William James Shiels (6th Gen) 1833-1911 & Agnes Brown

William James Shiels was born Jan 27, 1833 at East Mains, Coulter, Scotland. He was the 8^th and youngest child of Thomas Shiels and Barbara Jean Cranston.

He was only six years old when his father died. He lived with his mother at the family home called East Mains near Coulter, Scotland.

After his father Thomas’s death, William’s mother went on to become a teacher and she continued to live with William and his family for the rest of her life. William is shown on one census record as an agricultural labourer working the land adjacent to East Mains. He later went on to become a bootmaker, a tradition that his sons would continue.

On Jan 14, 1859 William married Agnes Brown, daughter of David Brown and Margaret Shiels of Libberton, a village near Biggar. David was a mole catcher. Agnes was born in Jun 1832.

William James and Agnes had nine children, six boys and three girls, Thomas (1859), Margaret (1860), David (1862), Barbara (1863), John (1864), George (1865), Adam (1867), William (1872) and Agnes (1878).

They stayed in Scotland all their life although many of their children and grandchildren immigrated to North America.

William James Shiels died on Apr 14, 1911. Agnes died Dec 5, 1917. Both are buried at Coulter.