The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-02-01

L tO WOO Jhno dioutluS. Out ilhtu ulS
honest face and plain, industrious way,
long series OF consu tations with her sis-
ter, her parents being dead, she told
Shields she would marry him Ii her sis
ter said SO. Mrs. Westerteld said yes,
and the two met at her house one Sunday
afternoon, gathered about some Wit
nesses, and proceeded to marry each
other as by the Quaker rite.
Henry Shields said, sin the presence
Il of these witnesses take this woman to
be my wite."
Jane Valentine said, s'In the presence
of these witnesses l take this man to be
my husband"
| SO they were married. A certificate
was signed by the witnesses, and Mrs.
| Westerield gave them a little reception,
and Henry Shields and his vile Jane
1 went TO cheap clearinghouse.
| Soon alter they were settled, Shields
went to Mrs. Westerield and asked her
why she did not visit them. Mrs. Wes-
teItielu said she did not hike the Quaker
were married at all by it.. Shielus said
that no priest could do it better and
marry them better, and he showed the
| cert ficate signed by the groom and
bearing the WIle's mark. ana the sigma
| lure OF the witnesses. He said that this
paper was proof enough OF the marriage,
| and his sisLer-in-iaW SAID that she WAS
satisfied with it.
Alter te" years. life in New York,
Shields and his wife took a cheap house
| III w .lliams burgh, and moved with the
son that had been born to them. He liy-
ed with his wife there for twelve years,
and in tlat time she gave birth TO lour
more ch. .ldren. AS Shields prOspered in
| his work and grew indepehdaht' OF the
the Quakers' patronage, he also grow ILL.,
dependent of their religion. ana returned
| to The Latho.ic faith. All OF his children
were baptized in The Catholic Church,
and their names were written in the
cnurcn register as children OF Henry and
Jane Shields. His good fortune. was sur
| prIsiDg, and his las t-Increaslng" wealth
| lIted MIN into Il more educated society
| than his unlettered vile gave him, and
he grew purse proud. he was a'hand-
| sumer-louking man than most men who
nave worked themselves to OpulenCe
through privation, and he found u num-
| Der vi business trienuS willing to intro
duce HIM into their families. lie kept
his first marriage secret, visited Wall
iiamsburgh only at intervals, anu passed
for IL wealthy bacneior.
| A year alter The birth of her young
est enid, Mrs. Shields heard that lady
| III NCW IOl Ndo bOi hbS-
bands attentions, ana that he had prom
ised TO marry her. Sne told him tne
story, and says that he replied to her
that she was not his lawful wife, and
that he couid marry any other Woman
he choose. He said That they had no
priest, as she remembered. and tnat in
their experience i'll The Catholic Church
she knew that no one could be married
! without a priest, and that two persons
could not say they would have each
other without priest. He told her that
if she SAID anything about it, she would
get into trouble. and promised to sup
port her and the children If she would
Keep still and threatened to take all her
property away from her ii she said any
! thing. She could not understand this
very we'll i'll her ignorance, but she knew
what money was, and so acceded to
Shields request, and he lett her With a
sum of money, giving her enough to sup
port her cniluren respectfully. She soon
heard that be had married the New York
lady, and believing that she had lost al
legal claim on him as her husband made
no effort to see him or disturb his peace.
i AS twenty-five years passed ny,
Shields grew in Weath and repute, be.
came a member of the Pr0uuce Elk.
change, and then its President, and was
Wen known in mercantile circles. His
second Mite bore him nine children, and
they lived at l10 Second avenue, in the
best of style, and i'll society his children
were and are noticed Tor their remark
able physical beauty, and their menta
culture. Jane Shields, i'll her tenemen
, lie, received support from the veal
thy merchant, and raised her family al
best she could. Two OF her children
died; her oldest son was Killed IN th'
a war, and IA son and daughter are still
living. Mr.. Shields did not lose his al
lection for his children, and they yisl
, ted him frequently az his New Yorl
office. The son was the prototype o
his hali-brother, the oldest OF MI
, Shields's children by his second wife
: and they were mistaken frequently on,
= tor the other. The daughters face was
, Woman's Likeness Of the iather's fea
> lures. She married some time ago, an
lust before Mr.. Shields's death be vIsite
her in hel Brooklyn home.
! He did not call on his first wife, an
the only time she saw him in tWent
q years was on summers day in Centra
+ Park, when he drove by III splenul
' carriage, i'll which was his wife and thre
children. Jane Shields hid behind tn
a snrubbery, and though she saw her hui
q band, was not seen.
Nearly u year ago MIR. Shields died j
his Second avenue residence. Iii
obituary was in the newspapers, and
i large tnrong attended his funeral. A
= ter his burial his family opened his WI
, and read in it tnat he bequelhed his es
>, tate to his children. 1t appointed d NJ
}. Gelston as an executor, and provide
a that alter all debts were paid the none
u should he distributed equally among h
II chillren. The will was admitted
probate.
= Jane Shielde's children convinced ht
- that she had u right to a dover in the e'
II |tate, and persuaded her to see a lawye
I Sine went to a Williamsburgh legal nr
+. and made atiidavlts with her childrc
" tnat sue was married to Henry Shield
~ in 1884, and tnat she had i've childre
"A while he was heI husband. The lay
~ yers began suit in the Supreme Coul
~ and sent their complaint to the lawye
Tor the Mrs. Shields Ill New York. III
testimony OF Mrs. Margaret Westertiel
who is>now a very old woman in Ne
York, was taken, and she remember'
~ clearly her convictions of long ago tn
IN that peculiar Quaker marriage ceremoi
adj did not seem to her to lie binding. L
in churcn register was searched and I
in names OF the five. children were tOul
rt. Another witness to the Qnaker maria
hy | vaa discovered and sume tradesn