It appears likely that Charles Shields, the son of Melvinia's Shield's owner Henry Shields, is the father of her son Dolphus, who was born around 1860. She would have been around 15 when Dolphus was born, and Charles around 20. Melvinia was an illiterate slave field worker. Speculation is that she was raped by her master's son, as was common during slavery, though she never spoke of exactly how Dolphus was conceived. Dolphus Shields is Michelle Obama's maternal great-great-grandfather.