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CHAPTER I.
EARLY LIFE.
The stibject of our sketch was born in Orange County, X. C., February 23, 1787, son of Martin Shofner, being the fifth child in a family of ten children. His boyhood days were spent in the parental home; and although the means for education were very much limited, yet the father and mother instilled into him and his brothers and sisters the principles of right and justice. When quite young, he developed a great fondness for reading; and this grew with the years of his life, proving not only a source of great pleasure, but a valuable means of self-improvement.
While still quite young, .John Shofner first came to Tennessee with Xewton Cannon, afterwards (lovernor of the State, and assisted in surveying a vast portion of what is now Bedford County. At that time in many places the dense eanebrakes and vast forests were almost impenetrable, and settlements were few and far between. The ? History of Tennessee ? says that the first permanent settlements were made in the territory that is now Bedford County in 1805 and 180t>, the county not being formed until 1807, and that the Shol'ners were among the first settlers.
After spending two years in this new country, young John, in about 1805, returned to his relatives in North Carolina. From his glowing accounts of this land of