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James A. Shoemaker (Uncle Jim), son of William P. and Charlotte Katherine Dean Shoemaker, was born Aug. 7, 1883 in Cherokee Co., Ala. At a very young age he moved with his parents to Wood Co., TX. As a young man he moved to New Mexico where he was engaged in farming and raising livestock. In the early 1900's he acquired some land by homesteading near Redlands, NM. There he met and married Mary Alice Griffin, Oct. 18, 1908.Mary Alice, daughter of William Troy and Mary Francis Boland Giffin, was born in Alabama, Sept. 1, 1888. She moved with her parents to Canadian, OK as a small child, then to Causey, NM as a young lady, where she met and married James A. Shoemaker. Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker made their first home together near Redlands, where in the next six years three children were born to them, two daughters, Elzie and Mary Etta, and a son, David.
In 1914 Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker moved to Dunn, Scurry Co. While living at Dunn, Mr. Shoemaker did various kinds of work for a living including share cropping, owned and operated the telephone business there, did barber work, owned and operated a garage, and owned and drove a service car, transporting passengers to and from Snyder, Colorado City, Sweetwater and sometimes longer distances. Very few people owned cars at that time.
There were four more children born to this union in Scurry Co.; a daughter, Kitty Lee and three sons,Sam, Roy and Harold.
In 1925 Mr. Shoemaker brought his family to Crosby Co., where he bought a quarter section of undeveloped land three miles south of Caprock, east of what is known as the Ralls and Post highway. A three room house was built for the family to live in while the land was being cleared for farming. Water was hauled in barrels on a wagon from the creek several months until a well could be dug with hand operated tools. Water for stock and milk cows had to be hauled as well as water for household use. Fences and lots were built for livestock.
There was no school the first year, but other families came until there were enough children to necessitate building a one room school house. In 1926 the school was built and called Watts School, then it was discovered that another school bearing that name was on record so the name was changed to Canyon Valley. More people came to settle here until it was necessary to build a second room to the school in 1928.
After moving to Crosby Co., three more daughters were born, bringing the total to ten children. They were: Jimmie, Alice and Joannie. A larger house built in 1928 still stands today where children of Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker and their families hold the family reunion every summer.
James A. Shoemaker died in July of 1966. Mary Alice Shoemaker died in October of 1971. The oldest son, David Shoemaker, died in July, 1975.
Two sons and three daughters reside in Ralls at the time of this writing, they are Mrs. Elzie Moore, Mary Etta Hale, Mrs. Kitty Lee Beck, Sam Shoemaker and Roy Shoemaker.
Contributed by a daughter, Mrs. J. P. Beck.
Source: "A History of Crosby County 1876-1977" © Crosby County Historical Commission 1978; Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas.
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