
The Shumaker Bible
Heirloom Bibles: Part 2
The second family Bible I have inherited belonged to my great-grandparents, Ernest and Liffa Shumaker. It is even more tattered than the older Maberry Bible.

The spine is split down the middle and the cover is literally disintegrating. Also, the first few pages are missing.

However, much to my delight, this one does include Family Record pages between the Testaments.

The first entry on the Marriages page, in Mother Shumaker’s handwriting, records her marriage to Granddaddy Shumaker.

Ernest A. Shumaker
Born Aug. 13, 1889
and
Liffa May Maberry
Born Sept. 22, 1891
married
Sept. 21, 1912
at Roby, Texas
The next entry is in my Grandmother’s handwriting and records the marriage of her older brother.

Dillon Shumaker
&
Thelma Frances Easley
Born Nov. 11, 1912
Married Jan. 4, 1936 at
Altus, Okla. Church of Christ
The third entry is in Great-Aunt Bonnie’s handwriting and records the marriage of my grandparents.

Ernesteen Frances Shumaker
&
Gordon Wilson Easley
Born Sept.
Married Dec. 19, 1936 at Altus,
Okla.
You see, Grandmother’s older brother married Granddaddy’s older sister earlier the same year. Aunt Bonnie apparently didn’t know at the time she entered their marriage that Granddaddy’s birthday was September 27, 1915.
A few years later, during World War II, Aunt Bonnie recorded her own marriage in the Family Bible.

Bonnie Faye Shumaker &
Denzil Eudell Walker (borned Aug. 8, 1920)
married Aug. 23, 1943 at Prairie Hill, Okla.
I guess since that’s all the room there was on the Marriages page those are the only marriages that got recorded. The other brothers did eventually get married but their marriages aren’t listed.

The Births pages were filled in by Mother Shumaker, probably all at the same time, with the exception of the twins who were the youngest in the family. That indicates to me that Mother Shumaker and Granddaddy probably got this Bible sometime between 1923 and 1931… or maybe that’s just when she got around to filling in the Family Record pages.
The page on the left lists “E.A. Shumaker’s Family” (i.e. the children of Ernest and Liffa Shumaker):

Dillon Hodges Shumaker
Born Friday, July 11, 1913
at Roby, Fisher Co., Texas
Ernesteen Frances Shumaker
Born Sun., Jan. 7, 1917
at Roby, Fisher Co., Texas
Elbert Leigh Shumaker
Born Sat., June 26, 1920
at Creta, Jackson Co., Okla.
Bonnie Faye Shumaker
Born Sat. Mar. 24, 1923
at Eldorado, Jackson Co., Okla.
Byrl Bond Shumaker and
Myrl Bock Shumaker
Born Friday, Oct. 16, 1931
Eldorado, Jackson Co., Okla.
The Births page on the right lists “Brothers & Sisters & Mother” of Ernest Shumaker. I find it interesting that his name is listed as “Albert Ernest” but his initials were always “E.A.” and then he named a son Elbert, rather than Albert.
George Solomon Shumaker
Born Nov. 21, 1880
John Henry Shumaker
Born March 10, 1882
Mary Margret Shumaker
Born March 10, 1882
Bessie Lee Shumaker
Born Oct. 20, 1884
Albert Ernest Shumaker
Born Aug. 13, 1889
Fannie Joe Shumaker
Born Sept. 14, 1891
David Quarles Shumaker
Born March 26, 1893
William Amzay Shumaker
Born May 6, 1894
James Alberta Shumaker
Born June 30, 1896
Milton Irvin Shumaker
Born June 23, 1898
Bessie Bond born in England
April 19, 1859 – married to
E. Shumaker Jan. 9, 1880

The Deaths page of the Family Record was never filled in, even though everyone listed on the previous pages is now dead. Maybe this Bible had fallen out of use by the time anyone died. Or maybe they just weren’t inclined to record the deaths. I mean, I guess I could fill them in myself… but I probably won’t.

The one bit of ephemera tucked into this Bible is this undated newspaper clipping about the Midway School where my grandparents went to school. I don’t know what the “intellectual events” may have been but I’ve heard that Grandmother was the pitcher for the girls softball team when she was in high school. If Granddaddy was on the baseball team I never heard about that. I’ll have to tell you about Grandmother playing softball another time.


One Comment
Jasmine Shumaker
Hi Karla,
You and I might be related. I would love to speak more about our possible connections.