Person:Michael Shoffner (1)

[Alamance County_Feb 2006_backup.FTW]

The name was "SCHAEFFNER" in Germany and means woodworker or carpenter. The name was Anglicized after the family moved to America, and may have been spelled Shofer, Shoffner, Shaffner, or Schoffner as the various family branches preferred. Tradition states that they came to America with a kinsman, Malachi Fogleman, when he returned to Germany for the girl he had left behind.

Michael is believed to have arrived in North Carolina by 1760.

WILL OF MICHAEL SHOFNER

In the Name of God Amen. I Michael Shofner in the County of Orange and State of North Carolina being weak in Body but of perfect mind and memory thanks be given unto God Caling to mind the Mortality of Body and knowing that it is apponted for all Men Once to die Do make & ordain this my last Will and Testament that is to say principally and first of all I give & recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God, who gave it & my body I recommend to the Earth to be buried in a decent & Christian Burial at the discretion of my Executors & as touching such worldly Estate wherewith It hath pleased God to Bless me in this life I give and dispose of Same in the following manner & form Viz.

Firstly I Will & ordain that my youngest Son Peter Shofner Shall have all the land and Plantation which I now hold & Possess according to the Deceased for the said Land providing that he shall give two pounds ten Shillings Currency of North Carolina Or five Dollars to Each of his four Brothers & also two pounds ten Shillings or five Dollars to his sister Magdalane one year after my death he shall pay the said two pounds ten Shillings to the Oldest Brother and so on Every year Two pounds ten Shillings according to the age of his Brothers & Sister.

Secondly I Will & ordain that my said Son Peter Shofner shall have the loom which I have now & an Iron stove which is in the house wherin I now live.

Thirdly I will and ordain that my Son Michael Shofner shall have Ten pounds Currency of No. Carolina or Twenty Dollars out of my Estate after my death after all & when my Just Debts paid I Will and Ordain that Every thing shall be sold & the remainder of my Estate shall be divided into Equal Shares among my five Sons & my Daughter Magdalane

lastly I constitute Make & ordain my well beloved son in law Jacob Antony & Mallica Fogleman to be Executors of my Last Will & Testament And do

hereby utterly revoke & disannull all & every other former Testament Will & Confering Confirming ??] this and no other to be my last Will & Testament in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand And seal this Twenty Seventh day of September in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred an ten___

Signed sealed & pronounced by the said Michael Shofner as his last Will & Testament in the presence of us Henry Cook Jur. Michael Shofner (seal)

[from Orange Co., North Carolina Will Book D , p.342-343.]

Shields, Ruth Herndon, [View Citation] [Table of Contents] Abstracts of wills recorded in Orange County, North Carolina, 1752-1800 : and (202 marriages not shown in the Orange County marriage bonds) and Abstracts of wills recorded in Orange County, North Carolina, 1800-1850 Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1972, 446 pgs.

D 342 Will dated 27 September 1810, proved --

MICHAEL SHOFNER youngest son: Peter Shofner, "his four brothers" son: Michael Shofner dau: Magdalane

Executors: "sons-in-law Jacob Antony, Mathea (?) Fogleman>" Witness: Henry Cook, Jr..

The graves of Michael and Margaretha are well marked and are in St. Paul's Lutheran Churchyard about two miles from the town of Alamance, NC. Dr Aaron Fogleman found the Schaffert family in the Orendensall church records, with a note 'gone to America'

1. ↑ Virginia Loy Fausel, web site by Allen Dew, http://cemeterycensus.com/nc/alam/cem007.htm. St. Paul's Lutheran Church Cemetery - transcription. (Location - 2719 Belmont-Alamance Rd., Burlington, NC).