I began this web site to document my Shook family. As the research grew, I began documenting other Shook families as a way to separate my family from others. It wasn't long when I found researching other Shook families was just as enjoyable. Today, about 60% of this research is on my Shook family: Johannes Georg Schuck, der Elder (John George Shook, Sr.), while the other 40% relates to other Shook families. So while this web site began about my family, it has evolved into a broader Shook Family web site.

Scope of Research

This research began with my family in Texas following those ancestors back to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Germany. As mentioned above, in researching my family I have been identifying other Shook families too. Most of this research is very methodical. I have recorded all Shook individuals identified in findagrave.com, for example, in Texas and Louisana, and I'm working on Oklahoma and Alabama -- basically states bordering Texas and the migration of my family from North Carolina and Pennsylvania. I have also documented all the Shook individuals with a death certificate in Texas.

The Shook Name

The name Shook is the anglicized variant of German Schuck. My family ancestor, for example, was Johannes Georg Schuck, der Elder. In English, his name is John George Shook, Sr. After the second generation or so, German Schuck becomes English Shook.

Shook Family Lines

The index at the right lists all the Shook individuals I have profiled.

The family lines I am profiling are listed below with a link to Ancestry.com to that family tree. If you have an Ancestry.com account, this may be helpful in your research as I tend to have more information on the maternal side on Ancestry.com.

Hermanus Shook @ Ancestry.com
Johannes Georg Schuck, der Elder @ Ancestry.com
John Oliver Shook, Sr. @ Ancestry.com
John Shook (ii) @ Ancestry.com
Saul Francis Shook @ Ancestry.com
Valentine Shook @ Ancestry.com
William Shook (iv) @ Ancestry.com

Currently, about 700 Shook individuals have been profiled. The master index is to the right, and this is the only page with the master index. So come back to this page for the list of all Shook individuals. Note that profiling means a web page, indexing, and links to that individual. It's a lot of work. So many individuals (thousands) are on the web site but not yet profiled. I have intentionally designed this web site with generic, static web pages so that search engines (like Google) can easily index everyone on the web site. So when searching for a Shook, it is not unusual to find one or more links to this web site.

When you click on an individual, the index will change to that individual's family line. If you click on Hermanus Shook, for example, the "The Shook Family" index will change to the "Hermanus Shook" index and everyone in that list will belong to the Hermanus Shook family. Note that some of the individuals in the master index do not have their own family line (yet), and families are not necessarily unrelated: I just merged two families.

The Johannes Schuck (Shook) Family

Johannes Georg Schuck, der Elder immigrated from Germany to the United States of America in 1732. This is my family line, and, naturally, where I spend most (but not all) of time researching. About 60% of my research is on this family. Johannes

Josiah Webster Shook

This research started with my Texas Shook family (Josiah Webster Shook) and our ancestor Johannes Georg Schuck, der Elder. Hence, my Shook tree is the following: Jan Joseph Shook, Jr.-> Jan Joseph Shook, Sr.-> Jesse Earl Shook, Sr.-> Joseph Webster Shook, Sr.-> Theodrick Shook-> Josiah Webster Shook-> Abraham Shook-> Johannes Georg "Hans" Schuck der Junger-> Johannes Georg Schuck, der Elder. While this may uninteresting, it may help you follow the progression of research.

Josiah Webster Shook was born circa 1808 in North Carolina, and seems to have immigrated to Texas in the late 1830's. In his will, Abraham Shook (North Carolina) records Josiah as his son. So far in my research, I have not been able to find another Josiah Shook. That is ties Josiah to an Abraham Shook North Carolina. Unfortunately, there were two Abraham Shook families originating in North Carolina. Both Abrahams were born within a generation of each other and documentation is scant. At this time, however, I believe my line descends from the Abraham Shook born on 03-FEB-1764 and the other line descends from the Abraham Shook born circa 1782. It the latter Abraham that is the son of Johanne Jacob Shook - a well documented pioneer of North Carolina.

Johanne Jacob Shook

(My) Abraham Shook was Jacob's youngest brother. So my family line does not descend from Johanne Jacob Shook. Still, he is an interesting character, and a great study in Shook history. I urge you to read Greater Than The Mountains Was He by Wilma Hicks Simpson. Clicking on the book cover to the right takes you to Amazon.com (I do not make a commission on any purchase). Wilma gives a good biography of Johanne Jacob Shook; how his father (Johannes Georg "Hans" Schuck der Junger) and grandfather (Johannes Georg Schuck der Elder) arrived in Pennsylvania from Germany; how his descendents immigrated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina; and how Jacob Shook became immersed in Methodism.

American History

Wilma Hicks Simpson's book Greater Than The Mountains Was He provides a good overview of the Shook family in American history (including Pennsylvania and North Carolina). On Ancestry.com, the maps below show the migration of all families with a surname of Shook from U.S. Federal Census data for 1840, 1880, and 1920.

Texas History

I have a long way to go to document Texas history for the Shook family, but the links below show all the Shook individuals found in Texas from 1820 to 1860:

The Shook Family in 1820s Texas The Shook Family in 1830s Texas The Shook Family in 1840s Texas The Shook Family in 1850s Texas The Shook Family in 1860s Texas