Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/617

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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estate inventoried and recorded in 1728, was a church warden of Charles parish, York. He married ^lary, only daughter of Charles and Temperance Dunn, w'ho hore him seven children, the second a son, Robert.

Robert (4) Sheild, son of Robert (3) and Mary (Dunn) Sheild, was born April 18, 1693. will probated May 21. 1753, the in- ventory amounting to nearly ten thousand dollars. He married Sarah, widow of Thomas Barber, whose first husband died in 1712. She bore him six children, the first son being Robert, the second, John.

John Sheild, second son and third child of Robert (4) and Sarah (Barber) Sheild, was born November 24, 1719, will probated January 30, 1783. Fie married Eleanor, daughter of John and Eleanor (Howard) Chisham, who bore him five children, the youngest a son John, born November 29, 1757, an oflficer of the revolution, serving as captain in the First Virginia State Regi- ment. He died January 16, 1779, of wounds received in battle.

Robert (5) Sheild, eldest son and third child of Robert and Eleanor (Chisham) Sheil^x, was born March 12, 1750, died Octo- ber 23, 1781, bis wall proved May 20, 1782. His wife Mary (maiden name unknown) bore him four sons, of whom Samuel w^as the youngest.

Samuel Sheild, son of Robert (5) and Mary Sheild, was born March 23, 1781, and resided at Yorktown, \^irginia. He married and had issue, including a son, William Henry.

William Henry Sheild, son of Samuel Sheild, was born in 1807, and died in 1882. He was educated in the public schools and after the completion of a general prepara- tory course attended the Philadelphia IMedi- cal College, prefacing his higher professional studies, returning to his home in York county, in 1828. In 1856 he moved to Gloucester county, Virginia, and there resided many years. He was twice married, his first wife Anna Corbin. his second Susan Ann Howard, a member of the family whose land was the scene of Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown. By each marriage he was the father of nine children, three of his sons supporting the Confederate cause in the civil war.

Frank Whiting Sheild. son of the second marriage of William Henry Sheild, was born in Yorktown, York county, Virginia,

in 1854. two years after his birth his parents mo\ing to Gloucester county. He pursued his early studies in the public schools, then beginning preparation for the profession of dentistry at the Baltimore Dental College, whence he was graduated in the class of 1875. He made Baltimore the scene of his first practice, in 1879 moving to Hampton, Virginia, where for fifteen years he occupied foremost position in his profession, abandon- ing his calling because of unsound health. In 1894, shortly after his retirement from dental pursuits, he was appointed post- master of Hampton by President Cleveland, and at the expiration of his term opened a real estate and insurance office, acquiring a large business in this double line. This he discontinued to accept an appointment to the office of deputy county treasurer, which he held for nine years, in 1913 being appointed by President \Mlson postmaster of Hampton. Mr. Sheild entered upon the duties of his ofifice with the experience gained during his former administration as a valuable asset, and has discharged its re- sponsibilities with the thoroughness and aljility that marked his former service. In each position of public trust to which he has been called Mr. Sheild has rewarded the confidence and reliance of his supporters and friends with capable and meritorious official action, and his every public honor meets with an approval universal and sincere. He is a communicant of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church, and has long been a leader of the Democratic party in this local- ity, prominent in its councils and conspicu- ous in its works.

Frank Whiting Sheild married, in 1905, Maud Fitzwater, and has one son, George Henry, born in 1906.

Denis Joseph O'Connell, D. D. The rec- ord of a busy life, a life that is of benefit to mankind, must ever prove fecund in interest and profit as scanned by the student who would learn of the intrinsic essence of in- dividuality, and who would attempt an an- alysis of character and trace back to the fountain head the widely diverging channels which mark the onward flow, the constantly augmentative progress, if w-e may be per- mitted to use the phrase, of such a person- ality. All human advancement, all human weal or woe, in short, all things within the mental ken are but mirrored back from the