William George "Bill" Ford (1918-2007) & Jessie Janet Muirhead
William George “Bill” Ford was born October 19, 1918, the third child of Nellie Shiels and George Alfred Ford. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Bill’s life would take him from modest beginnings through wartime service and a career in engineering—and a lifelong interest in discovering more about his family history.
On October 21, 1944, Bill married Jessie Janet Muirhead, always known as Janet. The two met through a mutual friend, beginning a marriage and partnership that would last for more than fifty years.
A Life of Learning
Bill’s working life reflected a determination to keep learning and moving forward. After wartime employment at Vickers and a brief period in the U.S. Army, he worked as an automobile mechanic while studying electronics. Those studies eventually opened the door to engineering, and in 1956 he joined Ford Motor Company as a hydraulic engineer.
Bill continued his education while building his career. In 1976, at the age of 55, he received his degree from Henry Ford Community College—nearly forty years after graduating from high school. He remained with Ford Motor Company until his retirement in 1980.
A Passion for Family History
Bill and Janet shared an interest in genealogy and often combined their travels with family research. On several trips to Britain they searched Scottish records, visited relatives and made contact with descendants of other branches of the Shiels family.
Bill also gathered information from Shiels descendants in Ontario, many of whom he had known personally. Over the years he accumulated family records, stories and photographs, including the old family diary written by Jack Shiels in 1949.
A Chance Meeting That Changed Everything
In 1980, Dan and Judy Shiels travelled to Ontario searching for the graves of Dan’s Shiels ancestors. After finally locating the family graves at Cranbrook Cemetery, they began recording the inscriptions in a notebook.
While they were working, an elderly gentleman visiting his wife’s grave stopped to ask what they were doing. After hearing their story, he told them about Marilyn Engel, who was leading a group researching the local history of the area. By remarkable coincidence, Marilyn happened to be passing the cemetery on her way home for lunch.
The gentleman suggested that Dan and Judy follow her—and they did.
Over lunch, Marilyn explained that the Shiels family was so extensive in the area that two men were helping her with that part of the local history — Bill Ford and Bill Logan. As Dan looked through the information she had collected, he discovered something he had never known: his ancestor John Shiels had brothers, including George and Thomas.
Dan and Judy were on their way home to Manitoba and could not stay long, but they left their contact information with Marilyn. About a week later, the telephone rang at their home in Winnipeg. It was Bill Ford.
Bill visited Marilyn the following week and learned about the unexpected visitors from Manitoba. He knew that John’s son Thomas had gone west, but knew little about what had happened to that branch of the family. A postal strike prevented him from writing, so instead he picked up the telephone — and another piece of good fortune fell into place.
As luck would have it, Bill and Janet were about to leave Detroit on a road trip to the West Coast. Bill suggested that they return through Canada so the two families could meet. Of course, Dan agreed.
Two weeks later, Bill and Janet arrived in Winnipeg. Bill brought along much of the family information he had collected, and during their visit Bill and Dan compared what each knew about the different branches of the Shiels family.
It was the beginning of a friendship and a sharing of family history that would continue for many years.
Bringing the Family Together
Over the following year, Dan and Bill remained in contact and continued exchanging family information. Bill also introduced Dan to Bill Logan, a descendant of the Thomas Shiels branch. Bill’s wife, Ann Logan, was an excellent family historian, and she and Dan would go on to do much of the research that followed.
During Bill Ford’s first visit to Winnipeg, he and Dan had briefly talked about the possibility of someday “getting the families together.” What began as little more than an idea gradually took shape.
Finally, Dan told Bill that a Shiels Family Reunion was going to be held in Winnipeg in 1982 and asked if he and Janet would come.
The answer was an immediate yes.
What had begun with the search for a missing grave in a small Ontario cemetery had now reconnected branches of the Shiels family that had known little about one another for generations.
The 1982 reunion was a tremendous success, and the newly reconnected families decided they should do it again. This time they would gather near the place where the Canadian story of this branch had begun.
In 1984, the second reunion was held in the Cranbrook, Ontario area, close to the old Shiels homesteads. For Dan and Judy, returning there had special meaning. Only four years earlier, their search for the family graves had started the remarkable chain of events that led them to Bill.
In 1986, the families gathered once again in Winnipeg for a third reunion. What had begun as an exchange of family information had grown into friendships between branches of the Shiels family that had been separated for generations.
Preserving the Shiels Story
Bill Ford became one of the early contributors to the Shiels family story. He had known many descendants of the John and George Shiels families personally and had spent years gathering their stories, photographs and family records. Much of what he preserved came from people who were no longer living by the time the next generation of researchers began their work.
When Bill and Dan met, each held a different piece of the puzzle. Bill brought his knowledge of the Ontario families, while Dan was beginning to uncover the story of the branch that had moved west. By sharing what they knew, both men were able to see a much larger family than either had known before. Bill also had the diary of Jack Shiels written in 1949 that described their Scottish roots.
Bill’s willingness to share what he had gathered gave Dan an important starting point. The search continued for many years, with new records discovered, old assumptions revisited and many more branches of the family added to the story.
That work eventually led to Dan’s first Shiels family history book in 2002 and, more than forty years after that chance connection with Bill, to a greatly expanded second history published in 2024.
Bill & Janet
Throughout their marriage, Bill and Janet shared a love of travel, family and family history. Their journeys took them across Canada and the United States and repeatedly back to Britain, often combining sightseeing with visits to relatives and searches for another piece of their ancestry.
In October 1994, Bill and Janet celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary surrounded by approximately 85 family members and friends. After more than half a century together, Janet died on July 3, 1997.
Bill remained in their Livonia home and continued his interest in family history until his death on August 28, 2007. He was 88 years old.
The Story Continues
Bill’s contribution came at an important time. The information he willingly shared helped Dan understand branches of the Shiels family he had known little about and introduced him to others who were also researching the family.
What began with that unexpected telephone call grew into friendships, an exchange of family information and three Shiels family reunions. It was one of several important connections that helped bring the wider family story together.
Like so many who contributed along the way, Bill held a piece of the Shiels story — and fortunately, he was willing to share it.