Biography of Shoemaker, James Lafayette - Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Elizabeth Haskett 24 Feb 2008 Return to Pottawatomie County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/pottawatomie/pottawatomie.htm ===================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ===================================================================== James Lafayette Shoemaker was born 24 Feb. 1852 at Knoxville, TN to William Booher Shoemaker and Susan Edmonia Elizabeth Karnes. Both Karnes and Shoemaker families had come from German communities in Lancaster and Berks counties Pennsylvania to Virginia, and West Virginia, and then to the Kingsport area of Sullivan County Tennessee, Claiborne and Hawkins counties, with specifically the Rogersville area for the Karnes family. The Karnes family traces its ancestry back to Henry/Hendrick Wax/Wachs of Pennsylvania Revolutionary fame, and later to Henry Wax Karnes of Texas Revolutionary fame. Other related families are Persinger, Pence, and Howry. The Shoemaker family traces ancestry to Booher and Easley families prominent in Sullivan County Tennessee history. Information on all of these families can be found in the histories of counties mentioned. According to Leo Shoemaker (son of Henry G. who was a brother to William B.) of Fort Smith, Arkansas, "our grandfather or great grandfather changed the spelling from Schumacher". William Booher Shoemaker and Susan Edmonia Karnes married 17 Nov. 1850. William was a Confederate soldier enlisting at Cumberland Gap. He was 1st Sgt., Co. C, 29 Regt, Tenn Infantry, and in charge of commissary at Knoxville. According to Virginia Smiley of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, "during or after the Civil War, they moved to West Virginia. They purchased a houseboat and followed the Ohio River to the Mississippi, then onto the Arkansas River to settle eventually in the Van Buren area of Arkansas". They were first in Washington Co., AR, in the area of West Fork where the Karnes and related families had already settled. They were in Crawford Co, in the Rudy and Chester area. William helped found Cove City. On 11 June, 1876, James Lafayette Shoemaker married Julia Graham Babb, daughter of Tristram Ewen Babb and Martha Caroline Little. Julia died of TB, 26 August 1892 at Natural Dam, Arkansas and is buried in Hall Cemetery. The land for the cemetery was given by her mother, who had remarried Reuben S. Hamilton. According to Warner Allen, son of Myrtle Shoemaker and John Allen, his mother showed him the location of the grave which had no stone. Ethel Shoemaker Null was also shown the site by a cousin, Lea Cox Watson during a 1962/3 visit. James Shoemaker married Mrs. Susan Catherine Snider Johns, widow of William, at Natural Dam on 16 January 1896. Mrs. Johns was born to James E. and Talitha Bethell Snider 16 December 1863 and died 26 Feb. 1934 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mrs. Johns had 3 children: Olive, Fred, and Oscar. Olive was killed 23 May 1906 coming from Rebecca Lodge or church function by a man whom she refused to marry. (See June 2, 1906 Fran Warren Newspaper Book report of the incident which confirms numerous family accounts.) Oscar Johns died in July, 1906. James and Susan had 3 sons, Jim, Bob, and Alvin. Jim and Bob retired from telephone company careers in the Tulsa area. The Shoemaker family had moved to Tecumseh, Oklahoma, arriving there the evening of Jan 4, 1904. It was Indian land leased through the agent. They had a successful truck farming business one mile north of Tecumseh. James owned two general stores, one at Dustin from 1906, according to Ethel Shoemaker Null, and one at Tecumseh. James had TB, and had come to Oklahoma in part, for his health. He traveled to New Mexico, Tempe, Arizona, and California seeking a cure, but the disease was too far advanced. He returned home in April of 1908, to die three weeks later on April 20th, and was buried in New Hope Cemetery. His youngest daughter Ethel Null wrote, "we finished the crops and Ma moved to town". Before his death, according Ethel Null, James was taking creosote in a half glass of pure cream as medicine. Research on treatments for tuberculosis indicates that this "creosote therapy" was the treatment of the time beginning in the 1880s. The cream would have alleviated irritation of the stomach. The Santa Fe RR depot at Shawnee, Oklahoma would have made an easy exit to those western states providing sanatoriums and climate thought to be beneficial and the RR advertised that opportunity in an era of tubercular disease. However, Thelma Allen Sackett/Furr, remembers her grandfather stopping by Fort Smith on his way to seeking a cure, so for whatever reason, he must have traveled east first. His brother Robert of Fort Smith, did go to Tecumseh to manage one of the general stores and to look after James' family in his absence. Maybe that was part of the eastern trip purpose. Ethel Null wrote that Robert and James were partners in one of the stores, and Robert was taking care of the store in 1907. The Tecumseh City Directory for 1908 indicates he was store manager for Mrs. Susan Shoemaker. Family members indicate Robert sold the store about 1910 to Maxey and Williams relatives, and went back to teaching in Arkansas, Crawford and Sebastian counties. Store tokens for "Shoemaker & Maxey" were issued and are pictured in a 2007 publication on tokens. Robert had been made administrator of the estate, but there appeared to be some estate dispute especially concerning store ownership after James Shoemaker's death. Details on this are not clear except for some reported hard feelings concerning the brother Robert's handling of things, and a late in life request by him for the family's forgiveness. The Baptist Church where James is buried has no membership record for him. He would have come from strong Methodist roots in East Tennessee, to include ministers in the Easley and Booher family and his own grandfather, the Rev. James Shoemaker, Methodist minister South, of Claiborne Co. Tennessee. However, his maternal great- grandfather, the Rev. Daniel Howry distinguished himself as a Baptist minister in Hawkins Co, Tennessee and then Northwest Arkansas. The COUNTY DEMOCRAT Tecumseh, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma April 24, 1908 JAMES L. SHOEMAKER DEAD James L. Shoemaker died at his home one mile north of Tecumseh Monday evening. The funeral services were held at the home at 1 o'clock Tuesday afternoon and were conducted by Rev. Crumpton. The body was buried in New Hope Cemetery. Mr. Shoemaker was one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Tecumseh and a large number of friends sincerely mourn with the bereaved family. Deceased was born February 24, 1852. He is survived by his widow and nine children----five boys and four girls. This minister may be Rev. Jessie Crumpton, Methodist. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Pottawatomie County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/pottawatomie/pottawatomie.htm