Series: Life of Boone: 1 B
Scope and Content Note

Introduction, testimonials, and miscellaneous papers. To provide the background for his biography, Draper wrote an extensive introduction summarizing the history of western exploration and discovery prior to 1769. In this he incorporated an annotated copy of the journal (1750) of Thomas Walker and gave accounts of the journeys of Abraham Wood, Alexander Spottswood, and Christopher Gist, with biographical sketches and notes on the participants.

Preceding this introduction are other papers pertaining to the biography, which were gathered and arranged by Reuben G. Thwaites in 1893. Included are testimonials, drafted by Draper to attest to his competence to undertake the Boone biography but signed by numerous members of the Boone family; letters, 1854-1855, to his literary partner of these years, Benson J. Lossing; lists of proposed illustrations and plats of Boone localities and other miscellaneous memoranda for Lossing; one clipping about their partnership; and two small wood engravings of a beaver and an otter.

Series: Life of Boone: 2 B
Scope and Content Note: Chapters 1-6 (1742-1770). These chapters cover Boone's ancestry and early life in Pennsylvania; his removal to North Carolina, his marriage, and his participation in the troubles incident to the French and Indian War; his early hunting excursions in the Blue Ridge and southern Appalachian mountains and in Florida; and his meeting with John Finley (Findlay, Findley) and their excursion into Kentucky in 1769-1770. Interspersed are a clipped signature (1765) of a J. Findlay, a note of introduction (1758) signed by a J. Finley, and several letters to Thwaites on the identity and genealogy of numerous Pennsylvania men bearing this name.

Series: Life of Boone: 3 B
Scope and Content Note: Chapters 7-11 (1771-1775). Using Boone's activities as a framework, in these chapters, Draper began a substantial account of the early history of Kentucky during these years: its exploration and first settlements; its wildlife, and hunting and trapping customs; the Long Hunters; Indian depredations, treaties, and Dunmore's War; and the attempt of Richard Henderson's Transylvania Company to exploit Kentucky lands. Biographical sketches of explorers, Long Hunters, and the earliest settlers are included in the narrative.

Series: Life of Boone: 4 B
Scope and Content Note: Chapters 12-16 (1775-1778). Woven around the highlights of Boone's life, Draper's history of Kentucky continued through these adventure filled years. Chapters cover the meeting of the Transylvania legislature in 1775; the increase in settlement and the history of many of the small Kentucky stations; and Indian hostilities with emphasis on the capture and rescue of Boone's daughter Jemima and the two Callaway sisters, the captivity of Boone's party of salt makers and Boone's escape, and the siege of Boonesborough.

Series: Life of Boone: 5 B
Scope and Content Note: Appendices, consisting of an annotated copy of the Boone family genealogy by James Boone (1744-1795); and biographical sketches of Kentucky pioneers, militia officers of southwestern Virginia, members of the Transylvania Company and Transylvania convention: Leonard Henley Bullock; Richard Callaway; Arthur Campbell; William Cocke; Alexander Spotswood Dandridge; Azariah Davis; James Douglas; John Floyd; Nathan Hammond; James Harrod; David; Nathaniel; and Thomas Hart; Richard Henderson; Samuel Henderson; Isaac Hite; James Hogg; William Johnston; John Luttrell; John Lythe; William Moore; William Preston; William Russell; John Peter Sailing; James Slaughter; Daniel Smith; John Todd; Thomas Walker; John Williams; and Samuel Wood.