John Shields from West Point - Member of Lewis & Clark Epedition

Private John Shields was born in 1769 near Harrisonberg, Augusta County, Virginia. He was the sixth son of Robert and Nancy Stockson Shields, and one of ten brothers and a sister.  Despite the Captains’ rule that they would only consider unmarried men for their exploring enterprise, they recruited Shields. Shields had married in about 1790, while living in Kentucky. He and his wife Nancy (family name unknown) had a daughter, Martha (Jennette).  It is not known where Nancy is buried.  Jennette married John Tipton, a settler and later a Senator from Indiana.  Jennette divorced John and soon after married Charles Cromwell.  It is believe that William Clark’s brother Jonathan helped provide for Shields’ wife, Nancy, and daughter in his absence.