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CHAPTER VIII.
COL. LOTON SHOFNER.
Loton, the second son of John and Amelia Shofner, was horn in North Carolina in 1813, and was but two years old when his parents crossed the mountains with him and his brother, Joel, to make Tennessee their permanent home. His youthful days were spent on his lather?s farm, doing his part of the work and enjoying to the fullest extent his part of the sports and amusements of the times.
Ilis father?s house was very near a large canebrake, which was thickly inhabited by various kinds of snakes; and, as Loton would tell in his later years, they would have, to shake the bed covers before retiring to make sure they were not sleeping with one or more of the snake tribe.
Loton lived with his parents, and assisted them every way he could until he was twenty-two years old, when he took unto himself a wife, Emily Brown, and went out into the world to make a home of their own. From this union two children were born, but both died in infancy; and the pleasures of a sweet home life were soon broken up, for his wife was called away in 1839.
He built on a farm adjoining his father?s, and here he spent the remainder of his life. From this farm he gave to the Lutheran Church enough land adjacent to Jenkins? Chapel for a parsonage. Being a Lutheran