William Shields was born at County Armagh, Ireland, 14 July 1728.  His father, John, died on the voyage to America with his family.  Details of William’s early life and immigration were handwritten in a family Bible, which was presented to his son, William Jr., in January 1796 and subsequently to his grand-daughter, Jane Shields Hunter.

William lived in Cecil County, Maryland for several years before settling in the Appalachian foothills of western Maryland in 1748.  This area was the frontier.  During the French and Indian War, it was vulnerable to Indian raids encouraged by the French on the Frederick county settlers.

By profession, William was a surveyor who helped William Emmit lay out the new town, Emmitsburg, Maryland in about 1751.  With his brother-in-law, Samuel Emmit, William Shields is sometimes credited with founding Emmitsburg.  In 1767, Emmit transferred a part of Emmitsburg to William, who surveyed the land and laid out what became known as Shield’s Addition to Emmitsburg or Shields Adventure.

With his wife, the Welsh widow, Jane Williams Bentley Shields, daughter of John Williams, William Shields fathered 11 children over a 28-year period, all born at the family plantation south and west of the town of Emmitsburg.  Their children were John, James, (1757), Henry Woods (1759), William (1761), Samuel, Agnes, David (1769), Banner, Mary, Ebenezer (1778), and Margaret. 

Possibly influenced by Cromwell’s deportations of his uncles in the 1650’s, William actively supported the Colonies' cause against the British.  In 1775, he formed the 2^nd Company of the Frederick County Militia. 

In 1776, this company was assimilated into the 3^rd Battalion of the Maryland Militia under the command of Colonel Jacob Good (a member of the prominent Maryland Goldsborough family).  William Shields was promoted to second major.

Major Shields participated in several important early engagements of the Revolutionary War, most notably the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, Long Island August 27, 1776, and the Battle of White Plains, New York, October 28, 1776. During these confrontations, his company served in the Continental Line under direct command of General George Washington.

After the Revolution, many of William's children began to migrate to Ohio and eastern Tennessee, where they joined some of their cousins who were descended from Uncle James (1633), the Cromwell deportee.  By the late summer of 1797, when William died at age 69, only the youngest of his children were still at home.

William's will (written November 30, 1789) and estate inventory, as well as Maryland land records in Annapolis, indicate a substantial and comfortable lifestyle that was exceptional on the frontier.  His possessions included several books, a copper still, many furnishings and personal possessions; and seven slaves, whom he bequeathed to his wife and older sons.

William is buried in the Shields family cemetery in Emmitsburg, Frederick County, Maryland.