THE LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE

(1734-1820)



[A number of additional Entries will be added later]


1734:  The birth of Daniel Boone on Oct 22, the sixth child of Squire and Sarah Morgan Boone.  He was born in a region called Oley, in Philadelphia County (now Berks County), Pennsylvania, approximately six miles east of present Reading, Pennsylvania.   Daniel’s birth was two years after the birth of George Washington and nine years before the birth of Thomas Jefferson, all three became famous and all three knew each other personally.


1739:  Rebecca Bryan, the future wife of Daniel Boone was born Jan 9th.  She was the daughter of Joseph Bryan.   Her mother’s name is not known but has been stated without proof as Hester Simpson.  Her mother died shortly after Rebecca was born.


1748:  The grandparents of Rebecca Bryan, Morgan and Martha (Strode) Bryan, moved with their grown family from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, to the backwoods of Rowan/Davie county in the west-central part of North Carolina, just above the forks of the Yadkin River.  Rebecca’s father remained in Virginia.


1750:  The Boones left Pennsylvania, visiting along the way while traveling through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, on their way south to the forks of the Yadkin River in the western back country of North Carolina.


1755:  Daniel Boone served as a teamster, driving supplies by wagon for the North Carolina militia.  North Carolina Governor Arthur Dobbs' son Edward Brice Dobbs led the unit of militia in support of General Edward Braddock’s unsuccessful attempt to take Fort Duquesne from the French.  The fort was located at present Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


1756:  Daniel Boone married Rebecca Bryan Aug 14th.


1757:  James, the first of Daniel and Rebecca’s children was born May 3rd.


1759:  Israel, the second child of Daniel and Rebecca was born Jan 25th.


1760:  Susannah, the third child of Daniel and Rebecca was born Nov 20th.


1762:  Jemima, the fourth child of Daniel and Rebecca was born Oct 4th.


1766:  Levina, the fifth child of Daniel and Rebecca was born March 23rd.


1768:  Rebecca, the sixth child of Daniel and Rebecca was born May 26th.


1769:  Boone blazed the first known trail from North Carolina into eastern Tennessee, on his way to Kentucky with five other men, including his brother-in-law John Stewart, to hunt and explore in Kentucky.  He would remain two years in Kentucky before returning home.


1769:  Daniel Morgan Boone, the seventh child of Daniel and Rebecca was born Dec 23rd.


1769:  Daniel and his brother-in-law John Stewart were captured twice by Indians, being set free the first time, and escaping the second time.


1770:  John Stewart disappeared while hunting.  Five years later his body was found in a hollow tree where he had hid after begin shot by Indians.   Daniel’s brother Squire had arrived in Kentucky with a friend Alexander Neely.  Squire had brought ammunition and other supplies, and after hunting for a time with Daniel, returned to home with the furs that had been obtained.  He returned later to Daniel with additional supplies.


1771:  Daniel and Squire returned home from Kentucky.


1773:  Jesse, the eighth child of Daniel and Rebecca was born May 23rd.


1773:  Daniel and friends, including Colonel William Russell, made the first attempt to settle Kentucky. Indians attacked part of the party, killing the Boone's son James and five other men, and as a result the party returned to the settlements.


1774:  Lord Dunmore’s War broke out at the Battle of Point Pleasant.  Daniel was commissioned a Lieutenant and then a Captain, and put in charge of three forts along the Clinch River in southwest Virginia.


1775:  Boone’s daughter Susannah married Captain William Hays.


1775:  Daniel led the cutting of the Wilderness Trail from Tennessee to site of Fort Boonesborough along the Kentucky River. The Wilderness Trail became the main route used for white settlement in Kentucky.


1775:  William, the ninth child of Daniel and Rebecca was born June 20th, however he died soon afterwards.


1775:  Daniel moved his family to Fort Boonesborough.


1776:  Daughter Jemima was captured by Indians with two other girls, Betsy and Fanny Callaway, and was rescued two days later, mainly through Daniel’s knowledge of the wilderness and his understanding of the ways of Indians.


1777:  Daughter Jemima married Flanders Callaway.


1777:  Daniel Boone was commissioned a captain in the Virginia Militia


1777:  Boonesborough was attacked by Shawnee warriors, and during the attack Daniel was wounded in the ankle.


1778:  Daniel Boone was captured by the Shawnee and adopted by Chief Blackfish. Boone escaped after five months with the Shawnee.


1778:  Fort Boonesborough was successfully defended by its occupants during a major Indian attack and a nine day siege.  Daniel played the lead role in the defense.


1778:  After Daniel Boone’s capture by Indians, Rebecca thinking him as possibly having been killed, left Fort Boonesborough to go live with her family back in North Carolina.


1779:  After his escape, and subsequent defense during he siege of Fort Boonesborough, Daniel went to North Carolina to retrieve his family.  Upon their return he established a new fort called Boone’s Station near what is now Athens, Kentucky.


1781:  Nathan, the tenth and last child of Daniel and Rebecca was born March 3rd.


1781:  Daniel was elected as a member of the Virginia legislature.


1782:  Daniel fought in the Battle of Blue Licks, after militia units from the other forts and stations arrived at Bryan’s Station.  The Indians had put Bryan’s Station under siege, and had left prior to the arrival of the militia units.  The militia units tracked the Indians to the Blue Licks, where the Indians caught them in an ambush.  Daniel and Rebecca’s son Israel was killed during the battle.


1787:  Daniel was again elected to be a member of the Virginia legislature.


1791:  Daniel was elected for a third time to the Virginia legislature.


1795:  After living a few years at or near Point Pleasant in present West Virginia, Daniel and his family returned to live in Kentucky.


1797: Son Daniel Morgan Boone traveled to the eastern Missouri River region (present Missouri) of Spanish Louisiana, where he hunted and trapped and looked over the land for possible settlement.  He met with Don Zenon Trudeau, the Lieutenant Governor of the Spanish Territory, and took out a Spanish Land Grant for himself.  Trudeau sent an invitation along with Daniel Morgan Boone for his father to come to settle in Spanish Louisiana.


1798:  Daniel had been losing most of his property in Kentucky.  While Kentucky was earlier part of Virginia, the Virginia legislature had accommodated influential land grabbers by enacting laws that resulted in land taxes and revisions to the survey laws.  The result was that Daniel had to sell some of his land for taxes while the rest was taken away through disputed land claims.


1799:  Daniel Boone and his family and some friends moved from Kentucky to Spanish Louisiana, where they all received Spanish Land Grants.  Daniel received a Spanish Land Grant for 1000 arpents, equivalent to 850 acres.


1800:  Daniel was appointed as one of the seven Spanish Commandants, a role that included being the civil administrator, military commander, and syndic (judge for civil disagreements).  As commandant he was given his own district of Femme Osage.


1800:  The Spanish transferred Spanish Louisiana to the French in a secret treaty, however the administration of the province remained the same as under the Spanish.


1813:  Rebecca Boone died at daughter Jemima Boone Callaway's home near the village of Charette (near present day Marthasville).   She was buried in the Bryan Cemetery nearby.


1820:  Daniel Boone died at the stone house of his son Nathan, near Defiance. The stone house still stands and is open to the public.