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Thank you

Found the Baptism entry for John Shields b1820 that confirms his mother was Mary Cleeves (Cleaves?) Also found Pallots marriage doc on 1823 between John Shields and Mary Cleeves.

However on 1841 Census, Mary (Cleeves) Shields is living alone and on 1951 Census, Mary (Cleeves) Shields is a widow and has 2 grandchildren at her address. They must have stayed overnight as they also appear on the 1851 census with their father and step-mother.
Therefore her husband John Shields could not be the one born in Handridge, Lancashire who died 1861.

I did find a John Shields d1830 in Westminster and would fit with Mary Shields 1841/1851 Census.

But cannot find yet which Regiment he was connected with as that might reveal the father of Mary Cleeves.
Perhaps Mary Cleeves was of Irish descent and thats the connection?

Thank you for this very valuable and most appreciated information.

I'm fairly certain John Shields, the soldier, born about 1795 was Irish. His son John (jr) b1820 in Jersey lived with my great grandfather and family. My grandmother Daisy Shields said the Shields were Irish. Presumably, that info came via her father who as a young lad (13) when we heard stories from his grandfather.

The wife of John Shields, the soldier, was named Mary and on the 1851 census states she was born in America Canada. So I'm assuming she was the daughter of a soldier stationed in Upper or Lower Canada and may have been stationed in America prior to the War of 1812.
She could be the Mary Cleaves as it would all fit this jig saw.

I have FMY and Fold3. Just haven't mastered using it yet and find it daunting.

Deb

The Mary Moles that died in 1833 was the wife of William Moles. The whereabouts of their daughter Mary b1811 and her husband Wiliam Beck b1811 remains a mystery. While William's siblings and parents left Jersey for the US, it appears that William and Mary stayed in Jersey. Their sons, William Richard b1831 and Thomas James b1833 appear in the late 1850's in London. Both employed as shoemakers as was their father.
William Richard married Jane Moignard in 1850 in Jersey and had their first child b1853 in Jersey. Their second child was born 1856 in Shorditch. Thomas James married in 1857 to Lydia Lewis Doorey in London.
In the will of John Beck who died in the US,  part of his estate was left to his brother William Beck. So he must have been alive in 1862...but where was he and his wife Mary Moles?

Yet another update on the Beck Family of St. Helier...

On a passenger of list 1833 arriving in New York, there are a number of Becks - Sarah, John & Ann and their spouses & children.

Richard Beck & Betty Palfrey had at least 9 children.

#1 child Sarah Beck b1796 Chard, married John Thorn in 1820, Chard,and in 1826 moved to Jersey, Channel Islands. I think they had 8 children there. In 1833 they appear on the manifest to NYC.

#2 child was John Beck b1798 Chard. He married Mary Ingram in Jersey, Channel Island, 1833. He also appears on the same manifest. Interestingly, in his will of 1862 in Busti, Chautauqua, NY, is mentioned Richard (brother) and William ...could this be William & Mary Moles? along with other relatives such as Sally Thorn and John & Richard Barnecott, 2 of Anne Beck's children....and others who are likely married children of his siblings. No other siblings were mentioned so does that mean they weren't living or weren't living in USA?

#5 child was Anne Beck b1806 Chard. She married John Barnecott 1826, Jersey, C.I. They had 3 children. John Barnecott died in 1833, Jersey, C.I. but  widow Anne sailed with her 3 children along with her brother and sister in later that year. I think she re-married in NY to a man named Rowe.

I haven't found the emigration documents for Richard and Betty Palfrey, nor for William and Mary Moles. However in an 1860 Census for NYC, Richard appears and there is a gravestone for he and Betty (Elizabeth) in Busti, Chautauqua, NY, USA.

Meanwhile, the son of William Beck & Mary Moles - John James Beck a.k.a. Thomas Beck b1833 St. Heliers is elusive. Every census, every marriage certs for himself and his children and every baptism certs for his children has his name being Thomas.
Sometime between Aug. 1899, when he signed the marriage cert. for his son John George, and the 1901 Battersea census where his wife Lydia is a widow - he died. But I cannot find his death record anywhere. Not on Ancestry, FindMyPast, GRO.
I did find a Thomas Beck that died in 1900, Croydon, but it wasn't him.

It appears from what I have found though is a number of the Richard & Betty's children moved to St. Heliers around 1826. Some left in 1833, others around 1850's and many went to New York, USA

Deb