Jacob Shafter was an German-American landlord who ran a boarding house in Vermissa with his daughter, Ettie. Shafter was an honest man who hated the Scowrers, the dangerous secret society that ran the valley. However, because of their power he could do nothing to stop his daughter from being engaged to a member of the group twice; first to Ted Baldwin by force, and later by choice to Jack McMurdo, who was eventually revealed to actually be a Pinkerton agent named Birdy Edwards. Shafter was a witness at his daughter's marriage to Edwards in Chicago after Edwards successfully broke up the gang.