William Shields William Shields Farquhar was born on 18 Jan 1877, the illegitimate son of Agnes Farquhar, a dairy maid. When William Shields married in 1899 he named his father as James Haggan Shields, a master joiner. James Shields was the son of John Shields, a master joiner employing 2 men at the time of the 1881 Census. He lived in house number 6, Alton, which is where the Torrance branch of this tree lived in the early part of the 19th century. William’s mother Agnes married James Mitchell, a widowed master joiner, on 16 Mar 1880, three years after the birth of her son. She was 28 and he was 71. It is probable that she was working as his domestic servant in Grey St, prior to the marriage. She gave birth to Mary Mitchell four months later.