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CHARLES W., SHANNON, A.M.
Vol. 5, p. 1855-1856

Charles W. Shannon, A.M., is known as a prominent figure in
educational and scientific circles in Oklahoma. He has been an able
and popular instructor in geology at the University of Oklahoma, and
is now director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, with office in the
library building of the university at Norman, Cleveland County.

Mr. Shannon is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of
the fine old Hoosier State, of which he himself is a native son. He
was born in Tipton County, Indiana, on the 3d of August, 1879, and is
a son of Alexander and Elizabeth J. (FOSTER) Shannon, both of whom
were born and reared in that county. Alexander Shannon passed
virtually his entire active life as one of the representative
agriculturists in the vicinity of Tipton, the county seat. He was
born in the year 1855, and died at Brazil in 1910. Elizabeth J.
Shannon was born in 1858 and died in 1906. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shannon
were devoted members of the United Presbyterian Church, in which he
served as deacon and trustee. Of the children, C.W. Shannon of this
review is the eldest; Herbert died in babyhood; James Vinton wedded
Miss Grace POLING of Bloomington, Indiana, and both are now
missionary teachers in a school maintained under the auspices of the
Presbyterian Church on the Island of Hainan, China.

The lineage of the Shannon family traces back to staunch Scotch-
Irish origin and the original American representatives settled in
Virginia in the colonial era of our national history.

Mr. Shannon acquired his early education in the public schools of
his native state, where he was graduated in the high school at Tipton
as a member of the class of 1900. During the ensuing spring and
summer he was a student in the University of Indiana at Blooming-
Bryan School in Tipton County. During this time he continued his
studies in the university by attending the spring and summer
sessions. He finally completed a full academic course in the
university, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of
1906, and from which he received at that time the degree of Bachelor
of Arts. The following year he received the degree of Master of Arts
from his alma mater. He has since taken effective post graduate
studies in the University of Indiana, specializing in geology and
other branches of science.

In 1902, at Bloomington, Indiana, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Shannon to Miss Mary E. PINKERTON, who was born and reared in
Indiana, and who is a daughter of the late Charles Pinkerton, a
representative merchant at Muncie for many years prior to his death.
From 1907 to 1911 Mr. Shannon was teacher of science in the high
school at Brazil, Indiana. During this time he was also in the employ
of the Indiana State Geological Survey, in connection with which he
covered and made specific reports from seventeen different counties.

In September 1911, Mr. Shannon came to Norman, Oklahoma, and assumed
the position of field geologist for the Oklahoma Geological Survey.
He served a few weeks in this capacity and was then appointed
instructor in geology at the University of Oklahoma. After teaching
one semester he resumed his position in connection with the
Geological Survey of which he has been the director since January
1914. His work in this office has been carried forward with utmost
efficiency and discrimination, and will prove of enduring value to
the state from both a scientific and a utilitarian standpoint.

Mr. Shannon is a valued and influential member of the Oklahoma
Academy of Science, of which he served three years as president. He
is also a member of the Indiana Chapter of the Sigma Xi fraternity, a
national scientific organization whose membership is confined to
those college students and graduates who have achieved independent
scientific research work. He is a democrat in his political
allegiance, and is a member of the board of education of Norman. Both
he and his wife are zealous members of the Presbyterian Church, in
which he was a teacher of the Young Woman's Christian Association
class of the Sunday School until January 1, 1916, when he was elected
supervising superintendent of the Sunday School. He also serves as
one of the trustees of the church.

Mr. and Mrs. Shannon are prominent and popular factors in the
leading social activities of Norman, the principal educational center
of the state, and both are specially appreciative and loyal as
citizens of this vigorous young commonwealth. They have two children,-
Gayle L., who was born May 1, 1906, and Viola Ruth, who was born Nov.
19, 1914.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, January 28, 2000.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916).