The Shook Family in 1840s Texas
Texas became a state in 1845. Hence, the first United States Census for Texas was in 1850 and it recorded five Shook families living in Texas during the 1840s. Based on my research, Noah Alexander Shook was the first native Shook born in Texas (he shows up in the 1850 United States Census for Mississippi as born in Texas).
All Shook families in 1840s Texas, including Noah (in Mississippi), were related. Three of the five families (Daniel, Jefferson, and Nathaniel) in the 1850 census were brothers and the sons of Jacob Shook (as shown below - note the graphic is a WIP javascript program I started in grad school followed by traditional HTML).
| Daniel Jefferson Nathaniel | Jacob | Johanne Jacob |
| Elizabeth Isabella Weitzell | ||
| Elizabeth Unknown | Unknown 1 | |
| Unknown 2 |
The fourth Shook family was John Franklin -- son of John Henderson, grandson of Abraham, and great-grandson of Johanne Jacob (as shown below).
| John Franklin (i) | John Henderson | Abraham |
| Patricia Polly Anderson | ||
| Catherine Pietre | Johannes John Petree | |
| Barbara Butts |
The fifth Shook family was Josiah Webster -- son of Abraham (as shown below).
| Josiah Webster | Abraham | Johanne Jacob |
| Elizabeth Isabella Weitzell | ||
| Patricia Polly Anderson | Unknown 1 | |
| Unknown 2 |
Daniel, Jefferson, Nathaniel, and Josiah Webster were all grandsons of Johanne Jacob, making them first cousins. John Franklin was the grandson of Abraham and the great-grandson of Johanne Jacob making him Josiah's second cousin and Daniel, Jefferson, Nathaniel's third cousin.
Jacob Shook was born in North Carolina, but immigrated to Missouri and then Arkansas. So it's not suprising to see Daniel living in Lamar County, Texas, near Arkansas, in 1850. Apparently, Jefferson and Nathaniel migrated further south as they were residing in Liberty and Walker counties in 1850. Josiah Webster was born in North Carolina, immigrated to Texas between 1837 and 1839, and is found in Harris County in 1850. Harris, Liberty, and Walker counties are all relatively close to one another (as shown in the pictures below).
The Shook brothers were circuit riding Methodist preachers. Hence, well traveled. In 1841, Nathaniel, for example, "had twenty preaching stations on the Crockett Circuit; it took him four weeks to cover the three hundred miles of travel". As natives of neighboring Arkansas and circuit riding preachers, all three Shook brothers had probably seen a lot of Texas even before being recorded in census records, poll lists, etc. It's hard to determine whether the Shook brothers influenced Josiah's immigration to Texas from North Carolina. It appears that Josiah immigrated to Harris County sometime between 1837 - 1838; however, he could have reached Texas a bit earlier than that. Nathaniel received a Texas land grant in 1837 in Montgomery County. So both Josiah and Nathaniel are in neighboring counties in the late 1830s. Daniel and Jefferson seem to arrived in the 1841 - 1845 time frame.
Nathaniel is not in the 1850 census. He probably died ca. 1849. His widow Lorena (Robinson) Shook and family was living in Walker Couunty in 1850. A summary of all five 1850 census records is shown below (in alphabetical order).
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1 1850 United States Census->Texas->Lamar County->Precinct 3->Image 6 & 7/7 (Ancestry.com)
| Name | Age | Sex | Birthplace | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shook, Daniel | 38 | Male | Missouri | Farmer |
| Shook, Emily | 28 | Female | Tennessee | |
| Shook, Martha E. | 8 | Female | Arkansas | |
| Shook, Jacob A. | 6 | Male | Arkansas | |
| Shook, Lerina J. | 4 | Female | Texas | |
| Shook, Edwin J. | 2 | Male | Texas |
2 1850 United States Census->Texas->Liberty County->Not Stated->Image 11/30 (Ancestry.com)
| Name | Age | Sex | Birthplace | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shook, Jefferson | 31 | Male | Missouri | Clergyman |
| Shook, Mary A. | 20 | Female | Kentucky | |
| Shook, Andrew S. | 3 | Male | Texas | |
| Shook, Elizabeth | 2 | Female | Texas | |
| Shook, Lurino W. | 0 | Female | Texas |
3 1850 United States Census->Texas->Cass County->Precinct 1->Image 9/11 (Ancestry.com)
| Name | Age | Sex | Birthplace | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stook, John | 23 | Male | North Carolina | Carpenter |
4 1850 United States Census->Texas->Harris County->No Township->Image 6/48 (Ancestry.com)
| Name | Age | Sex | Birthplace | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shook, Josias | 42 | Male | North Carolina | Farmer |
| Shook, Amanda | 21 | Female | Texas | |
| Shook, Rebecca E. | 5 | Female | Texas | |
| Shook, Napoleon | 4 | Male | Texas | |
| Shook, Clarissa A. | 1 | Female | Texas | |
| Rambler, Christian | 11 | Male | Germany |
5 1850 United States Census->Texas->Walker County->Not Stated->Image 26/64 (Ancestry.com)
| Name | Age | Sex | Marital Status | Birthplace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shook, Lorena | 30 | Female | Widowed | Arkansas |
| Robinson, Joshua | 25 | Male | Single | Louisiana |
| Shook, Joshua | 7 | Male | Single | Texas |
| Shook, Jas | 5 | Male | Single | Texas |
| Shook, John | 3 | Male | Single | Texas |
| Shook, Mary | 2 | Female | Single | Texas |
| Addison, Oscar | 29 | Male | Single | Maryland |
| Rabb, George | 24 | Male | Single | Tennessee |