Naval Ammunition Depot at Lake Denmark. A severe thunderstorm moved through the area on the evening of July 10. A bolt of lightning struck a tree overhanging a Depot storehouse which held a large amount of munitions. The building caught on fire, and the Marines, including Mason, were sent to fight the fire.

Within a short amount of time, a huge explosion rocked the area, followed within thirty minutes by two more explosions. The first storehouse alone housed 300,000 kg of explosives, while other buildings were filled with yet more munitions. The devastation was immense and widespread.

Rachel Wilson, who wrote an article for the journal NJS (citation below) about the 1926 Lake Denmark disaster, described the explosion as follows:

“The direct effect of the blasts caused the complete and total annihilation of structures within a radius of 2,700 feet and damaged buildings up to 8,700 feet away. Nineteen people died, mostly Marines, while fighting the various fires. Over 50 more were injured from the blasts. The damage to munitions and other stores exceeded $40,000,000. These intense explosions and fires also devastated the adjoining Picatinny Arsenal and caused major damage to most of the buildings.”

Mason died in the explosions. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his bravery. The citation read,

“The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Trumpeter Mason D. Eidson (MCSN: 170349), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and fearless devotion to duty on the occasion of the explosions from lightning at the Naval Ammunition Depot, Lake Denmark, New Jersey, on 10 July 1926. Although he fully realized the imminence of great peril, Trumpeter Eidson continued at his post of duty in an endeavor to check the spread of the disaster, thereby losing his life.”

 

Explosion aftermath at Lake Denmark Ammo Depot

The Lake Denmark explosion was a huge news event. Every major newspaper of the era covered the disaster, providing photos of the wreckage and lists of the dead. The event prompted investigations and criticism, resulting in changes in how and where the military stockpiled and stored munitions.

Despite the loss of so many servicemen and some civilians, this event has been forgotten by modern Americans. Until I read a small news item about Mason’s grandmother attending his funeral, I had never heard about the Lake Denmark explosions and deaths. I am glad I rediscovered this piece of our American history and learned how an electrical shock on a stormy evening led to the deaths of nineteen people.

Mason was buried at Alexander Memorial Park Cemetery in Evansville, Indiana.

Sources:

https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/2020/02/28/unexploded-ordnance-found-picatinny-may-1926-deadly-explosion/4906353002/

Aftermath of the 10 July 1926 explosion at the U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot at Lake Denmark. Courtesy of the National Archives, photo no. 71-LD-121.

NJS Presents Museums, Archives, Artifacts, and Documents. NJS: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Winter 2021. Pg. 345. “The 1926 Lake Denmark Explosion: An Extraordinary Mishap That Changed Military Safety Standards” By Rachael Winston. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14713/njs.v7i1.230

Follow-Up to 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Health”: William Lee Houston

A Sad Warning for Anti-Vaxxers: The Tragic Toll of Childhood Diseases

William “Willie” Lee Houston: 1867-1917

As I was adding family members to the extended Leachman family tree, I ran across a death certificate that brought up another issue related to the theme of “health”. As our nation deals with people who refuse to get the COVID vaccine despite the risks the virus poses, and as some ill-informed parents rant about the dangers of childhood immunizations and refuse to vaccinate their children, this death certificate struck a chord.

William Lee Houston was Bruce’s second cousin twice removed, the son of George Houston. George was the nephew of Bruce’s second-great-grandfather William Parker Leachman.

Willie was born on September 15, 1867. He became a farmer in McLean County, Kentucky. On October 18, 1899, when he was 32 years old, he married a younger woman, Mary Nall. The marriage record noted that her father had to provide written consent for the marriage, which meant she was under the age of consent. However, records seem to indicate she was born in April 1879, which would have made her nineteen. Still, this would have been a thirteen year age gap.

The couple had two children, Mary Lee and George Garrison Houston, before Mary’s death in 1910.

Tragically, the children were orphaned just seven years later when Willie died unexpectedly on February 4, 1917. Little George was only eleven and Mary Lee was about fifteen.

The shocker was the cause of death on Willie’s death certificate: measles.

Yes. Measles. Measles killed a 49 year old man.

Willie did physical labor as a farmer, so he was probably in fairly good shape for a middle-aged man, yet a childhood illness killed him. The death record noted he had been sick for seven days. There were no other underlying conditions listed.  

Childhood diseases like measles, mumps and rubella have been so well eradicated that parents today no longer remember how dangerous these diseases could be, for adults as well as children. Mumps left many men sterile. Women who contracted rubella/German measles while pregnant had children with serious mental and physical disabilities. Measles could lead to pneumonia or encephalitis that could cause brain damage or death. While the number of people who died or suffered serious harm was just a small percentage of the population, that still translates to thousands of families who suffered losses like Mary Lee and George Garrison Houston. Lack of vaccines could be tragic.

I am sure if Willie had been born fifty years later when there was a measles vaccine, he would have eagerly jumped at the chance to take it.

So please, people. Learn from the sad fate of William Lee Houston. Get vaccinated. Vaccinate your children. Vaccines are far safer than the illnesses they prevent.

Early Death of Kate Leachman Houston: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Health”

Death from Dropsy at Eighteen
Catharine R. “Kate” Leachman Houston: 1839-1857
 

            Catharine R. Leachman, known as Kate, was the younger sister of Bruce’s second-great-grandfather William Parker Leachman. She was born April 17, 1839 to parents George Leachman and Mathilda Robertson Leachman in McLean County, Kentucky.

            Kate married a local farmer, Joseph “JL” Houston on February 15, 1855. She was only 16 at the time, while JL was 28—quite the age difference.

Marriage record for JL Houston and Catharine Leachman

            Tragically, Kate died barely two years later on April 30, 1857, at age eighteen. The cause of death was listed as “dropsy”. That’s not a diagnosis you would hear today. When I have run across the term in the past, either in novels or in my research, the sufferers were usually older people who had been in poor health for some time. So what exactly killed this teenage girl?

            According to my research on Healthline,

“Edema, called dropsy long ago, is swelling caused by fluid retention. This condition usually occurs in your feet, legs, or ankles. However, it can also occur in your hands, your face, or any other part of the body…The major underlying causes of dropsy are congestive heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure, and malnutrition.”

            It’s hard to imagine such a young woman having any of those conditions, although I suppose she could have gotten some sort of kidney infection that led to kidney failure. I wonder if she was pregnant at the time of death. Perhaps she suffered pre-eclampsia, which can lead to edema.

            Kate’s death is a reminder that health care in the nineteenth century was limited by lack of knowledge, drugs and equipment. Something minor could turn deadly quickly, and conditions that could be easily treated today had no cure then.  

            Kate was buried with her husband at the Oak Grove Cemetery in McLean County, Kentucky. JL Houston died young as well, on February 13, 1861. He was only thirty-four. He never remarried.

 

Sources:

https://medlineplus.gov/edema.html

Maggie Pollok’s 1904 Letter Provides a Window into the Past: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Steps” Part 2

 

Required Reading: Perusing the Maggie Pollok Letter Step by Step
Maggie Jessie Pollok: 1872- Approx. 1929?

Margaret “Maggie” Jessie Pollok was John Aird’s great aunt, the younger sister of his grandmother Jane Pollok Shields. The two sisters were four years apart in age, the daughters of John Pollok and Mary Burns Sellers. Maggie was born in 1872, and Jane was born in 1868.

Both girls appear on the 1881 Scotland Census, living at 305 Crown Street in Glasgow with their parents and older brother Robert. All three were listed as “scholars”.

By the 1891 census, Jane was out of the household, married to John Shields, and Robert had also set up his own household. Maggie, however, was still living with her elderly parents at 305 Crown Street in Glasgow. She was 18 years old and working as a milliner. Her father was 77 and listed as a retired farmer.

John Pollok died three years later on March 31, 1894. Maggie and her mother, Mary Burns Seller Pollok, eventually moved to an apartment at 27 Walton Street in the Shawlands area of Glasgow. They continued to live there until Mary died at the age of 95 on March 4, 1925.

Walton Street building where Maggie and her mother lived in Glasgow

I have been unable to find the 1901 Scotland census entry for Maggie which would have provided information on her occupation, and I have also been unable to track down a death record or probate record for her, so I am not sure when she died. Her last appearance on the Scotland voting register was in 1928, so I expect she may have died in 1929 or shortly after.

Voter record from 1920s

Maggie’s 1904 letter to her sister Jane provides some interesting information about both sisters’ lives. Let’s review the items, beginning with information about Maggie and the Scotland Polloks:

1.     Maggie states that she has “broken my rule and left her (mother Mary) alone, but it seemed a necessity.” Obviously she has been caring for her aged mother, then 74, and had promised to never travel without her. However, this time she left Mary at the Walton Street apartment on her own so Maggie could travel to Pitlochrie.

2.    Maggie has some sort of medical condition. She states “The week before we came here I lay in bed nearly all the time, and even when up could not do anything at all. I sit and lie about most of the day and in the evening have a short walk. My stomach is doing fairly well, the main trouble is sheer weakness.” She said that she felt better on their previous trip to Biggar, but got worse again upon returning to Glasgow.

3.    So who is Maggie traveling with? Apparently “Aunt Maggie and the others”, who she states are “all very good to me and we are having quite a nice time.” So who would this aunt be? I believe it is Mary Burns Seller’s sister. Maggie Pollok was likely named after this aunt.

4.    Brother Robert Pollok: Maggie states that she and her mother will “likely go to Edinb for August as the family is to be away.” Census records show that Maggie’s older brother Robert was living in Edinburgh with his wife and four young sons in 1901. Their home was located at 35 Royal Park Terrace. Presumably the family that will be away, enabling Maggie and Mary to stay at their home, is Robert’s family. (Sadly, within just a few years, Robert's wife dies. He remarries in 1908.) Maggie goes on to say that Robert was on holiday and planned to go to Shetland. Curiously, it sounds as if he planned to travel alone or with a male friend, without his wife or children.

Robert Pollok

The letter also offers clues about Jane and John Shields’ life in America.

1.     It appears John and Jane were still living in Hamilton Ohio, which was the first place they settled after he gave up his position at his father’s sugar plantation. Maggie writes, “If you invest in a house in Hamilton, I suppose you will be settled there for life.” It sounds as if the Polloks had hoped the Shields family would return to Scotland, but that this was looking more unlikely. What interested me, however, was that the family was apparently still renting their house in Hamilton. According to the 1900 census, they immigrated to the United States in either late 1893 or early 1894, so by 1904 they had been living in Hamilton for a decade. The address on the letter is 316 N. Eighth Street, Hamilton, which is the same address on their 1900 census form. The home, a townhome style attached home, still stands in Hamilton. It is 1280 sq. feet in size, and is only valued in the low $60,000s today on Zillow. John had been working as a machinist—it doesn’t seem like it paid well, since they couldn’t afford to buy a home after ten years employment.

316 North Eighth Street in Hamilton Ohio where Shields family lived for ten years

2.     Maggie wrote, “I was so sorry to hear of the affair about the meeting. I hope you will get satisfactorily settled somewhere else.” I believe she may have been referring to the Plymouth Brethren sect. It is unclear if the other Pollok family members belonged to the church, or if Jane Pollok Shields converted in Ohio. It sounds as if there was a conflict with the group Jane had belonged to, and that she sought a new congregation. Maggie’s wish came true of course, as the family relocated to Detroit, where they joined another Plymouth Brethren group.

3.     Maggie wrote, “I am glad the girls are able to help you a little; Mays report was very good.” May was eleven years old in 1904, so was able to help her mother with housework and caring for her younger siblings. I assume “Mays report” referred to a letter May herself wrote to her aunt. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if the correspondence had been preserved.

May, Margaret and Bethia Shields in Scotland visiting family early 1900s

Vintage letters can provide many important clues about ancestors’ lives and relationships. Examining them step by step can bring add flesh to the skeletal bones of the data gleaned from historical records. The simplest piece of correspondence can provide amazing insights.

 

Maggie Pollok’s 1904 Letter Provides a Window into the Past: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Steps” Part 1

 

Required Reading: Perusing the Maggie Pollok Letter Step by Step

Maggie Jessie Pollok: 1872- Approx. 1929?

 

Among the documents we discovered after Laurel Aird’s death was a charming postcard/letter written by John Aird’s great aunt Maggie Pollok to her sister, John’s grandmother Jane Pollok Shields, in July of 1904. The letter was written while Maggie was vacationing in the Pitlochrie area of Scotland, and features photos of the scenery. It also provides some marvelous clues about the two sisters’ lives. Moving through the letter step by step reveals information that fills in some of the bare bones data found amongst Ancestry’s digital records.

I am including scans of the original letter, as well as my transcription. Sadly, I have been unable to find a photo Maggie Pollok.

Pitlochry, 20/7/04

My Dear Jane,

It is quite a long time since I have written to you, but you always hear from mother anyhow. I like this place very much; it is the Highlands right enough. The weather has been splendid, although the rain is coming down in style tonight. We have nice bright rooms and good cooking, the latter being an important item. Mother seems to be getting on all right at home. You will notice I have broken my rule and left her alone, but it seemed a sort of necessity. I felt a bit better towards the end of our stay at Biggar but I went right back when we got home. The week before we came here I lay in bed nearly all the time, and even when up could not do anything at all. I sit and lie about most of the day and in the evening have a short walk. My stomach is doing fairly well, the main trouble is sheer weakness. We will likely go to Edinb. for August, as the family is to be away, so I ought to be the better of so much holiday.

How are you keeping this weather? I see from the newspaper it is very hot in New York. If you invest in a house in Hamilton, I suppose you will be settled there for life.

Robert started his holiday last Saturday. He intended going to Shetland if he was not too late to get a berth. He had waited till the last to see if Mr. Irving could accompany him, but he was unable to get away.

I was so sorry to hear of the affair about the meeting. I hope you will get satisfactorily settled somewhere else. Has the public meeting come off yet?

Aunt Maggie and the others ask to be remembered to you and John. They are all very good to me and we are having quite a nice time. We are only 3 ½ miles from Killicrankie where the famous battle was fought and where Clavarhouse lost his life. I heard the pipes skirling away the other night and it sound fine among the hills. I am glad the girls are able to help you a little; Mays report was very good. Love to John and the children from

Your affectionate sister,

Maggie

Life of Patriarch John Sutherland Shields: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Father’s Day” Part 2

 Struggling for Success in Suriname and America: Father’s Day Part II

John Sutherland Shields: 1865-1959

Item from the Paramaribo Newspaper De West-Indier : dagblad toegewijd aan de belangen van Nederlandsch Guyana, 24-08-1892, Dag ; no. 68 (KB),  translated from Dutch to English:

The saw mill business lately carried on by Mr. Andrew Mc Connachie at Plantage Alliance, will be continued under the management of Mr. John Shields who will receive and execute orders. Mr. H. Mc. Robertson, 49 Domine St. Paramaribo, will continue to act as Town Agent and will also receive orders.

All accounts must be paid to Mr. John Shields at Plantage Alliance, or to Mr. Robertson , Paramaribo.

A.G. Knott & Co.

Alliance, August 13th 1892

 

            John Sutherland Shields and Jane Pollok married in Glasgow on June 1, 1892, and by August 13, they were living at Plantage Alliance with several Shields family members, including John’s father Thomas, John’s older brother Archie, and quite possibly his sister Bethia’s family. As we can see from the newspaper notice, Thomas Shields was still working for A. G. Knott—he wouldn’t buy Alliance from Knott until a few years later. But Thomas had enough influence over the plantation’s management that he was able to hire his son to manage the sawmill, a position for which John had no experience.

            There is little information about John and Jane’s time at Alliance. Ruth Shields McNiven told John and Laurel Aird that John Shields chafed under his father’s and brother’s direction and control. Laurel’s notes read, “John’s father and brother Archie both authority figures and John didn’t get along with either. John became same sort of father—hardest on Archie.”

 

            Jane got pregnant while in Suriname, and gave birth to Mary “May” Seller Shields in Paramaribo on May 14, 1893. By this point, the relationship between John and his father was deteriorating. I can find no records to indicate whether John quit his sawmill job, or whether his father fired him. All that I know for certain is that John, Jane and May appear on the 1900 U. S. census, living in Hamilton Ohio, and they responded to the census question about when they immigrated by saying they arrived in 1893 and had been in the U.S. as “aliens” for six years. This suggests an arrival date late in 1893—they probably waited to travel until May was at least several months old.

                 Why did they choose to travel to the United States to live instead of returning to Scotland where they had family members and friends? I don’t believe they knew anyone in Ohio, so how and why did they end up there? And why did they resist becoming citizens for so long? Did they still consider heading back to Scotland? They didn’t become naturalized for decades.

           John worked as a machinist in Hamilton. The family grew while they lived there. Margaret Shields was born October 15, 1896. Archibald Shields was born September 7, 1899, and Bethia Jane Shields was born Octobert 31, 1901.

 

Jane and John Shields and their children, early 1950s

            John and Jane’s youngest daughter, Ruth Shields, was born in Detroit on October 2, 1904, so we know the family moved at some point between July 20, 1904 when Jane’s sister Maggie wrote to her in Hamilton (see next post which includes letter), and October, when Ruth was born.

Hamilton Ohio house the Shields family rented

            So why did the family move 250 miles north? Did John get a better job opportunity in Detroit? By the 1910 census, John is working as a machinist at a “jobbing shop”. The family was living at 190 Horton Avenue, and had two lodgers, both machinists working at an auto plant. (Note: I think the actual street name was Horton Street, not Avenue. Today the 100 block of Horton has been razed, but the 200 block still has several sizeable two-story homes, probably similar to the one the Shields family lived in.)

           In 1911, John took out a patent on a mechanical movement for engine valves, sharing the patent with a W. Lamb. Obviously John was still using his engineering skills.

 

            At some point, John invested in a monkey wrench company in the town of Howell, Michigan, about fifty miles from Detroit. Ruth mentioned it in passing when she talked to John and Laurel, noting, “John Shields started a monkey wrench business in Howell, and his partner absconded with all the funds.”

 

            I found several articles in the Howell newspaper about the wrench factory. John Shields’ role is rather murky, but despite Ruth’s claim, he was not one of the founders. The company was called the Ewer Wrench Company, and E. A. Bowman and M.J. Ewer appear to be the initial investors and founders. The company began building a factory in 1911, but ran into financial problems and had to take out a sizable loan as well as sell stock. The founders claimed at the time that the company already had orders for 25,000 wrenches.

 

            John Shields was elected to the Board of Directors of Ewer Wrench on January 17, 1912 (see article below). Perhaps he bought some of the stock sold in 1911, giving him a partial stake in the company. It is unclear if he was also working for the wrench company, or if he was still a machinist in Detroit. Ruth implied that the family had moved to Howell, but the article states the new board members were all from Detroit.

            The company was failing by early 1913. A scathing article about Ewer Wrench’s closing ran in the April 2, 1913 Howell newspaper. The article noted that after $15,000 was raised through stock sales and an additional $3500 in loans were taken out, “still no wrenches were put on the market. Finally work stopped and a few thousand wrenches were almost given away and that money was dumped somewhere so that it did not go to pay debts. Things went from bad to worse until the special meeting Monday night voted to wind up things and go out of business; that is if they were ever in business.” The article also noted that the investors lost nothing but the face value of their stock—which means they lost everything they had invested.

 

            According to Ruth, the Shields family suffered a serious financial setback from the wrench factory failure. Laurel’s notes state “Neither our May nor Margaret allowed to finish high school. Had to go to work to help out…” Ruth also told the Airds that, “When the family moved again, May stayed with the Bowmans, boarding. Still very much docile. Dated a boy who later became leader of the Howell Band. Bruce something?” I was interested to note that one of the two initial investors in the Ewer Wrench was E. A. Bowman. Obviously John Shields didn’t blame Mr. Bowman for the company’s failure if May ended up living with the family. It sounds as if the Bowmans lived in Howell. I believe the “Howell Band” is a reference to the Plymouth Brethren church.

            By the advent of World War I, John was working for the Maxwell Motors Co. in Detroit. A Detroit news article recognizing contributions to a fund for area soldiers printed John’s letter on behalf of his fellow workers:

“John S. Shields sent the following letter with the big Christmas gift [of $272.94]: ‘We of the Maxwell Motor company, Oakland Avenue, have come again with our bi-monthly contribution to the Tobacco Fund for our boys at the front. We have chipped in a little extra this time for a Christmas special.’”

 

1915 Maxwell Motors model John Shields may have worked on

            Maxwell Motors ended up being bought out by Chrysler after the war. By the time of the 1920 census, John reported that he was an engineer at a “foundry”. That doesn’t sound like Chrysler, but since the 1930 census finds him at age 65 working as a machinist at an “auto factory,” it might have been. The family was still renting a home in 1920, but by 1930, they finally owned their own home—the first property they owned in nearly 40 years of marriage. John probably bought the house, located at 8939 Mendota in Detroit, new since it was built around 1920. John told the 1930 census taker it was worth $10,000. The house still stands today.

 

8939 Mendota, Detroit

            After John’s retirement, he and Jane moved to Zephyrhills, Florida, near Tampa. Jane died June 21, 1954, and John died January 9, 1959 at the age of 93. The brief obituary noted he was grandfather of 19 and great-grandfather of 10. His eleventh great-grandchild, Bruce Aird, was born seven months later in August 1959.

            John Sutherland Shields chose to forge his own path. He broke free of his father and brother’s expectations and made his own way in America. Ruth told John and Laurel that “his own family considered him a rolling stone.” Ruth implied that he was not the best provider for his family, pointing out that her oldest sisters had to forego attending high school to help support the family. She also noted that when John’s mother died in Scotland, Ruth’s husband Jack McNiven paid John’s travel expenses so that he could attend the funeral. However, she neglected to note that John had just traveled to Scotland a few months earlier to attend his mother’s 100^th birthday celebration, so it is not surprising that a retiree might not have the funds for two trips to Scotland in one year. John managed to achieve the American Dream, buying a home and enjoying two decades of retirement in Florida. His large family of descendants can be proud of his persistence, independence and accomplishments.