In 1649, Oliver Cromwell, having beheaded the English King Charles I and appointed himself Lord Protector, brought an army across the Irish Sea to stomp out the rebellious Irish and make the island ready for more English and Scottish plantation. He was, to say the least, ruthless in his endeavor. Whole towns were wiped out, crops and livestock were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of Irish were killed. In addition, Cromwell continued the practice of transporting Irish men, women, and children to the American colonies as indentured servants–some call them slaves–to work the fields of tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane.
A Shields family lived in County Antrim. William and his wife Mary Ann had at least four sons, William, James, Daniel, and John. William and James were transported to Barbados in the early to mid 1650s. Daniel and his son fought on the Jacobean side in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690; both were killed. John left Ireland for America but died during the journey.
William and James eventually left Barbados. William settled in Virginia’s capital Williamsburg, while James continued on to Maryland and then Delaware.
The eldest Shields son, William, was born in 1630 and is my father’s 8th great grandfather. My brother Brad, his wife Karen, and I have come to Barbados to look for anything that would tell us about his life here.
Finding My Stories: 