Yuma County, Colorado Photographs

Yuma County Pioneer Photographs:

Daniel and Mary (Thielke) Shields, Idalia.

   Daniel Shields was born near Rockford, Illinois on September 28, 1839. He was a Union veteran of the Civil War and was discharged as a corporal with a Surgeon's Certificate of Disability, February 10, 1863. The disability required he seek a drier climate, so in 1864 he joined an ox train and headed west. He arrived in Black Hawk, Colorado on New Year's Day 1865 where he worked in a meat market. In Black Hawk he met Mary Thielke who was born in Germany and came to this country when a young girl. Daniel and Mary were married in Denver March 3, 1873 and lived near Elizabeth, Colorado, in Elbert County, for several years where their two sons were born; Charles Daniel in 1876 and Oscar Nathan in 1881.

   In 1881 the family traveled by covered wagon, trailing their 400 head of cattle to what was known as "Two Springs", along the Arikaree River just northwest of today's Idalia, Colorado. Here Daniel established the Wine Glass Ranch. He built a rock house for the family. The Shields Post Office, named for its first postmaster, Daniel Shields, was established on the ranch in August 1887.

   Mary Shields died November 4, 1883 leaving Daniel to raise the two boys. Mary's sister, Auguste Thieke, came to help out and she and Daniel were married in 1885. Daniel Shields died in 1892. Daniel and Mary are buried in Denver's Riverside Cemetery. Auguste Shields remained on the ranch and later married William Davisson.

   Charles Shields married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Riedesel on August 8, 1899. Elizabeth was born in September 1881 to John and Katherine Riedesel. Their first years were spent on a ranch near Wray. They later established a ranch about 3 miles west of the old home place on the Arikaree River.

   Five children were born to Charles and Lizzie:
Mae Shields, born October 15, 1902, married (1st) Theodore McCoy and (2nd) Clavel Johnson
Katie Maude Shields, born September 9, 1903, died May 12, 1906, is buried in the Lucas Cemetery.
John Earl Shields, born December 1, 1907
Colletta Shields, born and died February 1915, is buried in the Lucas Cemetery.
Mary Shields, born January 22, 1917, married [-?-] Dugan

   In 1930, the Charles Shields family moved to a ranch in South Park, near Como, Colorado. In 1937, they bought a place near Erie, Colorado, and farmed there until he retired. Their last years were spent in Denver, where Charles died in 1964 and Elizabeth in 1969. They are buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Denver.

   Oscar Nathan Shields, married Cora Smith of Wray in 1906. They operated a hotel in Wray for a few years before they separated. He spent several years in Louisiana and came back to Colorado in 1929. He died in Denver in 1933. He is buried near his mother and father in the Riverside Cemetery in Denver.

Charles Shields image and family information contributed by Dallas Riedesel.
Shields ranch image from the 1978 book "A History of East Yuma County".
Do you have a photograph of Daniel and Mary Shields to add to this page?

Back to Pioneer Photographs.

This page is maintained and copyrighted by Lee Zion.