Daniel Boone Homestead - Daniel Boone's Youth

Daniel Boone's Youth

Main Article Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone was born on October 22, 1734. Because the Gregorian calendar was adopted during Boone's lifetime, his birth date is sometimes given as November 2, 1734 (the "New Style" date), although Boone always used the October date. He was the sixth of eleven children in a family of Quakers. His father, Squire Boone (1696–1765), had immigrated to Pennsylvania from the small town of Bradninch, England in 1713. Squire Boone's parents George and Mary Boone followed their son to Pennsylvania in 1717, and in 1720 built a log cabin at Boonecroft. In 1720, Squire, who worked primarily as a weaver and a blacksmith, married Sarah Morgan (1700–1777), whose family members were Quakers from Wales.

Boone spent his early years on what was then the western edge of the Pennsylvania frontier. There were a number of American Indian villages nearby—the pacifist Pennsylvania Quakers generally had good relations with Indians—but the steady growth of the white population was compelling many Indians to relocate further west. Boone received his first rifle in 1749 and picked up hunting skills from local whites and Indians, beginning his lifelong love of hunting. Folk tales often emphasized Boone's skills as a hunter. In one story, the young Boone is hunting in the woods with some other boys. The scream of a panther scatters the boys, except for Boone, who calmly cocks his squirrel gun and shoots the animal through the heart just as it leaps at him. As with so many tales about Boone, the story may or may not be true, but it was told so often that it became part of the popular image of the man.