Georgia:  McDuffie County  Shields Burying Grounds


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Directions:  From Augusta, Ga. on Interstate 20 take exit 172
to Thomson, Ga. Turn right onto Washington Road (Main Street)
towards Wilkes County.  Turn right onto Highway 43 (Lincolnton
Highway).  Go exactly 3 miles and the cemetery will be on the
right back in the woods.  It is directly across the street from
a white house.  The property is currently owned by the
Deerfield Plantation, so you will need their permission to go
on the land.  Deerfield Plantation is on the right side before
you reach the cemetery.  


I was taken to the cemetery by another decendant of John
Shields in 2001.  He said that the original home place was
there on the property until 1999 when it was torn down.  From
research I have done, I have found that John Shields sold some
of the property to a preacher for $1.00.  That property was
where the now defunct Republican Methodist Church was built.
It is believed that the Sarah McCorkel that is buried there was
the preachers daughter.  I have found no other information as
to when the church was built, or when it disappeared.  As you
walk up the drive, directly ahead is where the original house
stood.  Off to your right is where the barn is.  Directly
behind the house is the outhouse.  (When I was there, the barn
and the outhouse were still there.)  To the left of the
outhouse, there is a small trail leading back into the woods
where the cemetery is located.  There are only 5 headstones,
but from my counting there are at least 30 graves there, as
evident from the sinkholes in the ground.  John Shields was a
Revolutionary War Soldier.


John Shields  GEORGIA MAJOR GA TROOPS REV WAR (From the
information I have obtained, John was born in 1728 and was
killed in the Revolutionary War in 1781.)


Sacred to the Memory of James Shields  Was born October 30,
1776 and died June 15, 1856. He was a member of the Methodist
church upwards of fourty years.


Sacred to the Memory of Nancy Shields.  Was born October 21st
1782 and died May 16th 1854. She was a Member of the Methodist
Church upwards of fourty years adorning the profession which
she had made by an orderly walk and a Godly (rest of stone is
sunk into the ground)


Here lies the remains of Sally McCorkel.  She was born December
11th 1771 and died November 1st 1851.  She was a member of the
Methodist Church 17 years adorning the doctrine of God our
Savior.


Sacred to the Memory of Martha Almena Shields.  She was born
November 23rd 1853 and died November 19th 1858.