Thomas Shiels (6th Gen) 1819-1897 & Elizabeth Prentice

 Thomas Shiels was born Jul 12, 1819 near Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the 2nd child of Thomas Shiels & Barbara Jean Cranston.

Thomas worked for the Prentice family as a coachman and groom. He worked on a farm called Muirlea Farm owned by John Prentice of Libberton. He fell in love with one of the bosses’ daughters, Elizabeth.

Thomas & Elizabeth were married on Apr 30, 1840 in Liberton, Scotland. Elizabeth was well educated as she was from a good family. They had 4 children in Scotland, Robert Hunter (1839), Jane (1841), Thomas Prentice (1845) and John (1851).

Scotland to America

They left Scotland in 1852 and emigrated to the United States, settling in Greenup, Illinois. While on route, the youngest child, John died and was buried at sea. Thomas was quite sick with Malaria when they were in Illinois and Elizabeth taught school and took in sewing to support the family. Elizabeth is noted as having a very strong character and being very religious. No one was allowed to do anything, not even cook a meal, on Sunday. While living there, they lost another son in infancy. William was born in 1854 and lived only four months. He was buried in the Prentice family cemetery and there is a marker there for John also, who was buried at sea. This is a private cemetery on the farm of James Prentice (Elizabeth’s brother) at Greenup, Illinois. Thomas and Elizabeth’s son Robert worked for Uncle James and later married his daughter Elizabeth Prentice.

Grey County, Ontario, Canada

In 1860, Thomas, Elizabeth and their son, Thomas Prentice, moved to Canada. They lived within one mile of Thomas’s brothers, John and George. Thomas bought lot 16 in the 15th Concession of Grey Township in Ontario from his brother John. The two oldest children, Robert and Jane, remained in Illinois and both married there.

This land turned out to be rather poor, so Thomas resorted to some of his groom experience from Scotland and became the local Vet. He was very good with animals and had a reputation as a well driller and “witcher” for locating underground water.

Thomas and Elizabeth had two more children born while they live in Ontario, Elizabeth (Feb 3, 1860) and John (1862). In 1881, Thomas and Elizabeth adopted another son, James Grant (1876) James Grant’s mother had died when he was very young. When his oldest sister left home, the father could no longer look after the children so he peddled them off around the area to neighbors who could take them. James was the only one to be officially adopted.

When their son Thomas Prentice Shiels was married he received half of his dad’s farm as a wedding present. Thomas P remained there till 1881 when he heard of homesteads being offered in the Dakota Territory. Thomas P, Margaret and family decided to move to Fort Ransom, North Dakota.

Fort Ransom, North Dakota, USA

Thomas and Elizabeth continued to farm until 1886. Then, along with their youngest children, Elizabeth, John and James, they moved to Fort Ransom, North Dakota where their son Thomas Prentice Shiels had gone earlier. They started farming in the area just at the west side of Sheyenne Valley and continued to do so for several years. Thomas became a US citizen in Oct 1892.

Elizabeth was a very religious woman being a strict Presbyterian. She had a fine head of black hair with hardly any grey, even at the age of 76 when she died in 1891. She had a strong Scottish accent all her life. She always wore a little bonnet when she went out and a sunbonnet in the yard or garden. Sunday was always strictly observed in the Presbyterian way, going to church, read only the Bible, meals prepared the day before, and everyone was required to sit quietly all day on the Sabbath. She was obviously a very strong character, but Thomas was equal to the challenge. He would go over to his son’s place on Sunday to read the newspaper which came only once a week and his wife was never able to break him of this “terrible” habit.

An incident which reveals much about the times in which they lived tells of Thomas and a neighbor by the name of Barch getting into an argument about a fence line. Barch struck Thomas on the head with a sturdy stick causing some serious damage and profuse bleeding. He got to the house and his wife patched him up. By this time, some of the neighbors had arrived at the house and were relieved to see he was still on his feet. The neighbors became very indignant and dismayed, voicing their anger & inflaming the already angry Thomas. Thomas took his muzzle-loading shotgun off the wall & loaded it, intending that he and his neighbors should go after Barch. As he was going through the kitchen to join the “posse” at the back door, he bumped the gun against something and it discharged, the bullet striking him in the head. It was just a graze but there was more blood for Elizabeth to attend to and he carried the scar for the rest of his life. Thus closed the incident of the nearest thing to a feud or at least a shoot-out in our family. Thomas had a full set of teeth when he died and he never had a cavity or lost a tooth in his entire life. He did not smoke but he chewed tobacco as it was very popular at the time. After Elizabeth had died in 1891, he lived in a little place in the valley. He never put anything of Elizabeth’s away after she was gone, even her sunbonnet remained hanging on the wall. Later he moved out onto the prairie to Englevale where his youngest daughter, Elizabeth and James Tracy Logan lived.

While Thomas was living with Elizabeth and James, something happened that reveals a good deal about his character. Elizabeth was pregnant with her fourth child and was about to give birth. James went to fetch a neighbor lady to help with the delivery. Events happened quickly however and before James got back, his new daughter had been delivered. Thomas had taken over, going into the bedroom and shut the door. He delivered the baby, using his pocketknife to cut the cord, tied it off, wrapped the wee mite in a blanket and had it ready for the midwife’s attention. Thomas died there on May 31, 1897.