Daniel Morgan BOONE

  General Notes:

"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks."-Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone was born November 2, 1734 in a log cabin in Berks County, near present-day Reading, Pennsylvania. Boone is one of the most famous pioneers in United States history. He spent most of his life exploring and settling the American frontier.

Boone had little formal education, but he did learn the skills of a woodsman early in life. By age 12 his sharp hunter's eye and skill with a rifle helped keep his family well provided with wild game. In 1756 Boone married Rebecca Bryan, a pioneer woman with great courage and patience. He spent most of the next ten years hunting and farming to feed his family. In 1769 a trader and old friend, John Findley, visited Boone's cabin. Findley was looking for an overland route to Kentucky and needed a skilled woodsman to guide him. In 1769 Boone, Findley and five men traveled along wilderness trails and through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky. They found a "hunter's paradise" filled with buffalo, deer, wild turkey and meadows ideal for farming. Boone vowed to return with his family one day.

In 1775 Boone and 30 other woodsmen were hired to improve the trails between the Carolinas and the west. The resulting route reached into the heart of Kentucky and became known as the "Wilderness Road." That same year Boone built a fort and village called Boonesborough in Kentucky, and moved his family over the Wilderness Trail to their new home.

Boone had numerous encounters with the native people of Kentucky during the Revolutionary War. In 1776, Shawnee warriors kidnapped his daughter and two other girls. Two days later Boone caught up with the Indians and through surprise attack rescued the girls. In 1778, he was captured by another band of Shawnee. Boone learned that the tribe was planning an attack on Boonesborough. He negotiated a settlement with Chief Blackfish of the Shawnee, preventing the attack. The Indians admired their captive for his skill as a hunter and woodsman and adopted him into their tribe as a son of Blackfish. He escaped when he learned the Shawnee, at the instigation of the British, were planning another attach on Boonesborough. The settlement was reinforced and provisioned in preparation for the assault. When British soldiers and the Indians attacked, Boonesborough withstood a ten-day siege and Chief Blackfish and the British finally withdrew.

After the Revolutionary War, Boone worked as a surveyor along the Ohio River and settled for a time in Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia). In 1792, Kentucky was admitted into the Union as the 15th state. Litigation arose that questioned many settlers' title to their lands. Boone lost all his property due to lack of clear title. In 1799, he followed his son, Daniel Morgan Boone, to Missouri, which was, then under the dominion of Spain. Traveling by canoe, he and his family paddled down the Ohio River to St. Louis.

In 1800, Boone was appointed magistrate of the Femme Osage District in St. Charles County, Missouri. He received a large tract of land for his services. When Missouri was transferred to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase, Boone once again lost all his land, most of which was sold to satisfy creditors in Kentucky. Boone's wife Rebecca died on March 18, 1813. He spent his remaining years living in his son Nathan's home in the St. Charles area. He went on his final hunting trip at the age of 83.
Daniel Boone died on September 26, 1820 at the age of 85. In 1845 the remains of Boone and his wife were moved to Kentucky to rest in the great pioneer's "hunter's paradise."

The following is directly quoted from the History of Boone County, Missouri originally published in 1882. It is purported to be "written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources". Please note that some sections of the text uses the "unique spelling of the period" and is as originally published.

It is certainly not inappropriate, but quite the contrary that, as this county was called in honor of Daniel Boone, and for this reason will forever remain a perpetual memory of his life, a short biographical sketch of him should accompany its history.

In regard to his birth, name and death, controversies have arisen among historians and biographers. It is, perhaps, not a remarkable circumstance that doubts and differences exist in regard to the time of Daniel Boone's birth, and as to the orthography of his name, but that there should be any contrariety of statement touching so recent an event as his death, is a little singular.

1. His Birth: He was born in Exeter township, Bucks county, PA, according to Bogant, February 11, 1735; Hartley, same date; Peck, February, 1735; the family record in the handwriting of his Uncle James, July 14, 1732; Flint (who wrote in 1840), 1746; Bogart (who wrote in 1881), August 22, 1734; Switzler (who wrote in 1877), adopts, in his "History of Missouri", the date of James Boone's family record - July 14, 1732.

2. His Name: Was it Boone or Boon? Many of his descendants who, fifty years and more ago, lived in Missouri, for examples, William, Hampton L., Nestor and William C. Boon, and some of them who yet reside in the State, among whom is William C. Boon, of Jefferson City, omit the final "e". In consequence of this fact, perhaps, the early records of this county, as well as our first county seal, spelled it "Boon". And "Boon's Lick", as applied to the extensive region in Central Missouri known by that name, and in the name of the first newspaper ever published west of the Missouri river, at Franklin, in 1819, the "Missouri Intelligencer and Boon's Lick Advertiser", it is spelled without the "e". Nevertheless, the act of the Legislature organizing Boone county, November 16, 1820; the Franklin, Mo., Intelligencer of 1819, and Lewis C. Beck's Gazetteer of Missouri, 1823, when speaking of the county add the final "e". Yet there is higher authority than either of these for the "e", viz.: Daniel Boone himself, for he thus spelled his name. We have before us now, through the courtesy of Col. Thomas E. Tutt, of St. Louis, a lithographic copy of a letter from Boone addressed to Col. William Christian, of Kentucky, - called "Cristen" in the letter - dated August 23, 1785, and concluding, "you will oblyge your omble sarvent", to which he signs his name as "Daniel Boone". The original letter is now in the possession of Thomas W. Bullet, of Louisville, Ky., who is a grandson of Col. Christian. In the museum of the Louisville, Ky., Public Library there is a genuine autograph letter of Boone dated "Grate Conhoway July the 30th 1789", and addressed to "Col. Hartt & Rochester", which is subscribed as follows: "I am Sir With Respect your very omble Sarvent Daniel Boone". (See letter of Prof. P.A. Towne in the Courier-Journal, 1876). In a letter J.E. Paton, Circuit Clerk of Bourbon county, Ky., written at Paris Ky., December 20, 1876, to the Cincinnati Enquirer, he says there are in his office a number of the genuine signatures of Boone with the final "e". In Collins' "History of Kentucky", Vol. II, page 61, there is a fac simile of a letter of Boone, which, in 1846, was in possession of Joseph B. Boyd, of Maysville, and addressed to "Judge John Cobren, Sant Lewis", dated October 5, 1809, that concludes, "I am Deer Sir youres Daniel Boone". These authorities settle the question beyond cavil.

3. His Life: His father, Squire Boone, came from England, and took up his residence in a frontier settlement in Pennsylvania, where Daniel received the merest rudiments of education, but became thoroughly familiar with the arts and hardships of pioneer life. When he was 18 years old the family moved to the banks of the river Yadkin, in North Carolina, where he married Rebecca Bryan, and passed some years as a farmer. He made several hunting excursions into the wilderness, and finally, in 1769, set out with five others to explore the border region of Kentucky. They halted on Red river, a branch of the Kentucky, where they hunted for several months. In December, 1769, Boone and a companion named Stewart were captured by the Indians, but escaped, and Boone was soon after joined by his brother. They were captured again, and Stewart was killed; but Boone escaped, and his brother going shortly after to North Carolina, he was left alone for several weeks in the wilderness, with only his rifle for means of support.

He was rejoined by his brother, and they continued their explorations till March, 1771, when they returned home with the spoils which they had collected. In 1773 he sold his farm and set out with his family and two brothers, and five other families, to make his home in Kentucky. They were intercepted by Indians and forced to retreat to Clinch river, near the border of Virginia, where they remained for some time, Boone in the meanwhile conducting a party of surveyors into Kentucky for Patrick Henry, the Governor of Virginia. He was afterward appointed, with the commission of a captain, to command three garrisons on the Ohio, to keep back the hostile Indians, and in 1775 was employed to lay out lands in Kentucky for the Pennsylvania Company. He erected a stockade fort on the Kentucky river, which he called Boonsborough, which is now in Madison county, and removed his family to the new settlement, where he was again employed in command of a force to repel the Indians.

In 1778 he went to Blue Licks to obtain salt for the settlement, and was captured and taken to Detroit. His knowledge of the Indian character enabled him to gain favor with his captors, and he was adopted into one of their families. Discovering a plan laid by the British for an Indian attack upon Boonsborough, he contrived to escape, and set out for the Kentucky settlement, which he reached in less than five days. His family, supposing that he was dead, had returned to North Carolina; but he at once put the garrison in order and successfully repelled the attack, which was soon made. He was court-martialed for surrendering his party at the Licks, and for endeavoring to make a treaty with the Indians before the attack on the fort; but, conducting his own defence, he was acquitted and promoted to the rank of major.
In 1780 he brought his family back to Boonsborough, and continued to live there till 1792. At that time Kentucky was admitted into the Union as a State, and much litigation arose about the titles of settlers to their lands. Boone, losing all his possessions for want of a clear title, retired in 1795 in disgust into the wilderness of Missouri, settling on the Femme Osage Creek, in St. Charles County. This region was then under the dominion of Spain, and he was appointed commander of the Femme Osage district, and received a large tract of land for his services, which he also lost subsequently because he failed to make his title good. His claim to another tract of land was confirmed by Congress in 1812, in consideration of his eminent public services.

The latter years of his life he spent in Missouri, with his son, Nathan Boone, near Marthasville, where he died September 26, 1820, aged eighty-six. The only original portrait of Boone in existence was painted by Mr. Chester Harding in 1820, and now hangs in the State-house at Frankfort, Kentucky. His remains were interred by the side of his wife's, who died March 18, 1813, near the village named, where they continued to repose until August, 1845, when they were removed for interment in the public cemetery at Frankfort.

The consent of the surviving relations of the deceased having been obtained, a commission was appointed under whose superintendence the removal was effected; and the 13th of September, 1845, was fixed upon as the time when the ashes of the venerable dead would be committed with fitting ceremonies to the place of their final repose. It was a day which will be long remembered in the history of Franklin County, Kentucky. The deep feeling excited by the occasion was evinced by the assembling of an immense concourse of citizens from all parts of the State; and the ceremonies were most imposing and impressive. A procession extending more than a mile in length accompanied the coffin to the grave. The hearse, decorated with evergreens and flowers, and drawn by four white horses, was placed in its assigned position in the line, accompanied, as pall-bearers, by the following distinguished pioneers, viz.: Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Scott; Gen. James Taylor, of Campbell; Capt. James Ward, of Mason; Gen. Robert B. McAfee and Peter Jordan, of Mercer; Walter Bullock, Esq., of Fayette; Capt. Thomas Joyes, of Louisville; Mr. London Sneed, of Franklin; Col. John Johnson, of the State of Ohio; Maj. E.E. Williams, of Kenton, and Col. William Boone, of Shelby. The procession was accompanied by several military companies and the members of the Masonic Fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in rich regalia. Arrived at the grave, the company was brought together in a beautiful hollow near the grove, ascending from the centre on every side. Here the funeral services were performed. The hymn was given out by Rev. Mr. Godell, of the Baptist Church; prayer by Bishop Soule, of the Methodist Episcopal Church; oration by the Hon. John J. Crittenden; closing prayer by the Rev. J.J. Bullock, of the Presbyterian Church, and benediction of the Eld. P.S. Fall, of the Christian Church. The coffins were then lowered into the graves. The spot where the graves are situated is as beautiful as nature and art combined can make it. It is designed to erect a monument on the place.

4. His Death: Timothy Flint, in his biography (1840), states that it occurred "in the year 1818, and in the eighty-fourth year of his age;" Hartley, on September 26, 1820, in his eighty-sixth year; Bogart, the same; Switzler, the same, except that his age was eighty-eight; and Chester Harding, who painted from life the celebrated portrait of him in June, 1820, and who fixes his age at ninety, also fixes his death as occuring in 1820. (See Harding's "Egotistigraphy", for a copy of which we are indebted to his son, Gen. James Harding, one of the Board of Railroad Commissioners for Missouri).

We have, however, recently met with higher authority than either of the above writers, and one that conclusively settles the date of his death. In the Franklin (Mo.) Intelligencer of Oct. 14, 1820, there is copied from the St. Louis Enquirer an obituary notice of Daniel Boone, the first paragraph of which is as follows:

DIED.-On the 26th ult. [Sep.] at Charette Village [which was on Femme Osage Creek, in St. Charles County, Mo.], in the ninetieth year of his age, the celebrated Col. DANIEL BOONE, discoverer and first settler of the State of Kentucky. This disposes of the question conclusively.

He died at the residence of his son, Maj. Nathan Boone, which was an old-style two-story house, the first of the kind erected west of the Missouri river, and it is yet standing. A good wood cut of it can be found in "Switzler's History of Missouri", page 180.

The obituary in the Enquirer also says that on the 28th September, Mr. Emmons, Senator from Saint Charles County, communicated the intelligence of his death to the Legislature, then in session in St. Charles, and that "both branches of that body, through respect to his memory, adjourned for the day, and passed a resolution to wear crape on the left arm for twenty days".

One of his sons, Jesse B. Boone, was at the time a member of the Legislature from the county of Montgomery.


More than any other man, Daniel Boone was responsible for the exploration and settlement of Kentucky. His grandfather came from England to America in 1717. His father was a weaver and blacksmith, and he raised livestock in the country near Reading, Pennsylvania. Daniel was born there on November 2, 1734.

If Daniel Boone was destined to become a man of the wild, an explorer of unmapped spaces, his boyhood was the perfect preparation. He came to know the friendly Indians in the forests, and early he was marking the habits of wild things and bringing them down with a crude whittled spear. When he was twelve his father gave him a rifle, and his career as a huntsman began.

When he was fifteen, the family moved to the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina, a trek that took over a year. At nineteen or twenty he left his family home with a military expedition in the French and Indian War. There he met John Finley, a hunter who had seen some of the western wilds, who told him stories that set him dreaming. But Boone was not quite ready to pursue the explorer's life. Back home on his father's farm he began courting a neighbor's daughter, Rebecca Bryan, and soon they were married.
In 1767 Boone traveled into the edge of Kentucky and camped for the winter at Salt Spring near Prestonsburg. But the least explored parts were still farther west, beyond the Cumberlands, and John Finley persuaded him to go on a great adventure.

On May 1, 1769, Boone, Finley, and four other men, started out. They passed Cumberland Gap and on the 7th of June, they set up camp at Station Camp creek. It was nearly two years before Boone returned home, and during that time he explored Kentucky as far west as the Falls of the Ohio, where Louisville is now. There was another visit to Kentucky in 1773, and in 1774 he built a cabin at Harrodsburg. On this trip, Boone followed the Kentucky River to its mouth.

Colonel Richard Henderson of the Transylvania Company hired Boone as his agent, and in March, 1775, Boone came again to the "Great Meadow" with a party of thirty settlers. They began to clear the Wilderness Road and by April they were establishing their settlement at Boonesborough.
Boone left the Bluegrass in 1788 and moved into what is now West Virginia. Ten years later he again heard the call of unknown country luring him, this time to the Missouri region. As his dug-out canoe passed Cincinnati, somebody asked why he was leaving Kentucky. "Too crowded" was his answer. He lived in Missouri the rest of his life, although he twice revisited Kentucky before he died at the age of 85.
He was buried beside his wife in Missouri. A quarter of a century later they were brought back to the Bluegrass and laid to rest in Frankfort's cemetery. There they rest, on a bluff above the river and town, on a "high, far-seeing place" like the ones he always climbed to see the land beyond...a monument to the new country in the wilderness which they had helped to explore and settle.
Story by Col. George M. Chinn, Director, Kentucky Historical Society

Note 1: Colonel Daniel Boone spent the winter of 1769-70, in a cave, on the waters of Shawanee, in Mercer county. A tree marked with his name, is yet standing near the head of the cave.

Note 2: In 1775, having been engaged as the agent of a Carolina trading company (as mentioned above) to establish a road by which colonists could reach Kentucky and settle there, he built a stockade and fort on the site of Boonesboro. The first group of settlers crossed the Cumberland Gap to Boonesboro by the road established by Boone, later called the "Wilderness Road". During the American Revolution the community suffered repeated attacks, and in 1778 Boone was taken captive by Indian raiders. The settlement, however, was eventually established as a permanent village.

Daniel married Rebecca BRYAN on 14 Aug 1756. (Rebecca BRYAN was born on 9 Jan 1739 in Winchester, Frederick Co., VA and died on 18 Mar 1813 in Hunting Creek, Rowan Co., NC.)