Johnston “John” William Shoales was born on 2 January 1872 on the Choctaw Reservation, in Doaksville, Indian Territory, Oklahoma (Territory), one of nine children of John Ross Shoals and Hattie Crittenden Shoales.
Shoales lived in Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma, while studying at ISC, working on the home farm during the summers and teaching during the winter, reportedly one of the largest stock farms in the Territory. In total, he spent four years at Iowa State, residing in the Experiment Station Barn (1904/05; 1906/1907, Fall 1907) the Horticulture Barn (1905/1906), and the Horticulture Laboratory (Spring 1908). Although he did not graduate with a degree, he did earn a degree from the Tuskegee Institute. During his time at ISC, he was a member of the ISC Welch Eclectic Literacy Society in 1907 and 1908.
In 1905, Shoales was the President of the Choctaw Freedman’s Farmer’s Institute, and later worked as an assistant teacher for the Oak Hill Industrial Academy for Choctaw Freedmen from 1912 to 1913. He died in July 1977 in Idabel, McCurtain County, Oklahoma.
