Nathan Boone
"A worthy son of Daniel Boone of Kentucky".... a fellow Army officer Nathan Boone was born 2 March 1781 at Boone's Station in Fayette County, Kentucky. He was the last child of Daniel and Rebecca, born when Rebecca was about 42 years old and Daniel 47. We probably know more about Nathan than any of the other children. He gave interviews to Lyman Draper, his military records have been preserved, and because he was a well known and highly respected soldier, others have left accounts of having known him or served with him. Nathan started to Missouri with his parents and the others in 1799 but along the way, decided to go back to Kentucky and marry the girl he had left behind. He traveled alone back to Limestone (Maysville) where he got a marriage license. He went from there to the area of the Little Sandy in eastern Kentucky where his sweetheart lived with her mother. On 26 September 1799, Nathan married Olive Van Bibber, daughter of Peter Van Bibber of Virginia. Olive Boone told of how she and Nathan left Kentucky on the first day of October, 1799, with two ponies and a packhorse, headed to their new home in Missouri. They arrived in St. Louis at the end of October. When they arrived in St. Louis Nathan was offered 80 acres of land in the city for one of his ponies. He laughed and told them that he would not give them a pony for the whole town. They continued on to St. Charles County, crossing the Missouri River in a small skiff, where they joined Nathan's parents and brothers and sisters who were already there by that time. Nathan was 18 years old and Olive was 16. Nathan received a land grant near the site of his father's and brothers, however he sold that land and later traded a horse and bridle to Mr. Robert Hall for 680 acres of land in the Femme Osage valley. Here about 1803 he set about building a fine stone house. It is said that his father, helped in the building. Daniel Boone was, by this time, getting too old for a lot of physical labor but he almost certainly advised and helped as much as possible. While the stone house was being built from limestone rock quaried on the property, Nathan and Olive, Daniel and Rebecca, lived in a small log house constructed nearby. It took 7 years to complete the stone house. The walls are a massive 2 and 1/2 feet thick in some places. Gun portals were built into the walls for defense. We have no record that they were ever needed. Here Nathan and Olive raised 14 children. Here too Daniel Boone died on 26 September 1820. Daniel and Rebecca probably considered themselves retired when they moved to Missouri. In those days, parents in their old age lived with their children and children considered it their responsibility to take care of their parents. Daniel and Rebecca took turns living with their children, Daniel Morgan Boone, Jesse Bryan Boone, Jemima Boone Callaway, and Nathan Boone. Because Daniel spent a lot of time at the Femme Osage home of Nathan and Olive Boone, it is now called "The Daniel Boone Home" but it was in fact Nathan's home. Nathan Boone helped survey the Boone's Lick Road through Warren County into Howard County, Missouri. He helped build blockhouses for defense of the frontier and organized a troop of mounted rangers, that are still known as "Nathan Boone's Rangers." When the War of 1812 began he received a commission as a Captain, then in 1813 he became Major of The Missouri Mounted Rangers. In 1812 he served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He fought in the Black Hawk War in 1832. In 1847 he became a Major of The 1st Regiment of Dragoons and in 1850 he was a Lt. Colonel of The 2nd Regiment of Dragoons. He retired from military service on 15 July 1853. As an officer in the military, Nathan often traveled far from home, gone for many months at a time. Olive was an extraordinary manager. She raised their children and ran the farm, even building a stone fireplace once with only a young servant girl to help. One of the children (Delinda) once stated that they 'knew what it was like to be rich and knew what it was like to be poor.' Most of the time they were poor but for a period of time they lived very comfortably in the big stone house which was said to be the finest house in the territory at the time. Nathan sold the Femme Osage property with the big stone house on 24 January 1837 and moved to Greene County, Missouri, to an area he named Ash Grove, located near Springfield, Missouri. He built a double log home and he and Olive lived there the remainder of their lives. Photos of the Ash Grove farm and house Nathan Boone died on 16 October 1856 and was buried on his Ash Grove farm. He was 76 years old and the last living child of Daniel Boone. Nathan's wife, Olive, died 12 November 1858 at the age of 75 and was buried beside him. Also buried there are two of their grandsons, Walter and Henry Boone, who drowned trying to save each other when they were approximately 10 and 11 years old. The large stone house of Nathan and Olive Boone is open to the public. Lindenwood University now has custody and they are doing a good job of preservation, as well as attempting to correct a lot of misconceptions and falsehoods, in an effort to present the true and correct story of the life of Daniel Boone and his exceptional family. The Ash Grove farm is presently being restored and is now a Missouri State Park known as "The Nathan BooneHomestead." Once a year Boone descendants gather at the farm for an annual event called The Nathan Boone Rendezvous. I hope to be adding much to this section on Nathan and Olive, as well as many pictures that I hope you will enjoy. Their story is one of my favorites and the Femme Osage farm is one of my favorite places as I feel a strong family attachment there. The Children Of Nathan & Olive (Van Bibber) Boone were: [Click hyperlinked names for more information or to follow the line] 1. James Boone was born 3 July 1800 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Polly Allen of St. Charles County, Missouri. They had one son that I know of. 2. Delinda Boone, born 3 February 1802 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Reverand James Craig on 29 April 1819 at Femme Osage in St. Charles County, Missouri (most likely at her father's home). [Rev. Craig preached the funeral of Daniel Boone.] They had about 16 children. Delinda died at the age of 75 on 18 September 1877 in Hanover, Illinois, where they settled before 1829. She is buried there. 3. Jemima Boone, born 17 March 1804 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Henry Zumwalt and had 11 children. They settled in Greene County, Missouri but later moved to Texas. In the 1870 Grayson County, Texas census, Jemima was living with her daughter. She died at the age of 73 in 1877 in Texas. 4. Susannah (Susan) Boone, born 8 March 1806 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Joseph Van Bibber of Virginia (now West Virginia) on 18 March 1827 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Susan and her husband died in Randolph County, Arkansas, where they moved about 1842. 5. Nancy Boone, born 4 March 1808 in St. Charles County, Missouri, died 22 October 1835. I believe she is buried in Greene County, Missouri but some have said she was buried in St. Charles County. She was apparantly unmarried. (Looking for information on her burial place.) 6. Emilia "Mela" Boone, born 22 September 1810 in St. Charles County, Missouri, possibly died as a small child. Her burial location is unknown but is probably in the Femme Osage Valley where the family lived at the time, however some have said she is buried near Ash Grove in Greene County, Missouri - if that is true she must have lived to adulthood. (More information appreciated.) 7. Olive Boone, born 18 March 1812 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Phil Anthony. [note; There is evidence that the couple moved to Arkansas and that Olive died near Little Rock at the age of 24 (abt 1837), leaving 2 sons who were raised by the Anthonys. Further information appreciated.] 8. Benjamin Howard Boone, born 15 March 1814 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Mary E. Stallard, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Johnson) Stallard in St. Charles County, Missouri on 12 March 1840. They had 6 children. Benjamin inherited his parents' Ash Grove farm after his mother's death. He died 7 February 1866 at Defiance in St. Charles County, Missouri. He is buried at nearby Pleasant Hill. Benjamin was a Confederate soldier of the Civil War. 9. John Coulter Boone, born 13 May 1816 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married 1st to Mary Wardlaw, daughter of Hugh Wardlaw of St. Charles County, Missouri. Married 2nd at Enterprise, Benton County, Arkansas, to Nancy Bryson McQuarry of Noel, Missouri. John had 5 or 6 children. It is believed that he died in Arkansas or California in the early 1900s. 10. Levica Boone, born 17 June 1818 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married William Cawlfield. They had at least 7 children. She died at age 36 on 24 July 1854. Levica and her family lived in Ash Grove, Greene County, Missouri. The two of them are buried there in the Cawlfield Family Cemetery. 11. Melcina Boone, born 15 April 1820 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married 1st to James Howard Married 2nd to Franklin T. Frazier. There were 4 children. Melcina died 16 June 1900 in Greene County, Missouri and is buried there. 12. Mary C. Boone, 22 January 1822 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married to Alfred Hosman on 23 April 1841. They lived in Greene County, Missouri and had 13 children. Mary died 13 June 1915 at Ash Grove in Greene County. She was the last living child of Nathan Boone. 13. Sarah W. Boone, born 21 February 1824 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Winfield S.M. Wright in 1845 in Greene County, Missouri. They had 2 children before Sarah died in 1859 near Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California at the age of 35. Winfield Wright became one of the largest landowners in Sonoma County and died in 1892. They are both buried in Sonoma County. 14. Mahala S. Boone, born 24 September 1826 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Married Robert C. Prunty. They had one daughter. Mahala died in 1849 in Greene County, Missouri at the age of 23 and is buried there. Sources: "Boone Family" by Hazel Atterbury Spraker, 1922; "Some Boone Descendants & Kindred of the St. Charles District" by Lillian Hays Oliver, 1964; "Daniel Boone Lineage," Daniel Boone Home, Lindenwood University, St. Louis, Missouri, 2002; "My Father, Daniel Boone, The Draper Intervies with Nathan Boone," Neal O. Hammon, 1999.
| ||||||||||||
