David French 1947
David French Jr. was born on September 15, 1947, the eldest of the five children of Agnes “Nessie” Shiels and David French. He spent most of his life in Carluke, Lanarkshire, not far from the places where generations of the Shiels family had lived.
David never married and established his own house painting and decorating business in 1972. Away from his trade, one of his great interests has been raising purebred Siamese cats, which earned him numerous ribbons and awards, including several champions and Grand Champions.
A Family Connection Across the Atlantic
For Dan, one of the most valuable connections to the Scottish branch of the family has been his cousin David French. David is not a family historian in the traditional sense. Rather, his importance has come from something equally valuable — his memories of the people, places and everyday life surrounding the Shiels family in Scotland.
Born in 1947, David grew up close to the family’s Lanarkshire roots and knew places that, for Dan, had previously existed largely through family records, photographs and stories.
Meeting David French
Before Dan and Judy travelled to Scotland in 2007 on one of their family-history trips, Dan had learned about Meryl Harris through Bill Ford. Meryl had been born Meryl Shiels and was another important link to the Scottish side of the family.
Dan arranged to meet Meryl soon after arriving in Scotland. By then she was getting older and walked with a cane, but she still had a wealth of memories about the family. During their visit, Meryl told Dan and Judy that there was someone else they simply had to meet — David French.
Meryl invited David to join them, beginning a friendship and family connection that would become an important part of Dan’s continuing research into his Scottish ancestors.
A Visit to East Mains
David took Dan, Judy and Meryl to East Mains, the house that had been associated with the Shiels family for generations, and then guided them through Biggar and the surrounding countryside.
Having Meryl and David together brought the family history to life in a way that documents alone never could. As Dan remembers it, listening to the two of them was “like getting a history lesson on life in Scotland.”
David had something particularly valuable to contribute. As a small boy, he had visited East Mains while Moll Shiels still owned the property. He remembered the old house before electricity and running water and was able to help Dan understand how East Mains had been used during its later years.
Helping Preserve the Family History
David’s help with the Shiels family history extended over many years. Even before Dan and Judy met him in Scotland, David had helped review the Scottish section of Dan’s original family history book in 2002, checking details and adding the perspective of someone who had grown up among the people and places described in its pages.
More than twenty years later, David again contributed information for the greatly expanded 2024 edition. His memories helped preserve details that might otherwise have disappeared with the passing of another generation.
Bringing the Story Back to Scotland
After the new edition was published, Dan sent David ten copies to distribute among family and others in Scotland. David made sure that the history reached beyond the family itself, arranging for a copy to be placed in the Biggar Museum and another in the local Library.
It was a fitting conclusion to a project that had begun thousands of miles away in Canada. A family history reconstructed from records, photographs, memories and stories had found its way back to the Scottish community where so much of the Shiels story had begun.
A Family Connection Preserved
David French became much more than another name on the Shiels family tree. Through his memories, his knowledge of the local area and his willingness to share what he knew, he helped connect the family’s past with the places where that history had actually happened.
For Dan, that connection turned distant family history into something personal — and helped ensure that the story of this Scottish branch would not be forgotten.