Daniel Boone

Origin of the Library's Name

  • Boone County was created in 1820 out of the territory of Howard in the area known as the "Boon’s Lick Country” from a salt spring worked by Daniel Boone’s sons. The Daniel Boone Regional Library was named when the regional library system formed in 1959. The name was suggested by a patron, Mrs. Ruby Hulen of Sturgeon. The library does not have any special archival material pertaining to the Boone family.

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Boone Biographies

  • Biography Resource Center
    Biographical information from many sources including the Dictionary of American Biography and the Encyclopedia of World Biography.
  • The State Historical Society of Missouri's Famous Missourians Explorers and Settlers
    The State Historical Society holds many resources that document and illustrate Missouri’s role in the period of Western Expansion.  The site has a full biography of Daniel Boone plus capsule biographies of his wife Rebecca and sons Daniel Morgan and Nathan Boone.
  • Chronology of his life
    From “Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer” by John Mack Faragher.
  • Daniel Boone’s Birthplace
    Information on the Boone family’s years in Pennsylvania and other links of interest provided by the Historical Society of Berks County.
  • Where is Daniel Boone buried?
    Boone died at his son’s home near Defiance, Missouri in 1820.  However Daniel Boone has two gravesites, one in Marthasville, Missouri and one in Frankfort, Kentucky.
  • Daniel Morgan Boone
    The first Boone to arrive in Missouri, Morgan and his brother Nathan opened up the salt-making operation or “salt-lick” near present day Boonville using the Boone Trace trail from the Salt Lick to the Boone Settlements near La Charette. The site has a map of the Boone’s Lick Trail which later developed along the same route.
  • Nathan Boone
    The youngest son of Daniel and Rebecca Boone worked as a surveyor and army guide, officer, interpreter and negotiator with the Indians.  His interviews with Lyman Draper are an important source of information on Daniel Boone and frontier life.

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Boones in Missouri

Historic Sites in Missouri Associated with the Boone family

  • Boone’s Lick State Historic Site
    Wood remnants of the salt works and an iron kettle are still visible at the site in present-day Howard County near Arrow Rock, Missouri.  More artifacts are on display at the Arrow Rock State Historic Site visitor center.
  • Historic Daniel Boone Home & Boonesfield Village– Defiance, MO
    Large stone house built by Boone’s youngest son Nathan Boone where Daniel Boone died on September 26, 1820.  Boonesfield Village comprises many 19th century buildings which have been moved from the local area.  The home & village are owned by Lindenwood University and tours are available to visitors and school trips.
  • Nathan Boone Homestead State Historic Site
    Later in life Nathan moved from the Femme Osage stone house to a log house near Ash Grove in Greene County.
  • Missouri Boone Sites
    A listing of sites in Missouri associated with the Boone Family posted on the Boone Society web site.
  • The Daniel Boone Historical Area of Missouri
    Click on “places to visit” for information on trails, historic site parks and Boone family related sites.
  • Boone Trail Historical Markers
    Erected by the Boone Trail Highway & Memorial Association to mark the westward route of Daniel Boone.  Eleven markers are located in Missouri; click on blue city/town link to find more information on this marker.
  • Two More Mormon Trails
    Article by Stanley B. Kimball, originally published in the Ensign, August 1979, about two trails one of which started as the Boonslick Trail. Originally a trace used by Indians and trappers it was extended by the Boones to Franklin, and then extended westward by William Becknell to Santa Fe.
  • Boonslick Trail Markers in Callaway County
  • Boone Settlement Area – St. Charles & Warren Counties
    Local map from the Boone Duden Historical Society covering southern St. Charles and Warren counties showing the site of Daniel and Rebecca Boone’s land grant in 1798, Missouriton, a town founded by the Boones and the Charette Village site. There is also a chronology of the early history of the area.

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Boone Family Genealogy

  • Daniel Boone and Frontier Families Research Association
    The Association’s mission is to “research, assemble, record and present” the story of Daniel Boone’s family & ancestry and “the history and genealogy of all the frontier families who lived in Missouri prior to 1820.”
  • DanielBooneFamily.org
    Focuses primarily on the direct descendants of Daniel & Rebecca Boone with links to their ancestry, homes etc.  Currently, the Missouri and other sections of the site are offline.
  • Boone Family History & Genealogy
    Five generations of Boones posted by a descendant.
  • Daniel Boone’s Descendants
    Detailed family ancestry of Daniel Boone posted by a descendant.
  • Nathan Boone Family
    Information on the descendants of Nathan Boone and their annual family reunion in Ash Grove (Ashgrove), Missouri.
  • House of Boone
    Follows the line of Edward Boone, Daniel Boone’s brother, compiled by a descendant.

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Related Sites

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Research & Resources

  • Western Historical Manuscript Collection
    Includes the Lyman Draper Collection and other documents pertaining to the Boone Family and frontier life.
  • Missouri Digital Heritage
    Browse the topic “Exploration and Settlement” or use the Search feature to search within collections.
  • Library of Congress American Memory
    Search under “Daniel Boone” to see document images of Daniel Boone’s Spanish Land Grant papers in the American State Papers and parts of journals, periodicals and other accounts of Boone’s adventures held by various libraries and repositories.                          
  • Diaries and Traveler’s Accounts of the West
    American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920 comprises “253 published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places and society” Click on alphabetical subject index for Missouri-Description & Travel or use keyword search.

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Books in the DBRL Collection

Other titles of interest
  • “Colton’s Traveler and Tourist’s Guide-book Through the Western States …” by J.H. Colton, Colton & Co., 1855
Copyright © 2009 Daniel Boone Regional Library