Draper Manuscripts: Daniel Boone Papers, 1760-1911
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Summary Information
Title: Draper Manuscripts: Daniel Boone Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1760-1911

Creators:
  • Boone, Daniel, 1734-1820
  • Draper, Lyman Copeland, 1815-1891
Call Number: Draper Mss C

Quantity: 5.6 cubic feet (33 volumes)

Repository:
Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:
Collection of original Daniel Boone manuscripts and correspondence and notes of Lyman C. Draper concerning Daniel Boone, other Kentucky pioneers, Indian-White conflict, and the American Revolution in the West.

Note:

Descriptions of the volumes are copied from the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts by Josephine Harper. Out of date and offensive language may be present.

This collection is also available as a microfilm publication.

Forms part of the Lyman Copeland Draper Manuscripts. The fifty series included in the Draper Manuscripts have been cataloged individually. See the Draper Manuscripts Overview, and the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts by Josephine Harper (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1983) for further information.

There is a restriction on use to this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.



Language: English, Catawba

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-draper00c
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Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of orginal Boone manuscripts and Lyman Draper's correspondence and genealogical and biographical notes concerning Daniel Boone, other Kentucky pioneers, Indian-White conflict, and the American Revolution in the West. There are also account books, diaries, interview notes, survey notebooks, articles, and clippings. Included is a Boone family genealogy by James Boone; discussion and numerous maps of Kentucky settlement and travel, including routes over the Blue Ridge mountains; and Kentucky and west Virginia pioneer biographies and genealogies, including material on William Russell, Thomas Teays (or Teass), Daniel Boone's brothers George and Squire and nephew Jesse, Christopher Gist, Marcus Bird, George Crawford, Peter Houston, John Stewart (or Stuart), Henry Miller, Alexander Neely, Matthias Van Bibber, Felix Walker, George Washington, and Simon Kenton.

Also present are accounts of Indian captivities, including those of the Boone and Callaway girls (1776), Daniel Boone and his salt workers (1778; including Joseph Jackson's 1778-1799 captivity), John Flinn's wife and children (1786), Rebecca Sharp, Benjamin Ulen, and Charles Beazley; accounts of Indian-White conflict, including battles at Powell's Valley (1773), Point Pleasant (1774; includes a map), Island Flats (Tennessee), Ft. Patrick Henry (Tennessee), Boonesborough (siege, 1778), John Bowman's expedition (1779), the killing of Edward Boone (1780), George Rogers Clark's 1780 and 1782 campaigns, with a muster roll for John Martin's Company (1781), Estill's defeat (1782; includes maps), Bryan's Station (siege, 1782; including an interview with witness Joseph Ficklin and maps), Blue Licks (1782; includes maps), Benjamin Logan's expedition (1786), Tacket's Fort (1790), Ft. Wayne (siege, 1812), and the War of 1812 in Missouri.

Also includes material on the Boone family in North Carolina, including Rowan County marriage, land transaction, and cemetery records; material on Daniel Boone's business and political careers, including Kentucky land suit depositions, land survey notebooks (1776, 1780-1797), account books (1774-1775, 1785, 1787-1801), a 1787 reprint of Boone's autobiography, an interview with Nathan Boone, material on Boone's first trip to Missouri (circa 1798) and his later life there; and a Kentucky State expense record, 1792.

Included too is correspondence of John Wade, 1861, concerning the Civil War; correspondence of Albert Gallatin Boone concerning Kit Carson; extracts from Thomas Walker’s diary, 1750 and 1775, concerning his journeys and those of the “Long Hunters”; a letter from Zachary Taylor, 1848, concerning his father's and uncle's travels in the Old Northwest and their settlement in Kentucky; William Cocke's narratives of discussion with Lord Dunmore in 1774 and 1775; material concerning Simon Girty, the Shawnee chiefs Black Fish and Black Hoof, Kentucky silver mining, and the Treaty of Wautauga; and a pamphlet by Thomas Bryant, “Bryant's Station and its founder William Bryant.”

Correspondents include Arthur Campbell, William Christian, Lord Dunmore, William Preston, William Russell, Daniel Smith, Richard Henderson, Charles Yancey, and M.W. Van Lear.

NOTE: Descriptions of the volumes in contents list are copied from the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts by Josephine Harper.

Administrative/Restriction Information
Use Restrictions

PHOTOCOPY RESTRICTION: Photocopying originals is not permitted; researchers may copy from the microfilm available in the Library.


Contents List
Draper Mss C/Micro 1034
Volume   1
Reel   3
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 1 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper's correspondence, 1846-1888, notes, and clippings pertaining to the ancestry of Daniel Boone. Included is an original manuscript genealogy written in 1788 by James Boone (1744-1795) and copies of Quaker meeting records in Pennsylvania relating to Boone family members and to the relationship between the Boone and Lincoln families.
Volume   2
Reel   3
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 2 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper correspondence and notes primarily concerning the Boone family's life in Pennsylvania and Daniel's first journeys to Virginia and North Carolina. Among the papers are three original manuscripts: a letter written by Thomas Bullitt to Evan Shelby (1761), a promissory note by John Boone to Myer Josephson (1771), and an undated eighteenth-century petition concerning a proposed division of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, signed by members of the Boone family and more than thirty other residents.
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Volume   3
Reel   3
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 3 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper correspondence and notes concerning an assortment of eighteenth-century men, events, and places known to Boone. Major topics discussed are routes over the Blue Ridge Mountains between 1759 and 1773, Thomas Colley and the Colley family, Christopher Gist, and Felix Walker. However, there are numerous incidental references to other sites and tree inscriptions associated with Boone, to Revolutionary battles-Black's Fort (1776), King's Mountain (1780), Guilford Court House (1781), James Estill's defeat (1782), and Blue Licks (1782)-and to members of the Patton, Preston, and Shelby families.
⇧
Volume   4
Reel   3
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 4 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper notes and correspondence pertaining primarily to early travel and settlement in Kentucky by Boone and others between 1769 and 1781, but also containing information on several Kentucky pioneers and their families: John, Russell, and William Bean; Hannah Boone (1746-1828), her first husband John Stewart (Stuart), and her descendants in the Lewis, Pennington, and Stewart (Stuart) families; and John Snoddy. Letters from members of the Bryan family discuss not only Bryan genealogy but also Boone's life in Missouri. Several original manuscripts include: Boone's account book listing receipts and expenditures for military service in 1774 and personal business transactions, October-November 1775, with Nathaniel Hart, Richard Henderson, Michael Stoner, and other Kentuckians; a letter dated September 7, 1776 written by Boone to William Preston; and a letter dated July 31, 1778, sent by Arthur Campbell to William Fleming, enclosing contemporary copies of statements by Boone and Richard Callaway attesting to the threat of Indian attack at Boonesborough.
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Volume   5
Reel   3
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 5 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper correspondence and notes on early western explorations from the sixteenth to late eighteenth centuries, with emphasis on the journeys of Dr. Thomas Walker and the men known as the Long Hunters. Of particular note are extracts from Walker's journal for the years 1750 and 1775 annotated by Draper and a long letter by Zachary Taylor, dated October 30, 1848, giving biographical information about his father and uncle, Richard and Hancock Taylor, and Abraham Hempingstall, with an account of their travels in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys in 1769 and of Richard Taylor's later settlement in Kentucky. Found in other letters are biographical or genealogical references to other Kentucky pioneers: James Dysart; John Finley (Findlay); Casper Mansco; William Miller (Millar); Thomas Mitchell; Ambrose Powell; Henry, Moses, Thomas, and William Skaggs; John Todd; Elisha and William Walden; and James Wood.
⇧
Volume   6
Reel   4
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 6 C
Scope and Content Note: Correspondence and memoranda pertaining to Boone's life in the years 1773-1774. Most of the papers relate to the Boone party's defeat, with the massacre of Boone's son James and William Russell's son Henry by Indian raiders in Powell's Valley, and to the topography of the areas where Boone stayed or intended to travel on this aborted trip to Kentucky in 1773-Fort Blackmore, the Clinch River, Walden's Creek, Powell's Valley, the Cumberland Mountains, and Cumberland Gap. The volume includes copies of a few letters, 1773-1775, written by Arthur Campbell, William Christian, Lord Dunmore, William Preston, William Russell, and Daniel Smith; reminiscences and letters on the settlement of western Virginia by descendants of William Russell; and letters on the massacre of Mrs. Fannie Napper and her children near Fort Blackmore in 1777. From Mrs. Tabitha Moore, Draper obtained a portion of a poem or ballad about the battle of Point Pleasant (1774) in which Mrs. Moore's father, William Bowen, had participated.
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Volume   7
Reel   4
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 7 C
Scope and Content Note: Mainly correspondence and notes on persons, places, and events associated with Boone in 1775-1776: Indian Old Fields in Kentucky, the Treaty of Watauga, the battle of Island Flats and Fort Patrick Henry in Tennessee, Thomas Teass (Teays) and the settlement of Teays Valley in Virginia (West Virginia), the Callaway family and the capture of the Boone and Callaway girls by Shawnee raiders in 1776. One original letter by Edward Mills (1776) mentions Indian depredations near Detroit and describes Kentucky as “the Garden of America.” A fragment of a narrative by William Cocke copied by Draper relates to Cocke's conversations with Lord Dunmore in 1774 and to border conditions in the following year. Copies of depositions in 1817-1818 by Boone, Flanders Callaway, John McIntyre, James Ray, Peter Scholl, and John Stephenson not only describe events in 1775-1776 but also include extensive reports on the killing of Edward Boone by Indians in 1780.
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Volume   8
Reel   4
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 8 C
Scope and Content Note: Notes, correspondence, and clippings about the Boone family in western North Carolina from 1766 to 1775. Major topics covered include: the settlement of the Boones in old Rowan County near the Yadkin River; traditions, geographical features, and historic sites associated with Boone in this region; Indian warfare in the area prior to the arrival of the Booties; Daniel's brother Jonathan (John) and his family; John and Philip “Indian Phil” Nail; records of Boone marriages and land transactions copied or excerpted from Rowan County records; and gravestone inscriptions for Squire Boone, his wife, and a few other early settlers copied from Old Joppa Cemetery.
⇧
Volume   9
Reel   4
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 9 C
Scope and Content Note: Additional notes and correspondence on the Boone family in North Carolina, 1766-1775. Subjects considered include: Boone's route through the Blue Ridge Mountains and other related physical features; camp sites and settlements associated with him, primarily in Watauga and Wilkes counties; and biographical information or references about numerous Boone relatives and companions-Jesse Boone, Benjamin Cutbirth, Susan Dula, Christopher Gist, Lewis Green, Benjamin Greer, Loudon (a Negro), Mrs. Mary McNealy, Peter Stonecifer, Isria (Israel) and Samuel Wilcoxen (Wilcox), and John Yates.
⇧
Volume   10
Reel   5
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 10 C
Scope and Content Note

Draper correspondence mainly on two topics: the origin and significance of the Yadkin River in North Carolina and possible routes through the mountains used by Daniel Boone in 1769 and later. Also found in this volume are notes on John and Julius Dugger and a description of a Boone inscription on a beech tree (1760). Two letters written by Louis B. Porlier (10 C 4-5) are unrelated to Boone but concern the Indian origin and meaning of the names Winnebago as applied to an Indian tribe and Winneconne given to a Wisconsin town.

Includes a document in Yadkin (Catawba language) (p. 14-19).
⇧
Volume   11
Reel   5
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 11 C
Scope and Content Note

Draper correspondence, interviews, and other notes relating to Boone's activities, 1777-1779, with emphasis on the capture of Boone and his group of salt makers by the Shawnee in February 1778, his subsequent escape, and the siege of Boonesborough in the following September. In 1844 Draper interviewed one survivor of the captured salt makers, Joseph Jackson, who remained with the Indians until 1799. From him, Draper obtained reminand his group of salt makers by the Shawnee in February, 1778, his subsequent escape, and the siege of Boonesborough in the following September. In 1844 Draper interviewed one survivor of the captured salt makers, Joseph Jackson, who remained with the Indians until 1799. From him, Draper obtained reminiscences not only about the capture of the Boone party but also about John Bowman's expedition (1779), George Rogers Clark's campaigns of 1780 and 1782, Benjamin Logan's expedition (1786), Simon Girty, and the Shawnee chiefs Black Fish and Black Hoof-all persons and events known or observed by Jackson during his residence with the Indians.

In numerous other instances the content of the papers ranges beyond the main theme or chronological period established for this volume. Thus references are found on the following additional topics: the captivity of the Boone and Callaway girls; Frank Cooper and his sons, Benjamin and Sarshall (Sarshel), and an Indian attack (1783) on the family of Mrs: Betty-Cooper Woods; Joseph Doniphan and the Doniphan family; Stephen, William, and Molly (Mrs. William) Hancock; Alexander McKinney; William Russell's services, civil and military; Boone's first trip to Missouri about 1798; and the War of 1812 in Missouri. Two original manuscripts include a deposition concerning James Peak's land claim signed by Boone in 1797 in Mason County, Kentucky, and a letter written in 1835 by John H. James to Mann Butler concerning Simon Kenton and the siege of Boonesborough.
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Volume   12
Reel   5
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 12 C
Scope and Content Note

Mainly interview notes taken by Draper during visits with Kentucky pioneers and their descendants, particularly in 1844, but interspersed are letters to Draper, bibliographical and biographical notes by him, and notes on an interview of James Ray by Mann Butler in 1833. Previously (and erroneously) labeled as papers on John Bowman's campaign of 1779, the volume in reality contains comparatively few references to that event, and these are widely scattered. In actual content the papers touch upon many aspects of Kentucky history from 1770 to the 1790s, including settlement, pioneer living and travel conditions, hunting bear and buffalo (bison), outlaws such as the notorious Harpe brothers, and Indian-white conflict.

Biographical or genealogical data are found for numerous persons: Joseph Ballinger, William Casey, Joseph Hamilton Daviess, Elijah Farris, John Haggin, James Harrod and his wife Ann, William Harrod, Benjamin Logan, Daniel McCormick, Samuel McDowell, Hugh McGary, John Martin, William Montgomery, George Murrell, James Ray, Jeremiah Vardeman, and William Whitley. Among the few copies of eighteenth-century documents are a roll listing members of John Martin's company in Clark's Wabash expedition in April-May, 1781, and a record of Kentucky state expenses in 1792.
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Volume   13
Reel   5
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 13 C
Scope and Content Note

Draper's notes on Boone, 1780-1782, accompanied by extensive correspondence, the bulk of which is centered about Indian-white confrontations in Kentucky in 1782: Estill's defeat, the siege of Bryan's Station, the battle of Blue Licks, and the attack on Kincheloe's Station. Biographical and/or genealogical information may be found on many participants including James Craig, son of Toliver and Mary (Hawkins) Craig; James Estill; Jacob Harper; Robert Johnson; William Kincheloe; John and Joseph McMurtry; William Marshall; William Polke; Lewis Rose; William Sharp; Harvey Sterling; John Todd; James Wade; Philemon Waters; and Jesse Yocum.

Nearly one-fifth of the volume is composed of correspondence, 1845-1856, interview notes, and articles from Joseph Ficklin (d. 1859), who experienced the siege of Bryan's Station as a young boy. Among Ficklin's papers are his account of Black Hoof based on conversations they had in 1815 and a letter (1847) by W. Flanagan of Winchester, Kentucky, giving an account of Kentucky silver mining, including brief mention of the legendary Swift's mine.

Original documents in this volume number only two: an appointment of Philamon Waters as captain of Virginia militia signed by Governor Benjamin Harrison (1784), and a clipped fragment of a business agreement bearing Waters's signature.
⇧
Volume   14
Reel   6
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 14 C
Scope and Content Note

Draper notes and correspondence concerning frontier events, 1783-1791, with emphasis on Boone's career: his business problems as surveyor, land holder, and trader in ginseng; his militia service; his move to western Virginia; and his term in the Virginia assembly as a representative from Kanawha County in 1791. Many letters pertain to the capture of John Flinn's wife and children in Kentucky in 1786, and Boone's recovery of one of the girls, Chloe (circa 1779-1863), in the following spring. Fewer papers relate to two other similar incidents: the capture of Rebecca (Armstrong) Sharp, wife of Abraham Sharp, and their children in Kentucky in 1786; and the attack on Tacket's Fort near Coal River in western Virginia (West Virginia) in 1790 in which members of the Tacket and McElhany families became Indian captives.

This volume contains three original documents: a sheet (two pages) of military orders and certificates written by Boone, January-March, 1783; a letter by Boone to Lawrence Thompson (August 6, 1784) on land business; and a legal document (November 8, 1785) concerning ownership of Negro slaves signed by James Harrod, Thomas Kennedy, and Joseph White.
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Volume   15
Reel   6
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 15 C
Scope and Content Note

Draper correspondence and notes, frequently sparse, on Boone's life in western Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, 1792-1820. Papers refer to the loss of his Kentucky lands, his move from Kentucky to Missouri, his possible journeys east to Kentucky and west to the Yellowstone River region, Indian troubles on the Missouri frontier during the War of 1812, and erroneous reports of his death published in 1818. Small amounts of material relate to the Indian attack on Morgan's Station, Kentucky, in 1793 and to a few of Boone's contemporaries including John Wade and Charles Yancey. Numerous letters and reminiscences pertain to Boone's skill as a hunter and his many hunting expeditions.

Lengthy extracts and summaries of depositions made by Boone and others in Kentucky land suits were copied and sent to Draper by Kentucky historian Richard H. Collins. Deponents other than Boone were: Benjamin Berry, Flanders Callaway, Jesse Coffee (Cofer, Copher), William Cradlebaugh, John Curry, Levi and Septimus Davis, James Guthrie, Henry Hall, Stephen Hancock, Peter Harget, Jesse Hodges, Simon Kenton, Stephen Lowry, John McCausland, Robert Patterson, John Riggs, Peter Scholl, Jacob Sodowsky (Sadowsky), George Stockton, William Triplett, John Waller, Haydon Wells, and Thomas Young. Filed in the volume is one original deposition (1796) signed by Boone, Michael Cassidy, and George Stockton in Mason County, Kentucky. Also found is a tracing of a manuscript signed by Boone as justice of the peace in Missouri in 1804.
⇧
Volume   16
Reel   6
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 16 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper correspondence and newspaper clippings, relating primarily to Boone's life in Missouri and his death in 1820. Included are reminiscences by persons who had met or associated with him during the last decade of his life and letters from several Boone descendants.
⇧
Volume   17-18
Reel   6-7
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 17 C - 18 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper's correspondence, 1883-1890, concerning inscriptions on trees and rocks reputed to have been carved by Daniel Boone during his journeys in Tennessee and Kentucky. Some letters allude to other events or traditions associated with Boone. A few photographs of tree carvings are filed in Volume 17 C.
⇧
Volume   19
Reel   7
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 19 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper's annotated correspondence and interviews principally concerning the lives of Daniel Boone's brothers George (1739-1820) and Squire (1744-1815) and their nephew Jesse (circa 1748-circa 1833), son of their brother Israel. From the many descendants of these men Draper obtained the bulk of the material in this volume. A few letters also pertain to Daniel's uncle Benjamin Boone (1706-1762), and to William McConnell and his son James (b. 1779) in Lexington, Kentucky, and to their descendants. One of the letters by N.L. Clarke (1887) not only contains Jesse Boone data but also briefly describes Clarke's experience as a student of Peter S. Ney.
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Volume   20
Reel   7
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 20 C
Scope and Content Note: Correspondence and notes concerning a few of Boone's associates and their families: Marcus (Mark) Bird, onetime Pennsylvania ironmaster and his father William, founder of Birdsboro near Reading, Pennsylvania; George Crawford, whom Boone visited in Virginia in 1792; Peter Houston (1764-1854), longtime friend of Boone in North Carolina and Kentucky and author of a narrative on Boone's life; Henry Miller (1735-1790), one of Boone's hunting companions in North Carolina and later an ironmaster in Rockingham County, Virginia; and Alexander Neely, hunter with the Boones and the Long Hunters in the 1769-1771 period. Houston's reminiscent account of Boone, copied for Draper by the author's grandson, is among the letters. Also in the volume is a manuscript copy of a memorial poem entitled “An Ode to Daniel Boone” by Theodore O'Hara.
⇧
Volume   21
Reel   7
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 21 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper's correspondence about Boone's life with a few members of the Boone and Callaway families. Most of these correspondents had the surname Barnes, Coshow, or Jones.
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Volume   22
Reel   7
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 22 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper's correspondence with various members of the Boone and Bryan families. Many of the writers had the surname Grant, Hunter, or Lamond.
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Volume   23
Reel   8
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 23 C
Scope and Content Note

Mainly Draper's annotated correspondence with many descendants of the Boone and Bryan families. Writers frequently had other surnames, including Baber, Boggs, Brooks, Cockrill, Grant, Hays, Jones, Pennington, Scholl, and Willcoxson (Wilcoxson). Many other letters pertain to Matthias Van Bibber and other members of the Van Bibber (Vanbibber) family known to the Boones in Virginia and Missouri; included are accounts of the naming of Van Bibber's Rock on the Kanawha River (West Virginia). Two of Boone's companions, John Stewart (Stuart) and Alexander McKinney, are the subjects of one letter apiece.

Opening the volume are a copy of an undated petition to Congress for a grant of lands in Missouri for Boone and a memorial to the Kentucky legislature soliciting support for Boone's petition; the latter is an original but incomplete undated draft from the papers of John Coburn, United States judge in Missouri, who assisted Boone in preparation of his claims. Also found in this volume are nearly illegible copies of a Boone letter and petition (1782) from the Virginia archives; copies of documents (1788) concerning a land sale by Boone and others to Simon Kenton; copies of Daniel Boone obituaries; and a printed form giving dates of birth for Jesse B. Boone, his wife Chloe, and their children, and for the children of Wynkoop Warner and his wife Minerva.
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Volume   24
Reel   8
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 24 C
Scope and Content Note

Mainly correspondence and a few interviews about Boone's life, obtained by Draper from a few survivors and many descendants of Boone's contemporaries in Kentucky, including Lucy Brashears, Nathaniel Bullock, William Bush, John Gass, William Hancock, Samuel Henderson and his wife Elizabeth Callaway, George Hendricks, John Holder and his wife Frances (Fanny) Callaway, Andrew Johnson (1750-1826), Benjamin Kelley, Mordecai Millard, Yelverton Peyton, William Stafford, Richard Wade, Felix Walker, and James Westerfield.

Among other materials found in the volume are copies of letters written by William Preston (1781) and Nathan Reid (1782) to John Floyd; a copy of a narrative (1804) written by Charles Beazley describing his captivity among the Indians and his association with Bryan's Station, an account sent to Draper by H.R. Stafford; one original document (1833) concerning the settlement of the estate of John Brown (1752-1832); and several printed articles about Felix Walker. Letters by John Wade (1861) comment on Abraham Lincoln, the Union, and the outbreak of the Civil War.
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Volume   25
Reel   8
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 25 C
Scope and Content Note

Original manuscripts, 1738-1803, accompanied by Draper notes. The earliest pieces are indentures for sales of lands in Pennsylvania by George Boone to his son James in 1738 and by Squire Boone and his wife Sarah in 1750. Three of Daniel Boone's land survey notebooks, one for 1776, and two for the period 1780-1787, and additional land entries and surveys signed by William Bailey Smith [circa 1775] and by Thomas Marshall and George May (1780) contain the names of many Kentucky pioneers.

Other original Boone pieces include a memorandum of agreement (1781) signed by Boone and Geddes Winston and two letters (October, 1782) written by Boone to Robert Patterson during the retaliatory campaign against the Shawnee following the disaster at Blue Licks. Several letters relating either to business or military affairs were written by others: William Russell to Daniel Smith (1774); Smith to an unknown correspondent (fragment, 1774); John Samuel La Rue (signed by mark) to Boone (1776); William Christian to Robert Montgomery (1776); John Donelson [to William Fleming] (1777); Israel Christian to Daniel Boone (1781); Samuel Boone to Benjamin Netherland (1782); John Dickinson to Thomas Madison (1789); and Walter Crockett to Madison (1793). Among authors and signers of other documents were Daniel, Mary (by her mark), and Samuel Bryan; William Byrd; William Hays; Gilbert Imlay; and Thomas Walker.

Found in this volume is a chronological summary of Boone's activities and financial transactions, 1781-1791, compiled by Draper from Boone's own records. Numerous clipped signatures, a few sketch maps, and many other annotations by Draper clearly indicate his plan for copious visual illustration of his intended biography of Boone.
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Volume   26
Reel   8
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 26 C
Scope and Content Note

Original manuscripts, 1782-1801, the majority of which pertain to Boone's surveying business, his land claims, and other business transactions. Correspondence includes a letter (1784) by Richard Henderson to John Holder listing the books Henderson had left at Boonesborough; a letter (March 16, 1787) by Boone to Robert Patterson concerning Boone's recovery of a boy captured by Indians; a letter (December 6, 1787) by Charles Yancey to Boone, who was then a delegate to the Virginia legislature in Richmond; and an undated letter on a land matter by Alexander D. Orr. Boone's survey notebooks, 1783-1785, 1784-1797, and other documents on land claims contain the names of dozens of Kentucky persons with whom he had business associations. His mercantile account books, 1785, 1787-1801, show purchases he made for clothing, food, liquor, gunpowder and shot, hardware, and other supplies. Also in this volume is a copy by a British officer, John Stuart, of an undated proclamation by Hyde Parker and Archibald Campbell to rally the Georgia Loyalists to the support of the British.

Among the many other persons represented by signatures on Kentucky notes and business documents are: George Boone, James Bridges, Thomas Brooks, Peter and William Byram, William Caldwell, William Christian, Septimus Davis, Baker Ewing, John Filson, James Finney, Arthur Fox, David Gillespie, Willis Green, William Hays, Gilbert Imlay, Joseph Lindsay, Benjamin Logan, John Loveless, Hugh McGary, William Moore, John C. Owings, Robert Parker, Ebenezer S. Platt, Rebecca Platt, George Reading Jr., John Reed, Joseph Scholl, James Scott, William Smith, Thomas Speed, James Thompson, and Van Swearingen.
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Volume   27
Reel   8
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 27 C
Scope and Content Note

Original manuscripts, 1788-1827. About a dozen letters to Boone concern his land affairs in Kentucky and his trade in horses, furs, and ginseng prior to his residence in Missouri. These correspondents included Peter Byram (1797), John Crooke (1797), Richard Henderson (1797), Mark Mitchel (Mitchell) (1792), William Poland (1791), Bartlett Searcy (1788), M.W. Van Lear (1790-1792), and Charles Yancey (1788). Several documents give information on Boone's purchase of land from Robert Hall in Missouri (1798-1800) and to Boone's service as syndic. Boone's letter (October 19, 1816) on his health and religious beliefs, which was addressed to his “Sister” (probably his sister-in-law Sarah Boone), is accompanied by correspondence (1874) about Draper's successful offer to purchase this manuscript. Related to the life of other members of the Boone family west of the Mississippi are an agreement (1808) between Nathan Boone and John Zumwalt on the sale, equipment, and operation of the salt works at Mackey's Lick near the Missouri River, and contracts (1827) signed by Daniel M. Boone for the erection of farm buildings for the Kansas Nation as authorized by William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis. This volume also contains Draper's chronology of Boone's activities, 1792-1803. A clipped signature of Robert Dinwiddie, a few map tracings, and other memoranda show Draper's intent to provide numerous illustrations for his proposed biography.

A number of manuscripts have no direct association with Boone but pertain to men who had been his contemporaries in Kentucky. These include: a brief business note written by James Wilkinson (1789); a letter (1792) by John Jouett to George Nicholas about the excise tax on whiskey; a list of subscribers for the building of a room to house the library at Lexington, Kentucky (1800); a letter by James Smith to Robert Patterson describing the Indian siege of Fort Wayne in 1812; three manuscripts gathered in 1823 by John Bradford and James W. Palmer, one on Greenville, Kentucky, by James Weir, one on the Ohio River and its tributaries furnished by Thomas Bullitt, and one describing Madison County, Kentucky, by John Crooke; and an undated printed legislative bill to provide for the emancipation of Kentucky slaves, with a printed petition in its favor addressed to the General Assembly of Kentucky and signed by William Barbee, James Crawford, Andrew McCalla, W. MacLean, Robert Patterson, David Reid, and Robert Todd. Among the signers of documents not previously named are Richard Allan, Elijah Boodwell (Bodwell), Jesse B. Boone, James Bridges, Flanders Callaway, Micajah Callaway (by mark), Charles and Walter Carr, Eli Cleveland, Baker Ewing, Robert Goodloe, Ann Harrod (widow of James Harrod), Hendrick Lincoln, Hugh McGary, Alexander D. Orr, William Bailey Smith, Anthony Soulard, Francis Taylor, and Levi and Owen Todd.
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Volume   28
Reel   9
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 28 C
Scope and Content Note

Mainly Draper correspondence concerning Boone and numerous contemporaries. Letters and notes contain data, often brief, on Samuel Bryant; Keziah Bukey; Benjamin Combs; William Goe and his descendants; Abraham and Isaac Hite; John Lewis (1678-1762) and his sons Andrew, Charles, Thomas, and William; Robert Pogue; John (Jack) Randolph; William Russell; John South and his sons Ben, John, and Samuel; and Isaac Williams. Letters by Mrs. Catharine G. Welch and William C. Reynolds refer to the marksmanship and other assistance rendered by Negro servants in skirmishes with the Indians.

The volume contains two original documents: an undated receipt and memorandum concerning a land survey and his surveyor's fee, written and signed by Daniel Boone; and a letter (1800) written by Alexander Welch to William Morris Sr. reporting the death of Thomas Lewis.
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Volume   29
Reel   9
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 29 C
Scope and Content Note: Draper correspondence, copies of several pension applications, and some miscellaneous notes referring to various Boone descendants, friends, and contemporaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Missouri. Among the names on which there is material are Edward and Leonard H. Bradley; John Cathey; Daniel Cutbirth; Joseph Dixson; Stephen and William Hancock; Joseph Kennedy; William T. Lamme; John Lewis and his son Martrom; Louis Lorimier; James A. McCue and his wife Margaret Christian (Trimble) McCue; Benjamin Netherland; John Rains (Raines); Bartlett Searcy; and Joshua Stephens. George Washington's interest in western Virginia lands was discussed in a letter (1882) by J.P. Hale. Letters of Charles Tucker provided Draper with information on Shawnee and Cherokee names. A narrative about Benjamin Ulen Sr. (1760-1834) as recalled by his son, told of the elder Ulen's captivity by Creek Indians, his adoption by the Zane family, and his family and later life in Kentucky. Brief reminiscences of his friendship with Christopher “Kit” Carson are contained in a letter (1883) by Albert Gallatin Boone.
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Volume   30
Reel   9
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 30 C
Scope and Content Note: Three interviews about Boone's life and personality recorded by Draper in northern Illinois (1866-1867) and Wisconsin (1871), accompanied by a very few notes and clippings about members of the Boone family. Although many aspects of Boone's career are mentioned, the bulk of the information in the interviews pertains to Boone and his contemporaries in Missouri. Persons on whom there are substantial references include Joab Barton; James Bridges; Benjamin and Sarshall Cooper; James Craig; Derry, one of Boone's favorite Negroes; Doza, a boat pilot for early Missouri and Illinois fur traders; Duquoin, chief of the Kaskaskia Indians; John Kenton, son of Simon; Alexander Logan; James Mackey (Mackay, Makay); John Morrison and his sons James and Jesse (of Missouri); William Morrison (of Kaskaskia, Illinois); Anthony Palmer; Indian Philips; and Jean Baptiste Point au Sable. Clippings include a wood engraving of Isaiah Boone (b. 1832), son of Thomas (1785-1855), holding one of Daniel Boone's rifles.
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Volume   31
Reel   9
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 31 C
Scope and Content Note: “Notes-Memoranda-& References” relating to Daniel Boone, to Simon Kenton, and to the early settlement of Kentucky. Four bound notebooks (two begun in 1851, one in 1866, and one undated) and a packet of miscellaneous unbound memoranda were bound together to form this volume when Reuben G. Thwaites organized the collection. The first two notebooks were designed by Draper as informational and bibliographical supplements to accompany the interview with Nathan Boone (Volume 6 S) and some other sources which Draper had gathered previously.
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Volume   32
Reel   9
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 32 C
Scope and Content Note: “Boone Miscellanies,” an assortment of newspaper clippings, periodical articles, and pamphlets published from 1787 to 1910. Although Daniel Boone's life is the primary topic of most of these printed materials, some relate to such contemporaries as Simon Kenton and Simon Girty; to specific events (especially the battle of Blue Licks); to the Boone grave monument in Frankfort, Kentucky; and to Boone descendants. The earliest piece (1787) is a reprint of Boone's autobiography, ghostwritten and published by John Filson three years before. A very few letters to Draper and his copy of William Cocke's account of his meeting with Lord Dunmore in 1774, the settlement of Bonnesborough, and the skirmish in Powell's Valley in 1775 are the only manuscripts in this volume.
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Volume   33
Reel   9
Series: Daniel Boone papers: 33 C
Scope and Content Note: Thomas Julian Bryant, “Bryant's Station and Its Founder William Bryant,” a pamphlet composed of three articles reprinted from the Missouri Historical Review (1908-1911).
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