Surname	Shook
Given Name	Nathaniel
Alias	Nathan
Gender	Male
Born	Between 1816-1820 in Missouri Territory
Died	1849 in Texas
Father	Jacob SHOOK (1771-1780 NC - bef. 07-JAN-1858 AR)
Mother	Elizabeth (1785 - 1835 AR)

Family Line

Nathaniel Shook-> Jacob Shook (f)-> Johanne Jacob Shook (gf)-> Johanne Hans George Shook (Schuck) (g-gf)-> Johannes Shook (Schuck) (gg-gf).

Marriage

25-MAY-1842 in Montgomery County, Texas to Lorena ROBINSON (28-SEP-1819 - 17-FEB-1907).

Children

• Joshua P. SHOOK (~1843 TX - ~1861-1865)
• James Osgood Andrew SHOOK (15-MAR-1845 TX - 16-APR-1916 TX)
• John Wesley SHOOK, Sr. (09-APR-1846 TX - 14-MAR-1921 TX)
• Mary Jefferson SHOOK (16-FEB-1848 TX - 04-MAR-1883 TX)

Stories

Nathan SHOOK was born in 1812-1820 in Missouri Territory. He died in 1849 in Texas.

Nathan was identified by Jacob Shook in his will in which he stated "Item, I give devise and bequeath to my son Nathan Shook the sum of twenty five dollars to him and his heirs in addition to what I have already heretofore given and advanced to him, to be paid by my executors out of my estate. The Bond or obligation which I had against my said son Nathan [in the sum of ] one hundred and fifty dollars is included in the property and heretofore advanced him and he is not to pay the amount of said bond or obligation to my executors or heirs." The will was written in 1853 and speaks of Nathan in the present tense, the importance of which will soon be revealed.

Nathan is mentioned as "...one of the early settlers of this vicinity" in the chapter dealing with Hempstead County in Goodspeed's "Southern Arkansas."

Nathan is also mentioned in the Shook biographical sketch in "A History Of Fannin County" as a son of Jacob and a brother of Daniel and Jefferson Shook, and is identified as preacher in Clarksville, Dallas, Paris, and Bonham.

The following biographical sketch for Nathan Shook appears in "Montgomery County Texas History." It was submitted by O'Veta Morris Blackburn:

"Methodist Circuit Preacher Nathan Shook (born 1812-20, Missouri) came to the Texas Methodist Conference in 1840 from Hempstead County, Arkansas, where he and at least three brothers were ordained to preach. Brothers Daniel, Jefferson, Jacob and Nathan Shook all served early Texas Methodism. Nathan Shook married 25 May 1842, Montgomery Co. Lorena/Laurena Robinson, daughter of William and Elizabeth Robinson. [Montgomery County Texas Marriages 1838-1904, Book 1] In 1841 Nathan Shook had twenty preaching stations on the Crockett Circuit; it took him four weeks to cover the three hundred miles of travel. His description of the Crockett Circuit was: '6 tolerable good societys & some other places a few members. Some warm hearted Christians, some very cold ones the people to whom I have to preach is made up of a variety of stuff it is given up by all to be the worst place in the republick.'

When the East Texas Conference was created in 1845, Nathan Shook was given an appointment to Clarksville, Red River County, which he later gave up 'in order to take care of his family.' In 1847 he was a property owner in Lamar County, south of Howland and near the Sulphur River. Family tradition is that he went to California in the Gold Rush and died there. Lorena Shook was listed as a widow on the Walker County 1850 Census. In the 1860s she was a school teacher in Coryell County. She never remarried. Buried in Pearl Cemetery, Coryell County, her death date is 17 February 1907. Several of her children's tombstones are nearby."

Finally, Vivian W. Andrew wrote the following notes about Nathan in her biographical sketch of his son John Wesley Shook in "Vignettes Of Coryell County" by Claude and Mabel Bailry, 1976: "Nathan was a minister and surveyor, and when a party organized to go to California at the time of the Gold Rush, he went along as a surveyor and left Lorena with her father ... "So far as my grandmother knew, not one of the party was ever heard from again. Many of the wagon trains were demolished by Indians," said Mary T. Andrew in July 1969."

Nathan actually came to the Republic of Texas on June 11, 1837. He received a 2nd class headright of 640 acres in Montgomery County which became unconditionally his on September 6, 1839. Nathan(iel) was on the 1840 San Augustine County tax roll. He paid taxes on one poll, a saddle horse, and a silver watch. (1840 Citizens of Texas, Vol. 1 Land Grants and Vol. 2 Tax Rolls). He is listed in the 1842 Montgomery County census, and is identified in their marriage books as an ordained M. E. preacher. He later owned land in Delta County (abstract 462).

Nathan may not have gone to California in 1849. The following story entitled "Nathan Shook - alleged gang member" was furnished by William N. Greer, whose second great-grandfather Nathaniel Hunt Greer was also alleged to have been involved in the gang.

Nathan Shook - alleged gang member

First, an extract of a confession by a gang member in August 1849 ...

"... Rev. Nathan Shook makes land certificates, has the seal and everything necessary for the same. I saw Parson Shook making out some land papers at Short's. He then went out on the Guadalupe, where Mr. McPeters stole a fine mare belonging to Mr. Estill, and swapped her to Parson S. for a likely gray mare, also stolen property. Short went to the Guadalupe with Shook, and they returned together; Shook slept until midnight, and left my brother's. Since [then] I have not seen him. He preaches a first-rate sermon, I hear: I know he makes a good land title. At or near Crockett are three Longs (no connection of Maj. Long, who sometimes sports the turf with Mr. Guy Stokes.) At or near the same place are two Pearsons: these men receive and trade on stolen horses, and assist in harboring and running off negroes ..."

Second, an article in "The Northern Standard" of Clarksville, Texas (issue of September 1, 1849) ...

"Look out for Rascals.

A few weeks since, a desperado named Bostick, was killed in La Grange by General Mayfield in self defense. An examination of his letters and papers disclosed an organized gang of negro thieves, robbers, and murderers extending from Missouri to the Rio Grande. Several of these have been taken, and some summarily executed. Others remain in confinement awaiting trial. Thomas Short, one of the gang, was pursued and arrested at Natchez, Miss., where he had taken a stolen negro to sell. His confession showing the ramifications of the gang, their objects and the names of the active participants, we republish from the Texas Ranger of the 17th of August, in order to put the people of Northern Texas upon their guard. It seems that a personage who has officiated in this section as a clergyman is mentioned as an active operator, and a forger of land certificates. Short intimates that he suppresses the names of others holding respectable stations in [the] community because of their families. It should be brought to light however [that] a man should be spared against whom [no] evidence exists to corroborate the statements which this fellow may make. Sanctimonious hypocrisy should be exposed but expositions of men hitherto supposed respectable should not be made upon such testimony alone. We will give the other confessions, which are shorter, and in part the same substance as this, in our next issue."

[The 08--SEP-1849 issue is not on the microfilm, and apparently has not survived.]

Third, an article from the "Bonham Advertiser" that was rerun in the December 22, 1849, issue of the "Texas State Gazette", page 139 ...

"Parson Shook.

A gentlemen recently from Cherokee county informs us of a rumor current there, that Parson Nathan Shook had been hanged at Crockett, in Houston county. It will be recollected that Shook was named in the confession of Thomas Short as a party to sundry thefts, counterfeiting of coin, land certificates, etc. When apprised [sic] of these charges he surrendered himself and was committed to the jail in Lamar county. Nothing new appearing against him, the Sheriff was unwilling to detain him, and set him at liberty. According to our informant, Shook then went to Crockett, the very place where some of his alleged crimes were said to have been committed, and placed himself in custody, to await the preferment of charges. A mob soon gathered, took him from the Sheriff, and executed him forthwith. We give this account as we received it. We hope it is not true. If it be, the mob who have thus insulted a public officer, and trampled upon the law, should be hunted with blood hounds, if necessary, and brought to justice. Shook may, or may not, have been guilty. That is not the question; he was entitled to the investigation which he sought. If every suspected man is to be thus dealt with; God pity him who may incur the malice of a confessed scoundrel for the testimony of just such a scoundrel is all that has appeared against Shook. We would be glad to know if this report is erroneous; for we would not that the stigma of such a deed should rest upon any portion of our State."

On page 141 of the "Gazette" another announcement, reprinted from the "Texas Times," adds that the Lamar county jail was in the town of Paris, and that Nathan Shook was released, his accuser "not having appeared with the required proof of his guilt, within the time specified" but does not mention his lynching which would seem, from these accounts, to have occurred in early December.

None of the above confirms that the lynching actually took place. On the one hand we have Bebe Ulrich of the Houston County TXGenWeb site reminding us that "this particular time period as the heart of the rough and ready times - people just weren't very genteel, and took the law into their own hands fairly quickly" and on the other hand we have Jacob Shook using the present tense when he mentions Nathan in his will which he wrote in 1853, some four years after the rumored lynching. However, based on the fact that Nathan's wife was listed as a widow in the 1850 Walker County census, and the family tradition that Nathan went to California in the Gold Rush and died there, the mob lynching story may well be true. If it is, then, unfortunately, Nathan found Crockett to be truly the "worst place in the republick."

Nathaniel Hunt Greer and at least three other frontiersmen accused of being gang members by Thomas Short went to the newspapers to proclaim their innocence. Only Nathan placed his faith in the law. William Short was hung and his body was left to the wolves and buzzards. Thomas Short was acquitted. One of the convicted gang members became the first inmate at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville and was pardoned within a year or so by the governor.

Nathan married Lorena ROBINSON, daughter of William ROBINSON (Texas Rev.) and Elizabeth HORN, on 21 May 1842 in Montgomery County, Texas. Lorena was born on 28-SEP-1819 in Arkansas. She died on 17-FEB-1907 in Coryell County, Texas and was buried in Pearl Cemetery.

"Lorena Shook was listed as a widow on the Walker County 1850 Census. In the 1860s she was a school teacher in Coryell County. She never remarried. Buried in Pearl Cemetery, Coryell County, her death date is 17-FEB-1907. Several of her children's tombstones are nearby." (Montgomery County Texas History)

William Robinson's interesting life is sketched by O'Veta Morris Blackburn in "Montgomery County History" and in "History Of Walker County Texas."