Daniel Boone 1734-1820
(Daniel Boone WASN'T really a Mountain Man but I decided to add him anyway because of his fame and reputation. -Frank)He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on 2nd November, 1734. His family migrated to North Carolina in 1750 and established a farm by the Yadkin Valley. As soon as he was old enough he became an animal hunter.
Boone joined the expedition led by Major General Edward Braddock as a blacksmith and teamster. He was with Braddock when he was killed on 13th July, 1755.
In 1767 Boone and two companions explored Kentucky. Impressed with what he found he led a party of migrant families from North Carolina to Kentucky in September, 1773. Working for Richard Henderson and his Transylvania Company, Boone helped lay out the Wilderness Road. He also explored the Cumberland Gap of the Appalachian Mountains. He was also involved in the establishment of the Boonesborough Fort on the Kentucky River.
Boone was captured by Shawnees in 1778 and was taken to Detroit but managed to escape. He returned to Boonesborough where he organized the settlers in defending the town from an Indian attack. Over the next few years Boone served as a sheriff of Boonesborough. He also worked as a surveyor.
In 1799 Boone moved to Missouri and in 1814 Congress granted him 850 acres in the area. Boone was forced to sell the land in order to pay his considerable debts incurred while he was in Kentucky. Boone continued to hunt and trap animals until his early eighties.
Daniel Boone died in St. Charles County, Missouri, on 26th September, 1820.