Ellen Shiels (1877–1951) & George Alfred Ford
Ellen Shiels was born on July 12, 1877, the ninth child of George Shiels and Susannah Wortley. Although her father recorded her name as “Hellen” in the family Bible, she never used that name. To her family and friends, she was always “Nellie.”
Nellie grew up on the Grey Township farm her father and uncle John had helped carve from the Ontario wilderness. She attended School No. 8, the little country school her father had helped establish only a short distance from the family home.
Her life changed dramatically when her mother died while Nellie was still only twelve. Plans for her to continue her education in Brussels were abandoned, and the young girl instead took on responsibility for keeping house for her father and two younger brothers.
Years later, Nellie’s path would cross with that of George Alfred Ford, an English boy whose own childhood had taken an extraordinary turn — from a Barnardo Home in London to a foster home in Canada.
Together, Nellie and George would eventually travel from Ontario to British Columbia and then Michigan, creating the Ford branch of our family story — and becoming the parents of William George “Bill” Ford, whose interest in family history would one day help reconnect this branch with the descendants of Nellie’s uncle John.
Nellie — Growing Up Quickly
Nellie was a bright student at Grey Township School No. 8. Newspaper records from 1886 show her receiving the highest marks in both second and third class. Her father intended to send her into Brussels to continue her education at high school.
But when Nellie was only twelve, her mother Susannah died, and those plans came to an abrupt end.
Instead of continuing her schooling, Nellie took over the responsibility of keeping house for her father and two younger brothers. She remained at home for several years before eventually going out to work as a hired girl.
Nellie later worked as a practical nurse and housekeeper for her older sister Jemima, who had become seriously ill. She cared for Jemima until her death in 1902, then stayed on to keep house for Jemima’s husband, George Hart.
Church records from Knox Church in Cranbrook show Nellie being admitted as a member in 1902 and baptized the following year. She continued keeping house for George Hart until he moved to Hullet Township in 1906.
By then, Nellie was nearly thirty. Much of her young adult life had been spent caring for other members of her family.
Soon, however, her own life was about to change.
George Ford — A Barnardo Boy
George Alfred Ford was born on January 28, 1884, in Gosport, Hampshire, England, the son of John Ford and Louisa Elizabeth Cawte.
When George was only nine years old, his mother died while giving birth to twin boys. His father was left with nine children, the oldest only thirteen.
With such a large family to care for, George and his younger brother Thomas Walter, then seven, were sent to the Barnardo Home for Orphans in London. They remained there for about two years.
The boys were then asked whether they would be willing to go to Canada and live with foster families. They agreed, beginning a journey that would carry them across the Atlantic while they were still children.
George and Walter first lived with foster families in the Muskoka Lakes district of Ontario. After about two years they were moved again, this time to Hullet Township in Huron County, where two brothers named Brown each took one of the boys into their homes.
George lived with Alex Brown on a farm just outside Clinton. When he turned eighteen, he was on his own.
For the next decade he worked wherever he could — as a farm labourer during the summers and in the northern lumber camps during the winters. He also tried raising small fruit near Bayfield and Goderich and later travelled west to work in the Saskatchewan wheat fields.
By 1910, George had even applied for land of his own near Glasnevin, Saskatchewan.
But before he could build that prairie life, he met Nellie Shiels.
Nellie & George
After years of working on farms and in lumber camps, George Ford had begun looking toward the Canadian West. In May 1910, he applied for a pre-emption near Glasnevin, Saskatchewan, apparently intending to establish a farm of his own.
Before that happened, however, George met Nellie Shiels in the Clinton area.
Nellie and George were married on March 29, 1911, in the manse at Clinton, Ontario. Following their marriage, the newlyweds set out for Saskatchewan, where George expected they would begin their married life on the prairies.
Apparently Nellie had other ideas.
Family history tells us that Nellie took one look at the prairies and decided that she did not want to become a “prairie wife.”
So instead of stopping in Saskatchewan, they kept going west.
Their journey finally ended at Victoria, British Columbia, where they had friends. Nellie had inherited some money from her father, and they used it to purchase a lot of about half an acre on Dalmeny Road in Colquitz, then a suburban district outside Victoria.
George bought a load of used lumber and, with the help of friends, built a small four-room house for their new family.
For two people whose childhoods had required them to become independent at an early age, it must have been a significant moment.
Nellie and George finally had a home of their own.
A Family on the Move
Nellie and George remained in their little home at Colquitz for almost a decade. Their three children were born there: Edith Helen in 1912, Velma Annie in 1916 and William George — later known as Bill — in 1918.
George found work at a cereal mill in Victoria, providing the family with a measure of stability. But when the mill closed, he was once again without employment. Unable to find other work, George and Nellie sold their home in 1920 and returned to Ontario.
After living for a time near Clinton, they purchased a farm in Grey Township, only about two miles from Nellie’s birthplace. For Nellie, it was a return to the countryside where she had grown up. Their daughters Edith and Velma attended school at nearby Cranbrook.
But farming proved difficult. Crop failures and a lack of financing forced the family to sell the farm in the spring of 1923. Once again, Nellie and George packed up their belongings and began again somewhere new.
This time their destination was Detroit, Michigan, where Nellie’s oldest brother, Thomas E. Shiels, opened his home to the family while George searched for employment. George eventually found work in the rapidly growing automobile industry, and the family moved first into rented quarters and later into a small house of their own.
Their young son Bill remembered the railroad running behind the property and spending hours playing along the tracks. He also remembered his father buying a used 1923 Model T Ford — and the considerable difficulty George had learning how to drive it!
Hard Times — and Starting Again
By the early 1930s, Nellie and George had already rebuilt their lives several times. Then, in 1932, George lost his employment and the family could no longer keep up the mortgage payments on their Detroit home. They lost the house.
Once again, help came through an old connection. A longtime friend, Mr. Brown, whose family was connected to George’s foster years in Canada, provided them with a home in Detroit rent-free for a couple of years.
During that period, George began selling food products and spices door-to-door. By 1937, Nellie and George were able to purchase the house from Mr. Brown, giving them a home of their own once again.
When the Second World War began, George took employment in a war plant and remained there until the war ended. Afterward, he became caretaker of a large church building.
In the fall of 1946, Nellie and George decided it was time to retire. They sold their Detroit home to their son William and his wife Janet and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where their eldest daughter Edith lived.
Even in retirement, George continued working, becoming custodian of the American Red Cross office building. Nellie and George lived in an upstairs apartment in their daughter’s home.
Nellie died on January 23, 1951, at the age of 73. George lived another twenty-two years and died on January 15, 1973, at the age of 88. They are buried together in Rosedale Cemetery in Grand Rapids.
Their Family
Nellie and George had three children, all born during their years in Victoria, British Columbia: Edith Helen, born in 1912; Velma Annie, born in 1916; and William George, born in 1918.
Their eldest daughter, Edith, eventually married Harry Koopmans and made her home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was to Edith’s home that Nellie and George moved when they retired in 1946.
Their second daughter, Velma, was remembered as an excellent student but suffered from frequent illnesses. Sadly, she died in 1927 at only ten years of age.
Their youngest child, William George “Bill” Ford, would follow a very different path. Born on October 19, 1918, Bill grew up in a family that had already travelled from British Columbia to Ontario and then to Michigan.
Years later, Bill’s interest in genealogy would take him back through those family connections — to Ontario, Scotland and eventually to relatives he had never known.
It is through Bill Ford and his wife, Jessie Janet Muirhead, that we continue this branch of the Shiels family.
The Story Continues
The story of Nellie Shiels and George Alfred Ford was one of remarkable movement and perseverance. Their lives carried them from very different childhoods in Ontario and England, through British Columbia, back to Ontario and finally to Michigan.
Along the way they faced the loss of parents, interrupted education, uncertain employment, failed crops and the loss of a home — yet repeatedly they found a way to begin again.
Their son William George “Bill” Ford inherited something else from this family journey: an interest in knowing where his family had come from.
That interest would eventually make Bill one of the important keepers of the history of this branch — and, many years later, would help reconnect the descendants of George Shiels with those of his brother John.
Our story now continues with William George “Bill” Ford and Jessie Janet Muirhead.