State

Daniel Boone Although liorn in Pennsylvania anil spend in;»' many years in the wilder¬ ness of Kentucky, lie never forgot North Carolina where he spent most of his boyhood days. FEW names appeal more to the imagination of the average in¬ dividual than that of Daniel Boone, the intrepid frontiersman whose early life was closely asso¬ ciated with North Carolina. While we have often tried to follow the career of the great hunter and outdoorsman, it seems that ever and anon some new and interesting event of his life is crop¬ ping up in connection with his spectacular roamings, his eventful days and ways. However, accord¬ ing to the general concensus, the true story of the life and career of Daniel Boone varies but little in detail wherever it is heard. Moved From Pennsylvania It was in 1750 that Daniel Boone came with his parents from Penn- Klvania to settle on the Yadkin ver. In this wilderness region, cut off from the social contacts he had been accustomed to cherish, the 16-year-old boy found surcease from a growing ennui by roaming the woods and streams. It was along the environs of the Yadkin River that Boone learned the ac¬ curate and first-hand knowledge of the ways of nature. He also learned here the life and manners of the Indians; things which served him well in the future he was to ex¬ perience. Though the par¬ ents of Daniel Boone virtually turned him loose in the great for¬ ests of Piedmont North Carolina, they were, unlike many other pioneer set¬ tlers, by no means illiterate. D a n i e l’s father. Judge Squire Boone, was one of the first justices in Rowan County, an infinite stretch of ter¬ ritory which extend¬ ed from the Yadkin River to the South Sea. From the origi¬ nal Rowan County. incidentally, more than 30 of the present counties of western North Carolina were carved. The position of judge in frontier days was one of great trust and importance. Settlers who filled this public position had to be men of probity, education and good judg¬ ment. In several instances the judgeship is known to have been filled after conferences with the king. The position is said to have been a lucrative one in pioneer days, carrying about the same pres¬ tige as a judge of the superior court today. While the Boone family is re¬ puted to have been regular com¬ municants of the Quaker Church of Pennsylvania, it is a matter of record that they founded and built a Baptist church on the Yadkin — "Boone’s Ford Baptist Church.” The site of this early place of re¬ ligious worship is known, being included in the present Davie County. Although Daniel Boone won his spurs as a soldier under the saga¬ cious fighter. Gen. Hugh Waddell. Daniel himself was a type-figure in American history. Even if he did serve as a wagoner and black¬ smith under Waddell in the French and Indian War, he had such comrades as George Washington, Thomas Sumpter and John Find¬ lay. The French and Indian War made a man of Daniel Boone. It was the expansion period fol¬ lowing this seven-year conflict of nations that cradled Boone on its bosom. He had been told many times around the camp fires in the Ohio country of the beautiful In¬ dian lands that lay to the west¬ ward. John Findlay, his informant, had been there. It is easy for us today, knowing Daniel Boone’s na¬ ture as we do, to realize with what avidity he listened to Findlay’s tales, often boastful and captious. Findlay had been where not one of his comrades had ventured — to Kaintuck. Off to the Wilderness Home from the war, Daniel Boone grew restive. He craved to visit the Indians’ "Kaintuck." So he turned his face westward across the great interspersing wilderness area, across the serrated and mys¬ tic mountains. Into this unknown land the nomadic Daniel pushed farther and farther, contented with the stern freedom of the frontiers. It was probably in 1763 that he made his first trip of exploration into the unbroken West for the Transylvania Company of North Carolina. It is a matter of record that he sold his property in Rowan County on February 21, 1764, con¬ sisting of a home and 40 acres and set out toward the sunset. The parents of the great Ameri¬ can explorer and colonizer are buried at historic Joppa Cemetery, near Mocksville. In order to pre¬ serve their gravestones from van¬ dals and hunters of souvenirs, the plain little soapstone markers have been enclosed in a framework of cement. Judge Squire Boone was born in 1696; died in 1765. Sarah, his wife, was born in 1700; died in 1777. The gravestone of Judge Boone is unique in that it has the word "the" spelled in three dif¬ ferent ways, and not once correctly. Although Daniel Boone wandered afar, strayed far from the house of his father, he never once forgot North Caro¬ lina. Records extant show that he often iCont. on page 20) The markers over the graves of Daniel Boone’s parents in Joppa churchyard, not far from Mocksville. 6 THE STATE. FEBRUARY IB. 1950