James Howard Shafer

James Howard Shafer moved to Georgia when he was a young man, and then to Texas in 1884, where he lived in various places. In 1900, he move to Oklahoma, stopping first in Granite and then in Mangum.

There he joined with others to form the organization for colonizing a valley of fine lands in Mexico.

In March of 1903, he and his family moved to Mexico with the first group of settlers of the Blalock Mexico Colony. He opened a general merchandise store in the town of Chamal. James Howard and my dad, James Edward were also blacksmiths. They owned various pieces of land in the valley and also ranched. Their cattle brand was registered in 1903, and was 7up.

They enjoyed their lives there until the oppression of the Mexican soldiers became so severe that it almost caused one to lose faith in humanity. James and his family promptly obeyed the US State Department order of 1913, to leave the country.

In 1914, James got permission to return to Chamal to try to save what he could of their belongings. By 1916, things became bad again and another order came to vacate. They were held up by Mexican soldiers and robbed of all their personal property.

They crossed the border on August 4, 1916, and went to Hill County, Texas, where they existed as best as they could. When the weather became so severe, they began to drift to the south, ending up in El Campo, Texas on December 18, 1916. James Howard died on December 31, 1916, and is buried in El Campo.