Calder Buffington Shammo (1873-1943)

From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, May 13, 1916.

  An obscure resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Calder Buffington Shammo was for many years a grocer in that city as well as an active Democrat, being a candidate for the state house of representatives from Dauphin County, the Pennsylvania state senate, and a candidate for the Harrisburg city council. The son of grocer Luther and Lydia Ann (Tyson) Shammo, Calder Buffington Shammo was born on November 2, 1873, in Dauphin County. 

  No information could be located on Shammo's early life or education, and at an early age, he followed in his father's stead and entered into the grocery and mercantile trade. In the early 1900s, Shammo and his brothers Charles, Harry, and William operated the Shammo Bros. grocery at 1654 Walnut Street in Harrisburg, and Calder is noted in his obituary as having followed in that line of work until his death in 1943. 

  In 1909 Shammo is recorded as a member of the Governor's Troop in the National Guard of Pennsylvania, being a Quartermaster's Sergeant.  A longstanding member of Harrisburg's Central Democratic Club, Calder Shammo made his first run for the Pennsylvania State Assembly in 1916 but failed to make it past that year's Democratic primary race. Three years later he was an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for the Harrisburg city council. In 1920 Shammo announced his candidacy for the state senate from the 15th senatorial district, and although the losing candidate, he fared better at the polls than four years previous, garnering 9,577 votes to winning candidate Frank R. Smith's total of 24, 640.

From the Harrisburg Daily Independent.

Shammo's 1931 city council announcement.

  Following his senatorial loss in 1920 Shammo was again a candidate for the Harrisburg city council from the 8th ward in the election of 1925, and in 1927 and 1931 made two more unsuccessful bids for that office. Shammo married in his native city in 1929 to Laura E. Witter (1895-1976), who was twenty-two years his junior.

 Little else is known of Calder Shammo's life after 1930, excepting notice of his being named as head of the Governor's Troop Veteran's Association in 1935 and in 1936 was a trustee for Harrisburg's East End Democratic Club. Calder Buffington Shammo died at age 69 on January 7, 1943, at his Harrisburg home. He was survived by his wife Laura, as well as a son, Calder Richard, whose birthdate remains unknown. Following funeral services, Shammo was interred at the Harrisburg Cemetery. 

From the Harrisburg Evening Times, August 8, 1936.

From the Harrisburg Telegram, January 8, 1943.

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