Father: Thomas Shiels Siblings: Thomas 1819 Jean 1821 John 1826 George 1828 Anne 1831 William 1833
William James Shiels was born Jan 27, 1833 at East Mains, Coulter, Scotland. He was the 8th and youngest child of Thomas Shiels and Barbara Jean Cranston.
He was only six years old when his father died. He lived with his mother at the family home called East Mains near Coulter, Scotland.
After his father Thomas’s death, William’s mother went on to become a teacher and she continued to live with William and his family for the rest of her life. William is shown on one census record as an agricultural labourer working the land adjacent to East Mains. He later went on to become a bootmaker, a tradition that his sons would continue.
On Jan 14, 1859 William married Agnes Brown, daughter of David Brown and Margaret Shiels of Libberton, a village near Biggar. David was a mole catcher. Agnes was born in Jun 1832.
William James and Agnes had nine children, six boys and three girls, Thomas (1859), Margaret (1860), David (1862), Barbara (1863), John (1864), George (1865), Adam (1867), William (1872) and Agnes (1878).
They stayed in Scotland all their life although many of their children and grandchildren immigrated to North America.
William James Shiels died on Apr 14, 1911. Agnes died Dec 5, 1917. Both are buried at Coulter.
William & Agnes Children - Summary
Thomas (1859) never married until he was 50 years old and had no children. He started his own business called “Shiels the Bootmaker” in Biggar with many of his relatives working there.
Margaret (1860) had a son Robert before she was married. She married and immigrated to Canada leaving Robert to be raised by his grandparents. Margaret had other children in Canada and she returned to Scotland to live with her sister before she died. Robert immigrated to Canada and farmed in Saskatchewan.
David (1862) only lived to be 15 years old and died in 1877.
Barbara (1863) never married and lived at East Mains most of her life.
John (1864) married and had 3 children before immigrating to Canada in 1903. They farmed near Kisbey, Saskatchewan.
George (1865) worked in the family Bootmaker business his whole life. He married and had 7 children. They all remained in Scotland.
Adam (1867) started working on a farm before joining the Railway where he remained until he retired. He married and had 9 children. Some of their descendants stayed in Scotland and some immigrated to Canada and New Zealand.
William (1872) worked in Glasgow as a grocer before moving to Midlands, Ontario, Canada.
Agnes (1878) married Thomas McBride and immigrated to Montana, USA. They had 7 children.
The following pdf file details all the descendant of William & Agnes.