Born near Bowling Green, Missouri, May 8, 1842, and soon after his parents removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where his early education was acquired. He was sent to Union College, New York, where he graduated in the class of 1862. Returning to Dubuque he studied law, was admitted to the bar and followed that profession for thirty-nine years. He was elected on the Democratic ticket District Attorney for the Ninth Judicial District in 1883, serving four years. In 1889 he was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth General Assemblies. He was a delegate at large and chairman of the Iowa delegation to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago in 1892. He has been for some time president of the Dubuque Business Men's League, an organization composed of jobbers, manufacturers, real estate owners and capitalists of Dubuque. Mr. Shields was united in marriage, June 3, 1874, to Miss Mary Tomlin, a native of Galena and daughter of Allan Tomlin, Esq.

Born near Bowling Green, Missouri, May 8, 1842, and soon after his parents removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where his early education was acquired. He was sent to Union College, New York, where he graduated in the class of 1862. Returning to Dubuque he studied law, was admitted to the bar and followed that profession for thirty-nine years. He was elected on the Democratic ticket District Attorney for the Ninth Judicial District in 1883, serving four years. In 1889 he was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth General Assemblies. He was a delegate at large and chairman of the Iowa delegation to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago in 1892. He has been for some time president of the Dubuque Business Men's League, an organization composed of jobbers, manufacturers, real estate owners and capitalists of Dubuque. Mr. Shields was united in marriage, June 3, 1874, to Miss Mary Tomlin, a native of Galena and daughter of Allan Tomlin, Esq.