Notes for ROBERT SHIELDS: Christine Brown says Robert was born 9 November
1749 near Harrisburg, Virginia.

In addition to the 10 sons shown here, Bill Navey lists (1) Ezekiel
Shields b. 1778 and (2) Joshua Shields b. 10 March 1782 at Harrisonburg,
Virginia, d. 16 September 1848 in Indiana.

Private in Francis Lang's Company in Revolutionary War. (Christine Brown
says Robert was a captain.) Moved to Sevier County, Tennessee in 1784.

John A. Shields in one manuscript put Robert's birth at 1740. He says
there were 11 sons, one of whom died in infancy. Another source says there
were 12 brothers and two died in infancy.

Court records indicate that Robert acquired land in 1781 on Smith Creek, a
branch of the Calfpasture River in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties,
Virginia. As heir to his brother John of Botetourt County, Robert conveyed
land to William Shields in 1782.

John A. Shields says the family settled in the western wilderness near
Pigeon Forge because the government of North Carolina was offering cheap
land and tax exemptions and because they were pressed in Virginia by high
taxes, poor markets, ruinous competition of slave-labor plantations (the
Shieldses were not slave holders), hard times and the increasing needs of
a large family. Daniel Boone, described as "a kinsman," and other hunters
and explorers had brought back glowing accounts of the fertility of the
land, abundance of game and beauty of the country, all of which was added
to accounts by the eldest son, Thomas, who had spent three years exploring
the unsettled region of East Tennessee.

In 1784, the Shields and McMahan families (Mrs. Deborah McMahan was Nancy
Stockton's recently widowed sister) loaded their possessions in three
wagons and embarked on the long trail down the Shenandoah Valley. At Big
Lick (Roanoke), the party divided. One wagon, in charge of Robert's son
James, 13, with Nancy, Janet and the smaller Shields boys, went to Yadkin
Settlement in North Carolina, where they remained with Robert's cousins a
year before proceeding to Tennessee. The other two wagons proceeded as far
as the settlement on the Watauga where the McMahan and Thomas' and
Richard's wives remained until the following year. In 1785, the McMahan
and the Yadkin party of the Shields family went on with the pack animals
via the old Traders Trail.

At the Watauga Land Office, Robert Shields bought a tract of land on
Middle Creek, a tributary of the Little Pigeon River in what is now Sevier
County, Tennessee. This was far beyond the most remote of the frontier
settlements. The most remote settlement up until that time was at Big
Island in the French Broad River, about 20 miles northeast of Robert's
land. From Watauga to Middle Creek was about 100 miles as the crow flies
and more than 200 miles by the pack-animal trail and about 150 miles via
the footpaths through the forest.

In 1784, Robert and his five older sons, carrying on their backs such
scanty equipment as was absolutely essential, proceeded on foot by
mountain paths known to Thomas. They often traveled days without seeing a
settler's cabin. Once they were stalked by two Indians with flintlocks and
tomahawks. Thomas, becoming aware of the lurking danger, took two
long-rifles, going some distance ahead of the others, and hid until the
trailing Indians passed him. He killed both of them.

After about two weeks, they reached the mouth of the Little Pigeon River.
Leaving the regular trail, they turned south up that stream to their new
location. On what is now known as the old T. D. McMahan place on Middle
Creek, a branch of the Little Pigeon River, they built a temporary cabin
at the foot of Shields Mountain, started a clearing and began the erection
of Shields fort.

On the frontier, a fort was a prime necessity for protection from hostile
Indians. Following the Revolution, Spain claimed the land west of the
Alleghenies and bitterly opposed settlement from the United States. The
Spanish incited the Indians, especially the Cherokees, offering large
bounties for white settlers' scalps. Some accounts say that between 1780
and 1795 half the male settlers were killed by Indians.

Shields Fort, when completed was 16x100 feet with low ceilings and attics.
It was constructed of heavy logs with a fireplace at each end. There were
four outside doors, several small window openings without glass and
numerous portholes at convenient places upstairs and down. The original
building contained living quarters for six families with a large common
kitchen at one end and a common living room at the other. The building was
in the midst of an oblong yard of about a quarter-acre, surrounded by
walls 12 feet high. The walls consisted of double rows of logs standing on
end, closely spaced and sharpened at the top and fastened together with
wooden pins. A high sentry box at each end of the stockade gave a
commanding view of the clearing of several acres. The spring was within
the enclosure, as were stables for the stock and all the other buildings.

Nearly four years was required to complete the original structure. It was
in this fort that Robert Shields and his children and grandchildren lived
for almost 20 years. Seven of his sons brought brides to the fort. As the
family grew, the size of the stockade was increased. Eventually, the
McMahan and some of the Shields boys moved into their own separate
quarters nearby.

John A. Shields says Robert and Nancy Shields died at the fort about 1805
and were buried in unmarked graves on a nearby hillside. In 1976, the
Spencer Clark Chapter of the DAR marked Robert's and Nancy's graves, which
are now part of a small cemetery at the rear of the Middle Creek Methodist
Church. Other members of the Shields and McMahan families are buried there
as well.

Robert's grave marker reads: "Robert Shields/Pvt. Francis Lang's
Co./Revolutionary War/Nov 9 1749-Jan 18 1802." E. R. Walker III says the
dates on tombstones of Robert Shields and Nancy Stockton cannot be
documented.

Joe Funderburk reports, in addition to the 11 children listed here, a son,
Ezekiel, born 1778, and a son, Joshua, born 10 March 1782 at Harrisonburg,
Virginia, died 16 September 1848 in Indiana.

ROBERT5 SHIELDS (JOHN4, WILLIAM3, JAMES2, WILLIAM1) was born 04 July 1744
in Harrisonburg, Virginia30, and died 18 January 1802 in Sevier County,
Tennessee31. He married NANCY STOCKTON 1761 in Augusta County, Virginia32,
daughter of RICHARD STOCKTON and AGNES ANTHONY. She was born 1745 in
Albemarle County, Virginia33, and died Unknown in Sevier County,
Tennessee34.

• Married: 1761 in Harrisonburg, Augusta CO, VA

1. Janet SHIELDS b: 7 MAR 1762 in Botetourt Co, VA
2. Thomas SHIELDS b: 1763 in Augusta CO, VA
3. Richard Stockton SHIELDS b: 4 JUL 1764 in Rockingham CO, VA
4. David ("Big Dave") SHIELDS b: 1766 in Augusta CO, VA
5. William SHIELDS b: 4 JUL 1768 in Augusta CO, VA
6. John SHIELDS b: 1769 in Harrisonburg, Augusta CO, VA
7. James SHIELDS b: 10 MAR 1770 in Augusta CO, VA
8. Robert SHIELDS b: 1772 in Harrisonburg, VA
9. Joseph SHIELDS b: 17 MAR 1773 in Shenandoah, Augusta Co, VA
10. Benjamin SHIELDS b: 1779 in Augusta CO, VA
11. Jesse SHIELDS b: 10 MAR 1782 in Harrisonburg, VA