TO THE FAMILY OF ERCELL B. SHIELDS 

Dear; close, distant, and all other Shields family members,         

            As I am now in my golden years and approaching the twilight zone I feel that a few things must be said and passed on to you.  Here goes;

            I started the search for our family in 1970.  I had never known who my family really were.  I knew my brothers and sisters, parents and a smattering of aunts and uncles and little about all of them.  My grandparents passed away when I was quite young.  So with this background, I started in.  On tablet paper, I made a sheet for Mom and Dad and for all the aunts and uncles I knew about.  I filled in the vital statistics on these people and then started writing letters.  My first letter was to my Aunt Mildred (SHIELDS) JOHNSTON of Beaconsfield, Iowa.  She sent me information on my grandparents and other close relatives as well as addresses of a few other family members such as Mrs. Dorothy (Flohra) Dykstra, a cousin and others.  By now it had all started to take shape and grow.  About this time I found out I could order from the Iowa Department of Vital Statistics in Des Moines the copies of birth certificates, death certificates and marriage licenses of family members that I didn’t know.  This was exciting to receive and fill in some more blank spaces.  Then about this time I became aware of people that there didn’t seem to be any trace of.  My father (Bert Shields) had kept a collection of post cards that he had received in the mail, dated from 1895 thru 1910.  I have these cards and one day I was looking at them and noticed one "Hallie” (It was Hallie Decker), having heard this name, I thought maybe she was a relative.  I penned a letter to the postmaster at Gosper Nebr.  (the postmark) asking him to post it on his public bulletin board in his lobby.  He did this and about a week later I received a phone call from the descendants of Mary Ann and Susan Jane Decker.  Through this avenue I was able to pick up a whole new arm of our family and the rest is history.  (Next time you may be in Lexington, Nebr., walk down Main Street and speak to a local person, you more than likely are related to him).  I tried this again in Paloma, Illinois on Elfra Ester YOUNG, taking information from newspaper clippings and it partially worked, people there wrote me with some Information but not enough to find her.  I heard that she lived her adult life in Montana (Maybe Big Timber, she had cousins there, the NELSON’S).  Also at one time Pearl BOOTH had her address.  Pearl lived at Afton, Iowa.  In summation, use your imagination with the small clues you may find and be ready for nice surprises.  Another project related to all this is to borrow pictures of everyone you can get in touch with and copy them for a collection, I did this and have 2 huge albums of old and recent pictures of my family.  BE SURE TO RETURN THE BORROWED PICTURES RIGHT AWAY.  In case anyone should ever want to see these albums, my son Anthony “Tony” Shields and Mrs. Rod “Teri Shields” HOOVER of Nampa, Idaho each have one and you’re welcome to get in touch with them to see these albums, they belong to all my family.

            Another interesting project is to collect newspaper clippings of obituaries, marriages, births, and family human interest articles.  The following pages are copies of such articles that I have.  These articles all contain clues where research can be done, names, places and dates.  Have fun with this one.

            I wish to thank some people here for all the help they have provided for the success of this project; Mrs. Mildred Johnston, Beaconsfield, Iowa, Mrs. Leo Guess, Des Moines, Iowa, Mrs. Gladys Johnston, Wichita, Kansas, Mrs. Bernice Rutley, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Mrs. Nina Black, Texas, Mrs. Gertrude Decker, Lexington, Nebraska and a host of other people that provided information.  Each of you have my love, heart felt thanks and gratitude.

            Now a word for you future researchers that may become interested in carrying on this project.  There are over 100 of these books scattered around the U.S.A. and Canada, so if you take one and look through it, you will find blank spaces that need to be filled in, try these, record new events, deaths, marriages and births.  Another place to work is to take page 1 on John and Jane SHIELDS.  Find his parents, brothers and sisters and work back from there.  This is endless and very challenging.  A word of Caution, you will find or hear information that someone may not want anyone to find out about.  The way to handle this is DO NOT PASS IT ON, just forget it.  Stay with the vital statistics and never try to paint a gray horse white.  Leave the facts as they are. Top Priority in this project is YOU NEVER! NEVER!  NEVER! HURT ANYONE!

            I could write volumes about my experiences with this project but the time has come to finish this letter and not bore you further.  In closing I wish to thank everyone  of you for all your help and I cherish all the people I have become acquainted with.  This is a great family and I’m privileged to be a part of it, so some of you younger people get involved and carry the torch for all us older folks.  O.K?  Share your research results with others, it pays great dividends.  God Bless You All and may his light shine on you always.

You have my love, respect
And gratitude,

Ercell Bert Shields