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CHAPTER II.
BUSINESS AND POLITICAL CAREER.
Resides being an influential farmer, for many years John (Shofner was an extensive operator of cotton gins, lie and his sons raising, buying, and selling cotton on a -arge scale and doing considerable custom work with their gins. Early in his career Mr. Shofner was granted license to manufacture hats and caps in Bedford County. At another time he was interested in the building and sale of the celebrated l?itts Crain Fans, known far and wide for their excellent qualities. This tannery was situated on Duck Piver, on the Shofner farm, and was operated by the firm of Shofner & l?itts.
In 1815, when John Shofner returned from North Carolina, the political aspects of the country were undergoing great changes. Andrew .Jackson was perhaps the most conspicuous figure in American politics; and with liis election to the presidency we find the disintegration of the old Federalist party and the birth of a new one, the ?Whig? party. John Shofner cast his lot with this new party, and in 1835 assisted in electing his old friend, Newton Cannon, Governor of the State over the popular ? Reform Governor,? William Carroll. In 183G he supported Hugh Lawson White, the first Whig candidate for President. Then in 1840 he saw his party candidate, William Henry Harrison, elected as the first Whig President. In 1844 he took an active