A few months ago the writer spent an hour chatting
with an aged Palatine who previous to 1857 and up to the age of seventeen
had been a resident of Killiheen, Limerick County.
We Reproduce, as nearly as possible, in his own words,
his ideas of the family under consideration.

"I was acquainted with nearly all the Shiers in Limerick.
They were among the most repected and properous Protestants in the country.
Excepting for the Teskeys, the Shiers as a rule,
were the wealthiest farmers about us.
They were scattered about pretty well. I knew families at Court Mattress,
at Pallas, Adare, Robertstown, Shanagolden, Rousker,
an at other places. One of them held land at Killiheen
but he did not live there. They were all farmers.
None of them lived at Rathkeale nor in the city of Limerick,
so far as I ever knew."

"They were all quite popular men and friendly to Protestant
and Catholic alike. I never heard of one them
quarreling with a Catholic neighbor,
Some of them lived in the midst of the Romanists,
and got along as peaceabley as any man could.
I never knew one that married a Catholic.
I hardly believe they could do such a thing."

"They were big men and great workers.
They all, every one of them, attended the English Church.
I never knew one to be a Methodist in Ireland.
Whatever went wrong with their religion in Brock, I do not know."

The farm land in Killiheen was better
than at Court Mattress and Ballingran. It could scarcely be beat.
When a Palatine sold the lease of his farm,
200 pounds was considered a good price."

In the Palatine settlements, the German language was the regular
medium of communication for three generations.
At home, the fourth generation spoke sometimes German and sometimes English,
but the fifth generation would not speak German at all.
The original Brock Palatines have told us thier parents could speak both languages.
They themselves, without exception, could speak only english.
We have personally noticed in some of them,
however, a marked tendency towards the use of guttural sounds -
apparently the last relic of the discarded language.

The settlements had their own schools for three generations
but as early as 1730, children of more prosperous families
completed their education in the neighboring English schools.
It is quite likely that after 1760 the infant classes
in all the schools were conducted in English.
The change in language came about gradually
and imperceptibly, as a steady growth,
without compulsion, without inconvenience,
and without an appreciable effort.

The family name, both in the Palatinae and in Ireland,
was always pronounced Shi-er.
We have no definite record that is was spelled differently
in the Fatherland, but we know it must have been.
A German would pronounce the spelling Shier like we pronounce "Seer",
and to make the proper pronounciation he would spell the word Scheier.
Similarly the English Rynard was in German spelled Reinhardt,
and the English Switzer in German was spelled Schweitzer.

Before the Palatines were sent to Ireland, the English authorities
had returned to the Palatinate all those who preferred
to remain Roman Catholic.
Necessarily, all the Irish Palatines were Protestants.
But they had no German preacher with them, and thier inability to understand English
kept them from attending the Anglican Church,
which was located at Rathkeale, near their settlements.
Wesley says, "They were become eminent for drunkenness
cursing, swearing and an utter neglect of religion."
After 1749, there was frequent Methodist preaching in all the settlements,
and by 1760, Wesley reports, there was no swearing, drunkenness
sabbath breaking or liquer houses in any of them.
Such was the influence of Methodism.
Court Mattress seems to have accepted Methodism
more readily than the other villages,
for it was the first to erect a chapel.

It must be absolutely certain that the Shiers attended
the Methodist preaching from the first, but they could not have been
influenced by it to the same extent as their fellow villagers
because none of the family had become active Methodists
at the time the Adare settlement was opened up.
This may seem strange, but to one who is acquainted with the family
characteristics, there is nothing unusual about it.

As an inheritance, the members of the family possess two qualities
which explain the situation admirably.
They are cautiousness and conservatism.
Such kept them pursuing the even tenor of their way;
kept them in a middle course, so that while they did not acturally
take part in the religious fervor existing in Court Mattress after 1749
neither could they have shared excessively in the irreligious
excesses which Wesley attributed to their village previous to that date.

There were other reasons for this so-called "spiritual aloofness".
All the Palatines, even many of them regularly in the Methodist classes,
looked to the Anglican Church with respect amounting to reverence,
and went there for their most sacred ceremonies -
their marriages and baptisms.
Philip Embury, a Methodist local preacher and his wife,
Mary Switzer) also an ardent and consistent Methodist, were married
at the Anglican Church in Rathkeale.
Moreover, Methodism was an yet quite new,
and it's permanency a matter of uncertincy.
The English Church was supported by the State;
it's adherents were the staunchest people of the land,
attendance on its services was everywhere a mark of respect,
ability, and at the same time, it was recognized opponent of Romanism.
It will not appear strange therefore, althought the Shiers were pleased
with Wesley's personality, with his sermons spoken to them in their mother tongue,
with the fiery eloquence of his many Limerick itinerants
and although some of them carried away by the heat of a meeting
may have temporarily shared in his classes,
that none of them became active Methodists
until some years after the formation of the Adare settlement.
Any claim made that the members of the family were friends
and members of the Wesleyan Society in Ireland prior to 1800,
cannot mean that they renounced their Anglican allegiance to join
the followers of the newer method of worship.

When the Shiers came to Brock, only two families
were active Methodists; the others were Anglicans.
After a few years, the members were reversed. Why so?
They had all become familiar with the Methodist Church in Ireland.
Therefore, the Methodist Church in Canada was in no respects new to them.
Besides, it was the Church which exerted itself the most
to be freindly and winsome, and to new settlers
in a strange land, a warm reception by an old acquaintance
went a long way towards winning followers.

We would be guilty of a serious sin of omission,
which could not be lightly overlooked or forgotten by numerous
members of the family in Canada, if we neglected to mention
the family's political inclinations.
In Ireland the Palatines have not, even down to our day,
taken any part in the politics of the country,
nor have they shared in its government, but from the time of the first arrival,
their inclinations have leaned towards Toryism.
Indeed they would be ungrateful if they were inclined otherwise,
for they owed their favours in Ireland to the Tory Government
of Queen Anne's time. In Canada, all the Shier's have been
consistent staunch and loyal adherents of the Conservative party.
In every community where they live, neither business
relationships nor social ties have been inducements
sufficient for them to hide thier party allegiance.
They are never loud or boisterous demonstrators, but one always
knows where to find them, and what to expect from them politically.

From the time of their first settlement, the Palatines had enjoyed
the privilege of selling their little farms.
They were of course only lease holders,
and what they really sold were the privileges granted
in there leases. The landlords were the real owners
of all their farms. But sales could be made only to Protestants.
Irish Romanists were never permitted to buy land or to live in a
Palatine settlement. On the other hand,
there was nothing to prevent a Protestant from buying land
wherever he chose. If he wished, when separated from his compatriots,
to live on a farm surrounded by Irish tenants,
he had perfect liberty to do so.
The result of such liberty to the Palatines and such
prohibition to the Celt was twofold. Firstly, the German settlements,
continued to be purely Protestant, and they have remained
Protestant to our day. Secondly, some of the Palatines
after a time left their own villages and settled
on farms in the Irish communities. A reference to our
genealogical outline will show that so far as the Shiers
were concerned this movement commenced about 1775,
when several took land at Robertstown.
Before the movement became extensive, there was presented
an opportunity for expansion, more in accordance
with the wishes of these cautious land-takers.

Sometime about 1777-78, Lord Dunraven's estate at Adare
was in need of tenants, and many of the Palatines
went there, forming a new Protestant settlement,
which if inferior to the settlements from a historical
standpoint, was superior to them in numbers
and in material progress.

When land was taken in a new section, it might be inferred
that an old homestead was abandoned by the family.
On the contrary, it nearly always remained
in possession of the father, passing at his death
to one of his younger sons.
In this way it continued in possession
of the family for generations. There are Shiers
still living on the old homesteads
at Court Mattress and at Adare.

In the fifth generation, the family outgrew its necessities
in Limerick, and turned towards the New World.
Between 1822 and 1835, eight heads of the family came to Canada.
All of them eventually taking land in the Township of Brock.
A ninth came to Brock in 1856 but did not settle on a farm.
During the same period we know of only
three others who settled in Canada. One of them
located in the Township of Ernestown, one in the
Township of Camden East, and one in the
Township fo Blanchard. In our genealogical
outline we have indicated the place
in the family of all these men.

The first of the Brock Shiers to leave Limerick for Canada,
were Richard, the son of Jacob senior of Adare,
and his brother-in-law- Samuel, the son of Nicholas of Court Mattress.
They sailed in May of 1822 and settled on adjoining
farms in the county of La Prairie, Quebec, near Odelltown.
Five months later Samuel's father forwarded him a letter,
which is now in the possession of a grandson
of its writer, living at Sunderland, Ontario.
It is beautifully written, and so sensible
and illuminating that it was reproduced in full.
(Please see Page 2, for this letter)

We shall now make fuller acquaintance with the respective,
original Brock Shiers in Canada
to whom we have previously referred.

Son of Henry of Adare, was descended from the eldest son
of the original Irish Shier. He came directly to Brock
in 1826 and located in lots 2 and 3 in the fourth concession
just north of the present West Brock Church.
With him was his wife Mary Sparling.
After twenty-two years he sold his farm to Philip St. John,
(often called the "King of Brock"),and moved to the neighbouring
township of Maripose, where he continued to be a farmer.
His Brock farm is now owned by Robert Young.
His second wife whom he married while living in Brock,
was a Miss Osborne. She used to speak of herself as
"the daughter of Major Osborne and the Lady of Captain Shier".
She proved a most unkind mother to the children
already in the household, and numerous harrowing tales are related
about her treatment of them.
John I had a family of nine, four of whom were boys.
These drifted away from the parental roof
in their later teens and worked as farm labourers.
Some of them later went to the United States
and later became lost to their friends of their boyhood.
Tradition says several of them were quite wayward.
John I was not a successful farmer. He was unable to assist his family when they came to years
of maturity and died in miserable poverty himself.
His remains lie in the little cemetary at Eden
in the township o Mariposa. His descendants bearing his surname
are few, if any. We have not been able to locate any of them.

JOHN II OF BROCK

Son of Jacob senior of Adare, came from Reinroe in the Adare
settlement in 1828. With him were his wife Catherine Piper
and six children, the youngest, a baby in arms.
On his way from Limerick, he stayed over
at the home of his brother Richard in La Prairie, Quebec,
intending at first to settle there, but he did not fancy the soil,
and came on to Brock, by way of Young Street.
He settled in lots 1 and 2 in the fifth concession
a mile north of the present West Brock Anglican Church.
The property passed to his son Wellington
and is now owned by his grandson Chester.
Just north of it is located St. John's Cemetery,
the final resting place of manyu of the palatines
who were closely related or associated with the family.
John II had a family of eight boys and six girls,
all of whom lived at one time within a two hour drive from their father.
His grandchildren were eighty-two in number
and scattered throughout Ontario, the Canadian northwest
and the United States.

John II was familiarly designated "Little Grey John"
although he was more than six feet tall. He had another nickname
the origin of which deserved special attention.
He was a close man and made every penny count.
A stranger named Gowan passing his way one evening
with horse and wagon and some hens, put up at his place overnight.
Next morning he was charged feed for himself and his horse.
Across the way lived Philip St. John, designated according
to his own liking "the King of Brock" but more generally known
to his Methodist friends as "Hypocrite St. John", because occasionally
he partook too freely of the stuff that inebriates.
His son Philip, pet named "Blondin" from his local
manifestation of the great tight rope walkers art,
was recognized as the best story teller and practical joker
in the community. On hearing the report of the traveler
who was obliged to pay for farm house hospitality,
he lost no time in reporting the same with his customary volubility
and exaggeration. He told that the stranger had been charged
so much for himself, so much for his horse and
more for housing his chickens, and he applied to his
neighbor a sobriquet which became widely known
in the township, and which even now endures, namely,
"Rooster Shier"!

RICHARD

A brother of John II came fromt he adare settlement in 1825
with his young wife Catherine Shier, the daughter of
his Uncle Nicholas of Court Mattress and settled near Odelltown
in La Prairie County, Quebec.
There for nine years he remained on his farm,
there also five of his children were born. He came to Brock in 1831
and settled on lot 4 in the fifth concession, about three miles
west of the present village of Sunderland.
On his farm he opened a store, the first in the township.
Among his customers was Joseph Gould who lived at what is now
the town of Uxbridge. Mr. Gold used to make his shopping trips
to this store on horseback through twelve miles of bush.
Richard was a farmer as well as storekeeper.
and to farming he gave all his attention after he ceased keeping store.
He raised a family of six sons and three daughters.
His oldest child died in infancy at La Prairie.
Of his children some settled in or near Brock
and some at Woodham near St. Marys, Ontario.
His son Jonathan of Woodham was reputed to be one
of the two wealthiest Shiers in Ontario.
His grandchildren now live in Brock, in the Canadian northwest,
and in the United States.
His farm passed to his youngest son, George
who on retiring sold it to a nephew, Philip Rynard.
Richard was a very devout member of the Methodist Church.
That did not keep him from becoming sleepy during the services.
Whenever in church he felt sombulence was overcoming him,
he made it a practice of raising from his seat
and listening to the sermon while standing.
He had a stinging little nichname founded upon a
slight prominence in his lower lip, the result
of a surgical procedure. His Palatine neighbors in Brock were Irish enough to christen him, "Leather-Lip Dick."

SAMUEL

The son of Nicolas of Court Mattress, a first cousin
of the two settlers recently described came from
Court Mattress in 1822 and settle near Odelltown,
in La Prairie Co., Quebect, on the farm adjacent
to that of his brother-in-law Richard.
Here he farmed for nine years. In 1825 he married Anne Smith
and five children were born to him before he left Quebec.
In 1831 he came to Brock in company with his brother-in-law
and settled on lot 5 in the fifth concession.
For the second time his farm was next to that of his brother-in-law.
His family consisted of ten sons and four daughters
of whom some settled in or near Brock,
some in the Township of Arran, Bruce County.
and some in the Township of Blanchard, Perth County.
Later on several of them went to the vicinity of Berlin, Mich.
His farm passed to his yougest son William, who on retiring
disposed of it to Doctors Lavery and Williams.
It is now owned by William Bagshaw.
Samuel was an ensign in the 2nd division of the Beauharnois Militia in 1824.
He was made a Lieutenant in the 9th Regiment of North York in 1838
and Captain in the same regiment in 1841.
Ontario did not become a separate and distinct county til 1852.
Unlike his brother-in-law, Samuel leaned towards
the Anglican church. Before coming to Canada
he was given certificates of character both by the Curate
of his parish at Rathkeale, and by the
superintendant of the Limerick Methodist Conference.
It may seem curious that in one of these documents the Curate
claims him for the English church while in the other
it is stated that he "with his siter and brother-in-law
(Catharine and Richard Shier) are members of the
Wesleyan Methodist Society in Ireland and from the
Limerick Circuit, and are also the children and grandchildren
of our oldest and worthiest friends and members on this circuit".
Our previous statements, however, concerning the
religion of the family in Lemerick render
these two certificates quite understandable.

JOHN III OF BROCK

(Big John) son of Adam of Robertstown, not far from Shanagolden in 1831.
With him was his young wife, Mary Jane Shier
daughter of Nicholas of Court Mattress.
He first located in the south part of Lot 4 in the fifth concesson.
After a few years he traded this land to his brother-in-law
Richard Shier for lot 5 in the 6th concession.
Here he lived till 1848, when he sold to James St. John
and moved to the township of Blanchard.
His Brock farm is now owned by William Glover ST. John.

IN 1856, John III, again moved, and settle at Purple Grove
Huron Township, in the county of Bruce.
His farm bordered on the town line between Huron and Kincardine townships.
Here he lived till his death in 1892. He had a family
of five sons and three daughters. One son died in childhood;
his remaining children settled quite near him.
His grandchildren in male descent are comparatively few compared
with those of the three Brock settlers last considered.
They are scattered about in Ontario, in Eastern Canada
and in the United States.

John III was familiarly called "Big John".
Like a number of the members of the family in Limerick
he took a part in military activities,
always on the side of law and order.
When the Canadian Rebellion broke out in 1837
he had a share in quieting the disturbance.

WILLIAM
Son of Henry of adare, and brother of John I, came to Brock from
the Adare settlement accompanied by his brother Corneil in 1833
and located on the east half of lot 8 in the ninth concession.
After twenty-five years he sold his farm to James Dawson
and moved to lot 30 in the sixth concession of Scott Township.
Later he withdrew from farm life and lived retired in Udora, Ontario
where he died. His Brock farm is now owned by Philip Dawson,
his Scott farm by Alex Ontoby.
He had four sons and two daughters.
Two of his sons were very small men being only
slightly over four feet in height. They never married.
They were mentally quite clever, one of them was a school teacher
for years. The only descendants bearing his surname are those
of his son Richard, who lived in the third of Brock
a short distance northwest of Blackwater Junction.
Two sons of the latter are living still in the vicinity of Blackwater.

CORNEIL

The youngest son of Henry of Adare and brother of John I of Brock
came from the Adare settlement in 1833
and located on the west half of lot 8 in the ninth concession,
a couple of farms east of that on which
his sister Sarah wife of Edward Switzer, was living.
After twenty-nine years, he sold his farm to his
son-in-law, Andrew Lowes. It is now owned by William Bryan.
Corneil now went to Michigan, settling on a farm in the county of Huron
Here he died in 1895.
He had a family of three sons and five daughters.
His daughter, Mrs. Andrew Lowes, of Derryville, Ontario
and his son, John, late of Toronto,
continued to live in Ontario; the other members
of the family went to Michigan, where their children were raised.
Corneil was considered to be the finest looking man among
the Shiers who came to Brock. In religion we was an ardent Methodist.
His Grandchildren are scattered between Montreal and Seattle, Washington.

JACOB JR. OF ADARE

was the oldest son of Jacob of the third generation
came from Adare in 1835 accompanied by his wife, Anne Sparling
and all his family of five sons and five daughters
save one son who had preceded him.
At this time he was sixty years old,
his oldest son was twenty-nine and his youngest was five.
He was the only member of the fourth Limerick generation to come to Canada.
His oldest son, George had come to Brock three years
previously and settled in lot 4 in the 14th concession
about two miles from Lake Simcoe.
He was a kind of prospector blazing and assuring the way for
the rest of the family. When the family came, George went to Montreal
to meet them. From muddy York, now Toronto to the chosen land,
the trip was made by way of Yonge Street, and the south
shore of Lake Simcoe.The family and goods were carried in carts.
Night overtook them a few miles from their destination
and they shared the hospitality of a Mr. Way
at lot 1 in the 13th concession of Brock,
until the next morning - they slept all night in his barn.

Jacob lived on the farm of his son, George in a house
that was built for himself and his unmarried sons
and daughters. George's house was a few rods eastward.
Jacob's second son Philip located on the N 1/2 of lot 5
in the 14th concession. From these three families the locality
became known as the Shier settlement, a name which it retains today
but it is more briefly designated "The Settlement">
The members of these three families consisted at one time
of thirty-five persons, but there isn't one
Shier living in the Brock Shier Settlement today.
Mrs. J.J. King, nee Rebecca Shier, a granddaughter of Jacob
is the only one in the immediate vicinity.
George's farm passed to his son George, commonly know as
"Long George." Philip's farm was sold to Thomas Dukelow.
Both are now owned by George Davidson.
Jacob's grandchildren numbered 86, the largest of any Shier in Canada.
They lived scattered throughout Canada and the United States.

WILLIAM

nicknamed "Yankee William", the son of James of Shanagolden
came to Brock in 1856. He was the only representive
of the fifth Limerick generation that came to Brock
to make it his permanent home. His grandfather,
a farmer in Court Mattress had lost his property through
the extravagance of a second wife, who was a Irish woman
and had moved to the Celtic settlement of Shanagolden.
His father James, married Mary Hastings, another Irish Romanist
and also lived at Shanangolden, working as a day labourer among both
Palatines and Irish famers. William was not raised in the
Catholic faith for he reports that his parents seldom,
if ever, attended church, but he grew up with less feeling
against Irish Catholicism than was usual among
the race of his grandfather.

In 1854, he went to Illinois, where his brother Nicholas
had located, about sixty miles west of Chicago.
After four years he moved to Brock, but he never took up land
in the township. His first situation was with Jones' Hotel, Sunderland.
From then onward he was with
itinerant labourers in Brock and Scott.
At present, he is near 89 years of age and lives in Sunderland
with his daughter, Mrs. John Steele.
He raised a family of four sons and five daughters.
All his descendants live in Ontario.
On coming to Sunderland he learned that the Shiers
of Limerick were all related, that every one of them
had been stauch Protestants and that none
of them in Brock were Catholics
Then he promptly set himself decidedly against the Roman Catholic faith.
He became an Orangeman, and has ever since
remained an ardent member of the order.

JOHN

known familiarly in Brock as "Kingston John"
was the son of Martin of Adare.
On reaching Canada he settled either in the township of Ernestown
or in the township of Camden East, Addington County.
A son of his name, John, went to Michigan.
A son of the latter was a successful lawyer in Detroit,
and had become a member of the Michigan State Legislature
He was accidently drowned in the Detroit river
about sixteen years ago. (around 1901)

NICHOLAS

A brother of "Kingston John", settled on the 8th concession of
the Township of Camden East in Addington County.
His son Martin was a farm labourer in Scott
and Brock townships for a time. He is at present (1917)
living in Newmarket, Ontario.

AMOS

A grandson of Nicholas of Court Mattress through the latter's son,
Amos came to Ontario about 1851 and settled in the township
of Blanchard, Perth County, where cousins of his,
Shiers and St. John's from Brock, had previously located.
With him was his wife, Mary Susan Tesky, whose mother was a sister
of Adam Shier of Robertstown. He and his wife
were especially remembered and enquired after in the summer of 1901,
fifty years after they left Ireland,
by Miss Barbara and Mrs. Sarah Ruttle, two old ladies who were grandnieces
of Barbara Heck when they visited at the old Ruttle
homestead in Ballingran by the late Prof. C. C. James,
Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario.
Amos died in Crandall, Manitoba, when in later years
with his son, Samuel H.

Outside of the Brock settlers, the three men last mentioned
are the only Shiers we have ever heard of as
coming from Limerick to live in Ontario.

This is the end of what I have on this manuscript,
and hopefully it has given quite a bit of insight
to the lives of the Palatines and the Shier's particularly.
PLease feel free to print it off for yourself
and any future generations.
If you find any spelling mistakes please let me know and I will correct them promptly.