JAMES SHIELDS, of Big Rapids, was born in Norfolk Co., Can., Nov. 27, 1845. He is a son of Archibald and Frances (Reed) Shields, and his father's calling was that of a wagon and carriage maker. At the age of 19 he engaged as traveling salesman for a hardware firm, where he continued three years. In 1867 he opened a hotel in Norfolk Co., which he conducted 18 months, and then, in company with Andrew Lees, he engaged in buying lumber, ties, pail, shingle, cord wood, etc., for the market, and was thus occupied three years. In 1874 he came to Grand Rapids, and was there engaged in buying and selling garden products. Three years later he went to Morley for the purpose of buying a farm; was there taken sick and continued ill about seven months. This disaster put an end to his finances and to his agricultural projects. His next removal was to Greenville, where he engaged as a farm laborer one season. He opened an eating house at Greenville, which he managed 18 months, going thence to Lakeview, in the same county, where he built a grocery; he ran it a few months, and exchanged the property for a farm of 80 acres in the Township of Hinton. He there built another store and conducted a mercantile business with a satisfactory degree of success, selling chiefly at auction, having a particular talent for that method of disposing of goods.
Mr. Shields came to Big Rapids in the fall of 1880, purchased a store on Maple street and put in a stock of groceries. He continued to operate there ten months, when he exchanged his business and fixtures for 35 acres of land in the Fifth ward, which is still in his possession. In the fall of 1881 he embarked in another grocery enterprise on the east side, where he did business nearly a year. He bought the site now occupied by his store, erected the building, put in a stock of groceries and operated until the spring of 1883, when he again sold and began to deal in liquor and all the articles common to a first-class saloon. Mr. Shields was elected Alderman of his ward in the spring of 1883. He was married in Norfolk Co., Can., June 10, 1867, to Mary A., daughter of William and Eliza Bunnings, born at Buffalo, N.Y., Nov. 3, 1848. Their children are Minnie E., Anna M., John A., Edith M., James A., William A. and an infant not named.
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