Shields, James
soldier, lawyer, jurist, state legislator, governor, United States senator, was born in 1810 in Ireland. In 1836 he was elected a member of the Illinois legislature; was elected auditor of the state in 1839; and in 1843 was appointed judge of the supreme court of Illinois. In 1845 he was appointed commissioner of the general land office in the department of the interior at Washington. At the commencement of the Mexican war he was appointed brigadiergeneral in the United States army; and was promoted to the rank of brevet major-general. In 1848 he was appointed governor of Oregon territory; and in 1849 was elected to a seat in the United States senate from the state of Illinois for the term of six years. He subsequently took up his residence in the territory of Minnesota; and in 1857 when it became a state, was elected to represent the same in the senate of the United States, in which position he served two years.
He subsequently settled in Missouri; and was elected a United States senator from Missouri in 1879. He died June 1, 1879, in Ottumwa, Iowa.