Robert Shields (6230137)
Suggested edit: Robert P Shields was not the explorer, that was his son John Shields.
Contributor: Sarah (49074510) • [email protected]
Explorer. He was the son of John and Margaret (Perry) Shields, he was born in Rockingham Virginia about 1740; He married Nancy Stockton in 1761. They were the parents of the ten sons and one daughter Janet (Shields) Tipton. Robert Shields along with his sons built Shields Fort where Pigeon Forge is now located in Seiver County, Tennessee. This family had the following children: Janet, Thomas, Richard, David, John, James, Robert, Joseph, Benjamin, Jesse, William.
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Additional info received 3 June 2021

Robert Shields (6230137)

Suggested edit: Robert Shields (4 Jul 1744 - 18 Jan 1802) m.1761 in Botetourt County, Virginia, Nancy Stockton daughter of Richard and Agnes (nee unknown) Stockton. He was a private in Francis Lang's Company in the Revolutionary War. In 1784, The Shields and McMahan Families (Nancy's sister was the recently widowed Deborah McMahan) started down the Shenandoah Valley toward North Carolina. At Big Lick (Roanoke) one wagon, in charge of son James, 13, with Nancy, Janet, and the younger boys, went to the Yadkin Settlement in North Carolina, remaining with Robert's cousins a year before crossing the mountains with pack animals to join the others. Robert and the older 5 boys, with the McMahans, went to the Watauga Settlement, where Robert bought land on Middle Creek of the Little Pigeon River in what is now Sevier County, Tennessee, about 150 miles from Watauga by forest trails. Robert and his older sons proceeded by trails known to Thomas. There they built Shields Fort on Shields Mountain, seven miles south of present Sevierville.
DAR A 103711, VA.
Children of Robert and Nancy (Stockton) Shields are:
• Jennet Shields Tipton (1762 - 1827)
• Thomas Shields (1763 - 1797)
• Richard Stockton Shields (1764 - 1825)*
• David Shields (1766 - 1815)
• William Shields (1768 - 1823)
• John Shields (1769 - 1809)
• James Shields (1770 - 1848)
• Robert Shields (1772 - 1835)
• Joseph Shields (1773 - 1847)
• Benjamin Shields (1780 - 1819)
• Jesse Shields (1782 - 1848)
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Robert and Nancy Shields family later migrated farther south in present-day Pigeon Forge, their family consisting of ten sons and a daughter. Known as the "family of the Ten Brothers," all lived to maturity and fathered what in most instances were large families. Many of the Ten Brothers migrated to Indiana Territory about 1800. Among this group were David "Big Dave" Shields, a man of great strength and equally great compassion. In his later years he was active in the Underground Railway, helping slaves escape to freedom in the North. Another of the Ten Brothers was John Shields, official scout and gunsmith of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Ten Brothers family built Shields Fort on Middle Creek in Sevier County, Tennessee, at the foot of Shields Mountain.
Christine Brown says Robert was born 9 November 1749 near Harrisburg, Virginia. In addition to the 10 sons shown here, Bill Navey lists (1) Ezekiel Shields b. 1778 and (2) Joshua Shields b. 10 March 1782 at Harrisonburg, Virginia, d 16 September 1848 in Indiana.
Robert was a private in Francis Lang's Company in the Revolutionary War. (Christine Brown says Robert was a captain.)
John A. Shields in one manuscript put Robert's birth at 1740. He says there were 11 sons, one of whom died in infancy. Another source says there were 12 brothers and two died in infancy. Court records indicate that Robert acquired land in 1781 on Smith Creek, a branch of the Calfpasture River in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, V irginia. As heir to his brother John of Botetourt County, Robert conveyed land to William Shields in 1782. John A. Shields says the family settled in the western wilderness near Pigeon Forge because the government of North Carolina was offering cheap land and tax exemptions and because they were pressed in Virginia by high taxes, poor markets, ruinous competition of slave-labor plantations (the Shieldses were not slave holders), hard times and the increasing needs of a large family. Daniel Boone, described as "a kinsman," and other hunters and explorers had brought back glowing accounts of the fertility of the land, abundance of game and beauty of the country, all of which was added to accounts by the eldest son, Thomas, who had spent three years exploring the unsettled region of East Tennessee. In 1784, the Shields and McMahan families (Mrs. Deborah McMahan was Nancy Stockton's recently widowed sister) loaded their possessions in three wagons and embarked on the long trail down the Shenandoah Valley. At Big Lick (Roanoke), the party divided. One wagon, in charge of Robert's son James, 13, with Nancy, Janet and the smaller Shields boys, went to Yadkin Settlement in North Carolina, where they remained with Robert's cousins a year before proceeding to Tennessee. The other two wagons proceeded as far as the settlement on the Watauga where the McMahan and Thomas' and Richard's wives remained until the following year. In 1785, the McMahan and the Yadkin party of the Shields family went on with the pack animals via the old Traders Trail. At the Watauga Land Office, Robert Shields bought a tract of land on Middle Creek, a tributary of the Little Pigeon River in what is now Sevier County, Tennessee. This was far beyond the most remote of the frontier settlements. The most remote settlement up until that time was at Big Island in the French Broad River, about 20 miles northeast of Robert's land. From Watauga to Middle Creek was about 100 miles as the crow flies and more than 200 miles by the pack-animal trail and about 150 miles via the footpaths through the forest. In 1784, Robert and his five older sons, carrying on their backs such scanty equipment as was absolutely essential, proceeded on foot by mountain paths known to Thomas. They often traveled days without seeing a settler's cabin. Once they were stalked by two Indians with flintlocks and tomahawks. Thomas, becoming aware of the lurking danger, took two long-rifles, going some distance ahead of the others, and hid until the trailing Indians passed him. He killed both of them.After about two weeks, they reached the mouth of the Little Pigeon River. Leaving the regular trail, they turned south up that stream to their new location. On what is now known as the old T.D. McMahan place on Middle Creek, a branch of the Little Pigeon River, they built a temporary cab in at the foot of Shields Mountain, started a clearing and began the erection of Shields fort. On the frontier, a fort was a prime necessity for protection from hostile Indians. Following the Revolution, Spain claimed the land west of the Alleghenies and bitterly opposed settlement from the United States. The Spanish incited the Indians, especially the Cherokees, offering large bounties for white settlers' scalps. Some accounts say that between 1780 and 1795 half the male settlers were killed by Indians. Shields Fort, when completed was 16x100 feet with low ceilings and attics. It was constructed of heavy logs with a fireplace at each end. There were four outside doors, several small window openings without glass and numerous portholes at convenient places upstairs and down. The original building contained living quarters for six families with a large common kitchen at one end and a common living room at the other. The building was in the midst of an oblong yard of about a quarter-acre, surrounded by walls 12 feet high. The walls consisted of double rows of logs standing on end, closely spaced and sharpened at the top and fastened together with wooden pins. A high sentry box at each end of the stockade gave a commanding view of the clearing of several acres. The spring was within the enclosure, as were stables for the stock and all the other buildings. Nearly four years was required to complete the original structure. It was in this fort that Robert Shields and his children and grandchildren lived for almost 20 years. Seven of his sons brought brides to the fort. As the family grew, the size of the stockade was increased. Eventually, the McMahan and some of the Shields boys moved into their own separate quarters nearby. John A. Shields says Robert and Nancy Shields died at the fort about 1805 and were buried in unmarked graves on a nearby hillside. In 1976, the Spencer Clark Chapter of the DAR marked Robert's and Nancy's graves, which are now part of a small cemetery at the rear of the Middle Creek Methodist Church. Other members of the Shields and McMahan families are buried there as well. Robert's grave marker reads: "Robert Shields/Pvt. Francis Lang's Co./Revolutionary War/Nov 9 1749-Jan 18 1802".
Joe Funderburk reports, in addition to the 11 children listed here, a son, Ezekiel, born 1778, and a son, Joshua, born 10 March 1782 at Harrisonburg, Virginia, died 16 September 1848 in Indiana.

https://www.geni.com/people/Robert-Shields/6000000001045393537
Contributor: Family Friend (47384645)