Shiels Family Reunions
1982 Reunion in Winnipeg
After meeting with Bill & Janet Ford and talking with a number of family members, Dan & Judy Shiels decided to host the first Shiels Family Reunion in Winnipeg in the summer of 1982. Bill & Ann Logan came and camped in our back yard.
In order to keep the costs down, we agreed to look after the food ourselves. One of the staples of the Shiels Family was potato salad because it was easy to make and fed lots. The day before the reunion, a large gathering of relatives appeared at our home to visit so we put them to work. The guys all sat outside and had a “potato peeling contest”. The goal was to peel all the potatoes of course so we made some fun of it. Near the end, my 67 year old Aunt Olive Gannon came out to see how we were doing. Someone asked her what we won for a prize and she said “the winner gets to peal the eggs”.
The reunion was held at the Vasalund hall in Winnipeg and we had plenty of room inside the hall and outside on the beautiful grounds. It was a great day so we took our photos outside.
Dan acted as MC and we had lots of cardboard hung on the walls with family charts and photos. Dan started off explaining who we were and how we got here. Then he went over the John Shiels Line. Everything at that reunion was based on the Jack Shiels Diary and as we found out later, there were a number of errors, especially in the early days. Bill Ford gave a speech on the George Shiels line and Bill Logan did the Thomas line. There was no one there from the William line as we did not know about anyone in the area at that time. That changed in 1986. We all talked about the possible James line but there was no one there.
Leonard Shiels - Buffalo Grass to Wheat
Leonard Shiels and his wife Hilda were there from Craven Sask. Leonard’s father was James Robert Grant Shiels and was adopted by Thomas Shiels & Elizabeth Prentice when his mother died.
Leonard had just finished writing a book about his Long Plains area called “Buffalo Grass to Wheat”. He brought a number of copies along to the reunion.
1984 Reunion in Ontario
The second reunion was held in the Ethel Hall, less that 10 km from the old Shiels Homesteads. As part of the event, a number of us drove to the old homestead of John Shiels, however there was nothing left there. The new owners had dug a large hole and buried all that remained of the history. Dan & Judy Shiels had been there in a previous visit to Ontario and were able to collect a brick from the house and a stone from the old barn.
Bill Ford and Bill Logan shared the responsibility for organizing this reunion. There were a number of local Shiels relatives, especially from the George line. One interesting fact that came out, with all the children, grand children and great grandchildren that came after George Shiels, there was only ONE Shiels male to carry on the family name.
There was representatives from Thomas, John & George lines at this reunion. It was especially nice to have it so close to where our histories all started back in Ontario.
The attendance was smaller because so many of the Shiels descendants went west but we all still had fun and committed to another reunion in Winnipeg in 1986.
1986 Reunion in Winnipeg
The 1986 Reunion was the biggest by far. It was held at the Varsity View Community Centre and we had the meal catered so it was not so much work for the organizers. We decided to invite the descendants of James & Ellen Shiels to this reunion as we were still not sure it James was the missing brother. Many of them attended and it was not till much later that we found there was no connection.
My sister Rose & Bud Carriere ran a ceramic business and they made and sold a number of reunion merchandise to help with the cost. We had done a lot of advertising and were very pleased with the attendance. We did make a commitment to hold another reunion in 1988 in Ontario, but unfortunately that never happened.
We arranged a questionaries to get to know each other and it was a lot of fun. Everyone got an entry sheet and you had to go around and ask questions. We all wore nametags so that made it easier. Questions were all specific like when was Randy Lindbloom born. First, you had to find Randy and then had to ask him the question. It was a great way to get to meet relatives from the other branches.
We made a video of the event for historical purposes Here are some of the photos off that video.
We had a reunion cake and had members from each Branch cutting the cake. Here is (L-R)
Christine Shiels Cox – William Branch
Leonard Shiels – Thomas Branch
Bill Ford – George Branch
Olive Shiels Gannon – John Branch
Isabella Emberley – James Branch
