Samuel D. Shields

As printed in 1894

AMUEL D. SHIELDS, Superintendent of the Butler County Infirmary, was born in Morgan Township, this county, on the 26th of February, 1843. He is a member of a family that was identified with the pioneer history of the Buckeye State. His paternal grandfather, James Shields, was a native of Ireland, and was educated in the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Thence he emigrated to the United States and settled in Virginia, where he married Jane Wright, a native of the Old Dominion. In 1804 he came to Ohio, and settled in Morgan Township, Butler County, where he entered from the Government three hundred and twenty acres of heavily timbered land. This he improved so greatly that it was regarded as one of the finest farms for miles around. Politically a Democrat, he represented his district in the State Legislature for thirteen consecutive years, and this service was succeeded by two terms in Congress. His death occurred in 1831, during his second term of office, at the age of sixty-four. His wife survived him until 1847, when she passed away at the age of seventy.

It is worthy of note that of Grandfather Shield’s family of seven sons and five daughters, all but the 3’youngest attained the age of seventy-five years or more. They were Maria, Mrs. James Jenkins; Thomas J., father of our subject; Sarah, wife of Hon. James B. King; Eliza, Mrs. Daniel Wilkins; Madison; Jane, who married Isaac McClelland;

John; Samuel; Martha, Mrs. Thomas Burke; Joseph; Russell, who filled the office of County Surveyor for eleven years; and David. The father of our subject was born in Morgan Township in 1806, and was reared upon the home farm. He married Susan, daughter of Samuel Dick, a pioneer of Butler County, living near Millville.

The active years of Thomas J. Shields were devoted to farm work, and he resided upon a farm until 1881, when he retired and came to Hamilton. Here his death occurred in 1883. His first wife passed away in 1843, aged thirty-six years She left three children, namely: Martha, who married John W. Baldridge, and died in Hamilton; Jane, Mrs. John Vinnedge, who resides in Hope, Bartholomew County, Ind.; and Samuel D., of this sketch. For his second wife T. J. Shields married Susan Smith, who bore him two children: David, of Connersville, Ind., and Thomas, also a resident of that place. In religion the father was a Presbyterian and a strict observer of the Sabbath day. He was a pronounced Democrat, but never accepted any public office except that of member of the Board of Agriculture.

In work upon the home farm and attendance at the district schools, the boyhood years of our subject were passed. In 1869 he established domestic ties, being then united in marriage with Miss Laura Vinnedge, a native of Butler County, and daughter of Moore P. Vinnedge. After his marriage he continued to till the soil near the place where he was born. In 1888 he was appointed Superintendent of the County Infirmary and served two years. Two years later, in 1892, lie was again appointed to this position, of which he is the present incumbent. The Infirmary, standing on an eminence overlooking the city of Hamilton and surrounding country, is a large, substantial building, erected in 1884, at a cost of $100,000, and is surrounded by a valuable farm of two hundred and eighteen acres. The average number of inmates at the Infirmary is one hundred and thirty. Everything about the place is conducted in an efficient and systematic manner, proving the thrift and business capacity of the manager.

Politically Mr. Shields is an ardent Democrat, and is one of the local leaders of his party. Ilis membership is in the Presbyterian Church, to which his wife also belongs. They are the parents of two daughters, Lillian Irene and Nannie G. The family is highly esteemed socially, and its members are popular among their large circle of warm personal friends.

As printed in Memorial record of Butler County, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of representative citizens of the county together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States (1894). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.