Daniel Boone was one of the most prominent frontiersmen who dared to explore the West across the Appalachian Mountains and establish places where families like his can settle in. But what do we know about his family's connections to Gwynedd? What connections does his father had with the township before settling in Berks County?
A Brief Biography of Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was born on November 2 in a one-room log house in Berks County, PA near Reading. Throughout his childhood, he spent his time wandering in the woods where he would someday go exploring through the frontiers of the United States.
Fun Fact #1 : He was gifted a rifle at age 12, and became a skilled marksman.
In 1748, his family moved to the Yadkin Valley of the North Carolina Frontier. Daniel joined the North Carolina militia during the French and Indian War. He then met John Findley who introduced him to a wilderness place called "Kentucke," west of the Appalachian Mountains. John Findley even came along with him.
He left for Kentucky in 1767 by going through the Cumberland Gap. David continued going back and forth to Kentucky with longer routes that would help open a trail for future pioneers. During those trips Shawnee Indians confronted him, warning him to not return to the area. But when he returned to Kentucky with his family and other immigrants in 1773, the Indians (Delaware, Shawnee, and Cherokee) began to attack them, including Daniel's eldest son James who was killed on that day. While his family and the immigrants flee back to North Carolina, Daniel notified the surveyors of Kentucky about the incident, and it lead to the Lord Dunmore's War of 1774.
After the Virginians' victory, the Indians gave up their land in Kentucky, leading Daniel to paw the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap. He then established Boonesborough where he brought his family back to live with him.
NOTE: You can view the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail here!
The Boone Family and the Gwynedd Connection
Daniel's father Squire Boone (1696-1765) and his family hoped to come to the New World where William Penn already established a colony that is now Pennsylvania. Since there were limitations with communications to and from the New World, the father George Boone (1666-1744) sent his older children (George, Sarah, and Squire) to the New World as proprietors to inspect the area. After reporting the area to the rest of the family, they all packed their things to sail to the New World while Sarah and Squire await their arrival.
The Boone family settled in Philadelphia county where it was at the time a small village, but they all dispersed to different areas in Pennsylvania including Berks County.
Squire Boone married Sarah Morgan on July 23, 1720 at the Gwynedd Friends Meeting. They were one of the early settlers in Gwynedd, and live in the area for a short time through possibly renting land. Living with a small income, it took them 10 years to purchase a farm of their own.
A description of Squire was mentioned by a descendant:
"Squire Boone was a man of rather small stature fair complexion, red hair, and gray eyes; while his wife was a woman something over the common size, strong and active, with black hair and eyes, and raised in the Quaker order."
- Squire Boone descendant
Towards the end of 1730, Squire obtained 250 acres of land near the Exeter Friends Meeting House and his father's land in Oley Township where a log house was built and where Daniel Boone's life began.
His brother James Boone (1709-1785) married Mary Foulke (1714-1756), a direct descendant of Gwynedd settler Edward Foulke. Her family originally lived in Gwynedd until moving to Richland, PA. They married in 1735 at the Exeter Friends Meeting and settled in Oley township where they raised their family.
Fun Fact #2: James and Mary's daughter Ann married Abraham Lincoln, the half-brother of John Lincoln of Rockingham County, Virginia. John was the great-grandfather of 16th President Abraham Lincoln. His homestead in Virginia is still standing today!
Bibliography
"Daniel Boone." History. Last modified December 6, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/daniel-boone.
"Historic Homes Trail Virtual Links And Recorded Programs." Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation. Accessed June 30, 2023. https://www.paheritage.org/resources/historic-homes-trail-daniel-boone.html.
Lea, J. Henry and J.R. Hutchinson. The Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1909): 75-76, 102-103.
"Lincoln and Boone." Ambler Gazette. April 1, 1909. Page 2. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_5293.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold. Daniel Boone. (New York: D. Appleton Company, 1903: 1-6.