Daniel Boone Case

Daniel Boone was born on October 22, 1734 and later died on September 26, 1820. Daniel was born to Quaker parents and grew up on the edge of a settlement in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Daniel, son of Squire Boone, grew up surrounded by many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Living in a large family such as this, he gained the pacifism and serenity of the Quakers.

Boone had little formal education, but he did learn the skills of a woodsman early in life. After Squire purchased 20 miles of grazing land, his mother would watch over the cattle while Daniel roamed the surrounding forest, learning to handle his rifle and move quietly through the trees. By age 12 his sharp hunter's eye and skill with a rifle helped keep his family well provided with wild game.

After his father was expelled from the Friends community in 1747, the family decided to move into the Great valley of Virginia in search of new lands. In 1751 the Boones finally settled in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. This is where Squire Boone lived till death. In 1756 Boone married Rebecca Bryan, a pioneer woman with great courage and patience. Rebecca and Danielle produced 10 children. One son died in infancy; Indians killed two. The other children lived to marry and have children and grandchildren. He spent most of the next ten years hunting and farming to feed his family.

First move of the Boone's married life came in 1759 when the Cherokee Indians began harassing communities in the western part of North Carolina. They moved to Culpepper, Virginia, where Daniel worked as a blacksmith and other jobs till the Indians cooled down. In 1762 the family returned to Yadkin Valley.

While they lived in Culpepper, Daniel began his explorations in the western part of North Carolina. Now known as the state of Tennessee. Here, he came across Warriors' Path and returned back to Yadkin in 1762. He tried to be just the farmer of the family again, but he got himself in a heap of trouble with debt and almost thrown in debtors' prison. His good friend Richard Henderson, a lawyer, attempted, usually with little success, to keep him out of debtors prison. The friendship they had soon lead to the settlement of Boonesborough and the founding of the state of Kentucky.

Fourteen years after Rebecca and Daniel married, an old trader and friend, John Findley, visited Boones cabin. Findley was looking for an overland route to Kentucky and needed a skilled woodsman to guide him. It was the first day of May in 1769. Daniel Boone left his home on the Yadkin River in North Carolina on his quest to discover the country of Kentucky. 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. By 1776 other families had joined Boone at Boonesborough, with the presence of women and children. The settlement began to take on a look of permanence.

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 from their canoe and started for the Ohio country. Two days later Boone and Richard Calloway 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