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CEPH SHOEMAKE
Vol. 3, p. 1102

Whoever of talent has been a teacher in the rural schools of the
Choctaw Nation during the first few years after statehood, has
contributed an incalculable amount to the advancement of a section of
the state that for years had suffered because of meager school
facilities and a high percentage of illiteracy. In view of this fact,
the experience of Ceph Shoemake as a district teacher is an
interesting part of the fast-developing history of Bryan County. His
first school was in District No. 20 of Bryan County and it was taught
in a log schoolhouse. His preparation for the profession of pedagogy
made him especially successful in the work and for five years he
continued to teach in rural schools. This experience attracted to him
the notice of County Superintendent McIntosh, who, feeling the heavy
burden of his efforts to make rural education the more effective in
the county, asked Mr. Shoemake to become his assistant in the office,
and the two entered upon what promises to be a most fruitful term of
service on July 1, 1915.

Mr. Shoemake was born in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, in 1888, and
is a son of Elijah and Hallie (MILLER) Shoemake. His father, a farmer
in the vicinity of Bennington, Oklahoma, since 1894, is one of the
progressive men of the district. Mr. Shoemake had his education in
the common schools of Indian Territory and Oklahoma, the University
of Valparaiso, in Indiana, the Central State Normal School and the
Southeastern State Normal School of Oklahoma, so that he is well
equipped for the work he has chosen. He is a member of the County and
State Teachers' associations, and fraternally is associated with The
Masonic order and the Woodmen of the World. His early farm training
instilled in him a love for farm life, and he still maintains an
active interest in agricultural enterprises on his farm near
Bennington.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Lee Ann Collins, November 5, 1998.