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WAS born at Christeen Mills, Delaware, July 13, 1814, and came to Cincinnati with his father, Francis Shield, in 1819. He was brought up to the steam-engine business, having learned his trade with Drennan & Graham, whose shop was located at the south-west corner of Broadway and Fifth Street. He was a first engineer on the river before he reached his majority, and shortly afterward acted as foreman for Graham & Shield, and their successors, Yeatman & Shield, where he was known as the boy foreman, on account of his youth.  He embarked in business for himself on Front Street in 1851, his establishment being known as the Fulton Foundry. Here for a period of ten years he fitted up large quantities of fine machinery that was distributed over the various States and Territories.. He retired from active business, so far as the carrying on of his shop was concerned, in 1861. His successors, however, called the shop in his honor the "Shield Works."

At the beginning of the war, when every thing was lying idle, Mr. Shield visited Washington, and through the influence of his friend, Secretary Salmon P. Chase, obtained for the Cincinnati mechanics a big contract for fitting out mortar-carriages. The work he distributed among all the shops in old "Flat Iron," as the Third Ward has been called from time immemorial.  In, 1862 Mr. Shield fitted out four ram-boats for the United States Government, namely: the Lancaster, Queen of the West, Switzerland, and Monarch.

Later he was appointed supervising inspector of steamboats for the Seventh District, a position he filled with honor.  In early days he belonged to the Volunteer fire department, and was also a member of the noted Thespian Society, that played in 1824.  He was the originator of the Mount Adams Incline Plane, in which, at one time, he had a large amount of capital invested.  He was the inventor of the improved snag-boat, that has been used by the government so successfully in removing the dangerous obstructions to navigation that had for years proved disastrous to the shipping of our Western waters.

For seven years he lived at a beautiful place near Loveland named Christeen, after his birth-place. Here he died on the 25th of March, 1879. His name will always be connected With the honest brawn and muscle that contributed so much to the building up of the city of Cincinnati. Knowing the disadvantages he labored under in his youth, he contributed liberally at all times to education, and delighted in private works of benevolence. A handsome collection of books in the public school library, of which he was the donor, is called the Shield collection. A self-made man, he died loved and respected by all who knew him.

Source:  In Memoriam Cincinnati 1881, Cincinnati, A. E. Jones, Publisher, 1881.