James Shankle

From Shankleville Historical Society

The community of Shankleville in Newton County Texas was named after Jim and Winnie (Brush) Shankle. Jim and Winnie were the first African Americans to purchase their own land and became leaders of the community after emancipation.

James (Jim) Shankle (1811 - 1887), born in Kentucky, was the husband of Winnie (1814 - 1883), born in Tennessee; they were both the slaves of Isaac Rollins in Wayne County, Mississippi. Winnie and her children by Isaac Rollins were sold, and James Shankle became a fugitive when he went looking for them. After many months of searching, he found Winnie near an underground spring in Deep East Texas (now Newton County). Jim remained in hiding for several weeks when he and Winnie's approached her new owner, and he agreed to purchase Jim. After emancipation, Jim and Winnie bought "a league" of land and founded the freedmen's community of Shankleville. They would become the parents of six more children, one of whom married Stephen McBride, founder of McBride College, a "normal school" that was located in Shankleville. The school existed from 1883 to 1909.

Jim and Winnie are both buried in Jim Shankle cemetery. Descendents of Jim and Winnie have worked hard to keep the memory of the family's story alive and continue to contribute in the research of the family genealogy. Annual homecomings have been held since 1941 on the first weekend of August each year. The Shankleville Historical Society, Inc. was founded on June 18, 1988 to "preserve the heritage," "document the history" and "propogate the legacy" of the Shankleville Community.

Texas Historical Marker 1973 HWY 63 West, 3.5 miles; FM 1415 South (across from cemetery); Burkeville.

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• Residence: (1870 — Age: 59) Subdivision No, Newton, Texas, United States
• Residence: (19 Jun 1880 — Age: 68) District 55, Newton, Texas, United States
  • Updated from Ancestry Genealogy by SmartCopy: Apr 30 2015, 8:32:44 UTC

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• Jim Shankle Cemetery, Shankleville, Texas, Thad Sitton, "FREEDMEN'S SETTLEMENTS," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uef20), accessed May 02, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association, "Shankleville memorialized slaves' love story" By Bob Bowman, Special to The Journal, Robert Wooster, "SHANKLEVILLE, TX," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrs75), accessed April 29, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Shankleville - Newton County - Texas, Shankleville Community Cemetery, SHANKLEVILLE, TEXAS, Case Study,Notable Kentucky African Americans, "James and Winnie Brush Shankle" in vol. 7 of the African American National Biography, edited by H. L. Gates, Jr. and E. B. Higginbotham." "A Love Supreme" by Randy Mallory, Feb 2015 (page 6-8)