Col. Daniel Boone

Family

Col. Daniel Boone was born on November 2, 1734 (New Style dating) in log cabin in Birdsboro near Reading, in the Oley Valley of Berks County in Pennsylvania. His parents were Squire Boone, I and Sarah Morgan. He was a sheriff, judge, frontiersman, longhunter, trapper, soldier, teamster, state militia officer, politician, surveyor, merchant, tavern keeper, horse trader, land speculator, and more. Contrary to his depiction in pop culture media, he likely did not wear a coonskin cap.

Daniel married Rebecca Bryan on August 14, 1756 in Yadkin River, Rowan County, Province of North Carolina, Colonial America. Together they had the following 10 children:

1. James Boone, (May 3, 1757-1773). Died unmarried.
2. Israel Boone, (January 25, 1759-1782). Married Amelia Callaway.
3. Susanna Boone, (November 20, 1760-1800). Married William Hays.
4. Jemima Boone, (October 4, 1762-1834). Married Flanders Callaway.
5. Lavina Boone, (March 23, 1766-1802). Married Peter Scholl.
6. Rebecca Boone, (May 26, 1768-1805). Married Phillip Goe.
7. Daniel Boone, II, (December 23, 1769-1839). Married Sarah Lewis.
8. Jesse Boone, (December 23, 1769-1839). Married Chloe Van Bibber.
9. William Boone, (June 20, 1775-1775). Died as an infant.
10. Nathan Boone, (March 3, 1781-1856). Married Olive Van Bibber.

Family note: Daniel’s brother, Israel Boone, died of consumption in 1756. His sons Jesse Boone and Jonathan Boone, Sr. then lived with their uncle and aunt Daniel and Rebecca Boone.

Daniel Boone died on September 26, 1820 in Nathan Boone's house, Defiance, Femme Osage Creek, St. Charles County, Missouri, from natural causes or indigestion and was buried on September 28, 1820 in Old Bryan Farm Graveyard, near Marthasville, Warren County, Missouri, He was possibly later reinterred at Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, Kentucky, on Sept. 13, 1845, but they may have reburied the wrong person.

Biography

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Boone
Retrieved 22 December 2023

Daniel Boone (October 22, 1734 – September 26, 1820) was a legendary American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman. His notable achievements in exploring and settling the Commonwealth of Kentucky, beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies, made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States.

Boone's journey into the wilderness began in 1778 when he blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap, establishing Boonesborough, Kentucky, one of the first English-speaking settlements west of the Appalachians. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 European settlers followed Boone's route to Kentucky.

During the Revolutionary War, Boone served as a militia officer, facing challenges from both British-aided Native Americans and British forces. He was captured by Shawnee Indians in 1778 but later returned to defend European settlements.

After the war, Boone worked as a surveyor and merchant, facing financial struggles due to land speculation in Kentucky. Frustrated, he moved to eastern Missouri in 1799, spending the last two decades of his life there.

Boone's adventures were immortalized in 1784, making him famous in America and Europe. Despite his real and legendary exploits, Boone remains an iconic figure in American history, shaping the archetypal Western hero.

Youth

Born on October 22, 1734, Boone was the sixth of eleven children in a Quaker family. Raised on the Pennsylvania frontier, he received his first rifle at 12 and developed hunting skills from both Europeans and American Indians. Boone's family faced controversy within the Quaker community, leading them to move to North Carolina in 1750.

Lacking formal education, Boone became an adept hunter and skilled outdoorsman. His adventures, often embellished, contributed to the popular image of the American frontiersman.

Hunter, Husband, and Soldier

Boone served in the French and Indian War, marrying Rebecca Bryan in 1756. Conflicts with Cherokee Indians and long hunting expeditions characterized his early years. Boone's reputation as a frontiersman grew, marked by inscriptions and tales of his hunting prowess.

Kentucky

Boone's fascination with Kentucky began in 1767. In 1769, he embarked on a two-year hunting expedition, and in 1773, he led a group to establish the first British settlement in Kentucky. The massacre of his son James during this endeavor marked a tragic turn.

American Revolution

During the Revolutionary War, violence in Kentucky escalated. Boone's daughter Jemima's capture by Indians in 1776 became a celebrated event in his life. In 1778, Boone was captured by Shawnees, adopted into their tribe, and later escaped to warn Boonesborough of an impending attack.

From Colin Woodard’s review of “The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America.” by Matthew Pearl Harper, 288 pp (2021) in The Washington Monthly (November 7, 2021) < link >

Pearl’s book shows the real Daniel Boone to have indeed been a brave and exceptionally skillful frontiersman who played a pivotal role in the initial colonization of Kentucky and its defense during the American Revolution. But he was also highly sympathetic to the Shawnee and Cherokee he sometimes fought against, having been adopted into a Shawnee chief’s family, where he learned their language, forged genuine emotional ties, and felt a degree of conflicted loyalties. As a fierce fighter who was raised by Quakers and a colonizer with deep ties to those whom westward expansion subjugated, Boone is as full of contradictions as the state he is most associated with. Kentucky in the 1770s was more than just a battleground between “American” settlers and British-backed tribal peoples; it was a world where cultures sometimes blended, where adult captives adopted into Shawnee families willingly and passionately “went native,” and where, for a brief time during a terrible conflict, a vision of a shared world on Indigenous terms was imagined and entertained.

Businessman on the Ohio

Post-war, Boone faced financial troubles in Kentucky. Moving to Limestone (Maysville), he engaged in various ventures, including land speculation. Financial setbacks led him to Point Pleasant, Virginia, in 1788, where he continued trading and surveying.

Missouri

In 1799, Boone moved to Missouri under Spanish rule, serving as a syndic and commandant. When Missouri became part of the United States in 1804, his land claims were lost again. Boone's final years were spent hunting and trapping, and he passed away in 1820.

Commemoration and portrayals

Boone's adventures, real and mythical, formed the basis of the archetypal hero of the American West, popular in 19th-century novels and 20th-century films. The main character of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, the first of which was published in 1823, bore striking similarities to Boone; even his name, Nathaniel Bumppo, echoed Daniel Boone's name. As mentioned above, The Last of the Mohicans (1826), Cooper's second Leatherstocking novel, featured a fictionalized version of Boone's rescue of his daughter. After Cooper, other writers developed the Western hero, an iconic figure which began as a variation of Daniel Boone.

Boone's legacy endures, embodying the spirit of the American frontier and contributing to the creation of the archetypal Western hero.

Origins

Squire Boone and Sarah Morgan, married in 1720, were the parents of 12 children:

1. Nathaniel Boone (1722 - 1723)
2. Sarah Boone Wilcockson (1724 - 1815)
3. Israel Boone (1726 - 1756)
4. Samuel Boone (1728 - 1808)
5. Jonathan Boone (1730 - 1808)
6. Elizabeth Boone Grant (1733 - 1814)
7. Daniel Boone (1734 - 1820)
8. George W Boone (1736 - 1820)
9. Mary Boone Bryan (1736 - 1819)
10. Edward Boone (1740 - 1780)
11. Squire Boone (1744 - 1815)
12. Hannah Boone Stewart Pennington (1746 - 1828)

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References

• “A Word About Boone Artifacts, Books, Documents and Genealogy”. The Boone Society. < PDF >; (document attached).
• go to the “Timeline” tab, Bibliography event, for works consulted
• go to the “Media” tab Documents Associated With Col. Daniel Boone, for sources cited
• Wikipedia Editors. "Daniel Boone", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/. (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daniel_Boone&oldid=80856... : accessed 3 November 2017).
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5339/daniel-boone
• https://boonesociety.org/
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Boone-34
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Boone