Peter Lee Shofner / Shoffner

1. Peter Shofner He may have been the only child born in America. He is in the 1800 and 1810 censuses of Orange County.[9]

Peter Shoffner, born 20 November 1770 in Orange County, North Carolina; died in Bedford County, Tennessee; married Delilah Henderson.

2. Notes for Peter Shoffner:

http://genforum.genealogy.com/shoffner/messages/154.html

Post by Larry Shoffner:

Chris: There isn't a lot of information on Peter and his wife, Delilah, but here's what my research shows:

Peter was born on 20 Nov 1770 in what is now Alamance County, NC. He was the son of Michael Shofner and Margaretha Fogleman. He married Delilah Henderson, probably in 1794, with whom he had at least six children. The possible 7th child is Hezekiah, supposedly born in Bedford County, TN, perhaps in 1822. Hezekiah reportedly married Emily Pitt in 1847 in Rutherford County, TN, had nine children and by 1860 had moved to Dyer County, TN. He is believed to have died sometime after 1880. As for Peter, he had moved to TN in 1808 only to return to NC in 1812 to manage lands he had inherited from his father. Later he sold these lands to his brother, Frederick, and was back in TN by 1820. His other children's names are as follows:

1. Caty Lattimore; b. 1795; d. 1822

2. William; b. 1797; d. 1879

3. Plummer L.; b. 20 Mar 1811; d. 8 May 1888

4. Gabriel; b. 1814; d. 1880

5. Elvira; b. 17 Jun 1817; d. 25 Sep 1886; married Thomas Gore

6. Elisabeth; b. 1819.

3. I have a photocopy of several pages from a book about the Shofner family descended from Michael Shoffner (1721-1810). The book was published about 1965. One of these pages is page 227, the start of Chapter 6 which I quote here:

"VI. Peter Shoffner

It is generally conceded that Peter was born in America and grew to manhood in Orange County, North Carolina. Little is known about that period of his life.

There is a family tradition that Peter's first wife was a Mrs. Henderson. We do not know the dates of her birth, marriage and death...

Colonel Loton Shofner, a great-grandson of Michael, Sr., gave information concerning the Shofner Family to Mr. John W. Ruth of Shelbyville, Tennessee, for a newspaper article which was published in The Bedford County Times in April, 1896. A quotation from the article follows, 'Martin and Peter (both sons of Michael, Sr.) came to Bedford County, Tennessee, in 1808. Grandfather Martin and his Brother Peter settled on Thompson's Creek.' Their farms were in what is now part of the 25th Civil District of Bedford County. The 1812 Tax List of Bedford County, shows both farms were in the same vicinity.

The Deed Book #14, page 539, dated August 31st, 1812, in the records of Orange County, North Carolina, is a deed made by Peter Shofner, conveying appoximately 219 acres of land on Stinking Quarter Creek to Frederick Shofner... There is a statement in the deed which shows that by 1812 Peter had returned to Orange County, North Carolina, it states, 'I, Peter Shofner, now of Orange County, North Carolina' It appears that Peter was a restless person by nature and that may account to some extent for the difficulty in tracing his history. We do know that he returned to Bedford County to live.

Among the papers of Rev. D. I. Offman, Rounte #6, Burlington, North Carolina, there was a letter written in the early 1830's by John and Amelia Shofner of Bedford County, Tennessee, to Michael (his father) Shofner of North Carolina. It contained this piece of news, 'Your Uncle Peter has married a wife. She was called the Widow Robertson with six children of Rutherford County, Tennessee." There were no children by the second marriage.

Proof that Peter brought his family to Bedford County to reside can be established by the following record:"

This is the end of the page. The next page that I have is page 233 which contains information about the line of Jeptha Hezekiah Shofner. This Hezekiah Shofner is my late husband's gggrandfather.

I am interested in more information about Peter also.

Susan Goldsworthy

3.