Israel Boone (1726-1756): Daniel Boone’s Brother
Israel’s father, Squire Boone (1696-1765), was born in Devonshire, England on November 25, 1696. On Christmas Day, he was baptized in the Anglican Church of St. Disen’s in Bradninch, Devon County, England. There’s currently a sign by the American Heritage Trail on the gate leading to the churchyard which says, “Squire Boone, Father of Daniel Boone (1734-1820) the first immortal Western frontiersman, was baptized in this church.” Previously, and at the time Squire was baptized, the church was known as St. Denis or St. Dionysius.
Squire’s parents, George and Mary, were members of this church. Sometime after 1702, George and Mary Boone became members of the Friends Meeting at Cullumpton, since there was no regular Friends Meeting at Bradninch. We commonly refer to the Society of Friends as Quakers. George and Mary’s children would also have become Quakers at this time. There’s a second plaque about the Boones inside St. Disen’s Church which reads as follows:
“Sacred to the memory of the Boone family who emigrated from this parish to America in 1717 and settled in Pennsylvania. Colonel Daniel Boone 1734-1820 of the third generation in America became a great explorer, trail blazer, woodsman and Indian fighter making forays into the new land now known as the State of Kentucky being remembered as the founder of Fort Boonesborough in the new frontier. – This memorial placed here by Boone descendants in America and the Society of Boonesborough, Richmond, Kentucky.”
Squire, his parents, and siblings migrated in 1717 to the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. His future wife Sarah Morgan was born in Pennsylvania in 1700, and her parents were also Quakers. In 1720, Squire Boone married Sarah Morgan in the Gwynedd Meeting (Society of Friends). They had eleven children who were all born in the British Colony of Pennsylvania. Daniel was born as their sixth child, and his oldest brother, Israel, was born on May 20, 1726, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Squire and Sarah’s oldest daughter, Sarah (born June 7, 1724), married a non-Quaker, John Wilcoxson, in 1742 (referred to as marrying a worldling outside the Quaker Meeting). The Society of Friends required Squire to repent for her behavior, which he did, so he could remain a Quaker.
Records of the Exeter Monthly Meeting held on “the 28th Day of the 11th Month of 1747,” states that “Israel Boone, Son of Squire Boone of Exeter, having been Educated and brought up amongst Friends, and as a Member of this Meeting, hath married a Wife who is not in Unity with Friends….” Since Israel, their second child, also married a worldling, Squire was again required to repent for his son’s behavior. When Squire refused, the Society of Friends expelled him from the Friends Meeting, so Squire was no longer a Quaker. However, his wife, Sarah, was able to maintain her standing as a Quaker the rest of her life.
Israel Boone married Martha Farmer in Pennsylvania. Their first child, Jesse (1748-1829), was born in 1748 in Pennsylvania.
Their second child, Jonathan (1750-1826), was born November 3, 1750, in North Carolina. In the Spring of 1750, Squire and Sarah Morgan Boone left Pennsylvania with their children and large extended family. Squire and Sarah Boone and their family (including a nephew) all settled on the east side of the Yadkin River at or near today’s Boone’s Cave Park. It appears that they resided there until they could go through the lengthy process of purchasing land on the west side of the Yadkin River. This required land warrants and surveys before they could finally get a land grant from the Earl of Granville’s land agents. Most of the Boones moved into what is now Davie County except for Samuel Boone and his wife whose land was south of the South Yadkin in what today is Rowan County.
Israel and Martha also had two daughters. Elizabeth (1752-1817) was born on November 28, 1752, in what was still known as Anson County. Her birth was probably on the east side of the Yadkin River at or near today’s Boone’s Cave Park since Israel and family was probably living near his parents until 1753. His father is documented as living there at the time he was first serving in June 1753 as a Rowan County Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.
We have records where most of the Boones purchased land or where they were living. However, there’s no known record of Israel Boone owning land in what is now Davie County. Israel’s father purchased two 640-acre tracts of land. Squire completed on April 30, 1753, the purchase of t tract in eastern Davie County along Grant’s Creek and later referred to Elisha and Dutchman’s Creek. Squire completed on December 29, 1753, the purchase of the tract in western Davie County along Bear Creek (which is frequently referred to as the “Boone Tract”).
There’s great documentation about which land tract Squire and Sarah Boone and their younger children settled. Their grandson, Daniel Bryan, son of William and Mary Boone (Daniel’s sister), wrote a letter to Lyman Draper dated February 17, 1843, advising that, “When Dan’l [Boone] was sixteen years old his father Squire Boone Moved to North Carolina and settled on Dutchman’s Creek at the Buffalo Lick, where he died in 1763.”
If Israel’s parents moved onto the Dutchman Creek tract, then who moved onto the Bear Creek or “Boone Tract” when Squire completed that purchase? Review of three legal documents leads one to believe that Israel and his family moved onto and lived at the Bear Creek tract.
It was common for early settlers to establish and operate a tavern or “Public House.” In the records of the Court of Common Pleas for Rowan County, there are two entries in Volume I, pages 43 and 44 on July 11, 1754, involving Israel and Squire Boone with respect to this subject. The first entry shows, “Israil Boon Petitioned this Court for a License to keep Publick House where he Now Lives. Security Proposed James Carter & Squire Boon. Granted.” The second entry says, “Squire Boon Petitioned this Court for A license to keep Public house at his plantation. Security Alexander Osburn & James Carter Esqrs. Granted.” The words for the entry about Israel saying “where he now lives” indicate that he doesn’t own the land, and his father offering security might indicate that Squire is the owner. The second entry for Squire says, “at his own Plantation.” This language indicates that Squire owns the land and is living there, which is at his “Dutchman Creek” property.
There’s another legal document that indicates where Israel might have lived. The Rowan County Minutes in January 1765 quote a road overseer as saying, “from the South Yadkin to Israel Boons old Place.” The South Yadkin was just south of the Bear Creek Tract where Israel was probably living with his family.
An article dated May 14, 2009, in the Davie County Enterprise Record with the title “There’s a New Oldest Grave at Joppa” quotes Denny Custer, who is a descendant of Israel Boone and at that time was the President of The Boone Society, Inc. He said that he “thinks Israel Boone constructed a cabin on his father’s property west of town.” This is on the Bear Creek or “Boone Tract.”
Israel and Martha’s fourth child, Sarah, was born in 1754. This date would mean that she was born on the Bear Creek tract.
The French & Indian War erupted in 1754, and North Carolina Governor Arthur Dobbs gave his son, Edward Brice Dobbs, a provincial commission as Captain. This son was also a lieutenant in the 7th Royal Fusiliers. As participants in this war, Captain Dobbs was the last to arrive with his North Carolina ranger company at Fort Cumberland on May 30. Daniel Boone was one of the teamsters in Captain Dobbs’ company. When The Battle of the Monongahela began on July 9, 1755, Daniel Boone had crossed the river with his wagon and was huddled in a tight formation with the other waggoners. They were enveloped in the battle, and as they tried to control their teams of horses spooked by musket and canon fire, they realized the British had lost the battle to the French. Boone and the other waggoners cut their harnesses from their horses and escaped from what would have been certain death.
Daniel Boone returned from the battle to North Carolina during the summer of 1755 to find that Israel Boone was suffering from the disease known then as consumption. Today, we refer to this disease as tuberculosis. Another disease that afflicted both settlers and Natives in North Carolina was smallpox. Daniel survived this disease as a child that left his face scarred for life. As mentioned in a previous article, in 1738, the Cherokee suffered from a smallpox epidemic that killed half of their population, and in 1759, a smallpox epidemic killed half of the Catawba Nation.
The Boones settled in what today is Davie County on the west side of the Yadkin River. East of them on the other side of the Yadkin was the Wachovia Tract where the Moravians established in 1753 a small community they called Bethabara, which means “house of passage.” Fifteen Moravians from Pennsylvania first settled this village. It became a bustling trade center but was only intended to be used until Salem could be established. When that occurred in 1766, many of the Moravian settlers moved to Salem.
It was well-known that the Moravians could treat the ill and those afflicted with disease. Therefore, it wasn’t unusual that in 1755 Sarah Morgan Boone took her son Israel to Bethabara and left him for treatment of consumption. In the Moravian Records the Bethabara Diary dated 1755 states that on August 26, “A consumptive came with his mother, and asked to remain two weeks for treatment, and we could not refuse. We lodged him in the old house.”
There’s another entry in the 1755 Bethabara Diary which states on September 1, “The consumptive was taken home by his brother, who came for him last evening. He, - Mr. Boone, - returned on the 6th, accompanied by his father, who remained overnight. On the 15th his brother came for him once more, and he left, there being small hope of his recovery.” A few weeks later, his father and brother (probably Daniel) spent the night to see Israel and took him home, when the doctor said there was little hope for recovery.
The “sick house” and the “stranger’s house” have been reconstructed at Bethabara Historic Park. They are believed to be the locations where the Boone’s stayed when here in 1755.
Lyman Draper interviewed a Samuel Boone who said that Israel died on June 26, 1756, and was buried near present-day Mocksville. Draper also wrote that Israel had two sons and two daughters and that the daughters contracted consumption from their mother and died at an early age. After Israel’s death, the two sons, Jesse and Jonathan, were cared for and raised by Daniel and Rebecca Boone.
It appears the information that the two daughters contracted consumption and died is incorrect. Tradition says that their mother died before their father and was probably buried at Burying Ground Ridge, although there’s no documentation for this. Both daughters survived, later married, and moved to Kentucky.
In the previously mentioned article dated May 14, 2009 with the interview of Denny Custer, he mentioned, “It is a curious point that none of the children of Israel and [his] wife, nor any other of the Squire and Sarah Boone family contracted consumption from Israel or his wife.” This is possibly due to the fact that Israel and his family were living in a more isolated setting and away from the remainder of the Boone family while living on the Bear Creek tract.
Originally known as Burying Ground Ridge, the area around today’s Joppa Cemetery was settled in the early 1750’s. The cemetery is believed to hold the graves of many of those early settlers. For many years, it was believed that the oldest marked grave in Joppa Cemetery (Burying Ground Ridge) was that of Squire Boone (1696-1765).
In October 2005, Katherine Weiss wrote an article about Israel Boone’s possible burial location. In it, she quotes letters from Lyman Draper’s Boone Series written by James Williamson and Jethro Rumple. There’s an analysis of a broken stone that was next to the gravestone of Squire Boone, and the broken stone is very similar to Squire’s. Text on the broken stone was ++BoonE and part of a number 5 and then a 6. The conclusion is that the only family member that died in 1756 and would have had stone similar to his father was Israel.
After research to confirm the location of the grave of Israel Boone, his descendants and The Boone Society, Inc. placed a bronze plaque in Joppa Cemetery in May 2009 marking Israel’s grave to the left of Squire and Sarah Morgan Boone. The text on the plaque marking his grave reads as follows:
ISRAEL BOONE
Born May 20 (N.S.), 1726 Bucks County, PA
Died June 26, 1756, Davie County, NC
A few feet to the right, Israel Boone rests for eternity. Israel was the 2nd
Of 11 children born to Squire and Sarah Morgan Boone and their only child
to be buried in North Carolina.
Israel married in 1747 while in Pennsylvania. The name of his wife and
the location of her burial have never been proven. To them were born 4
Children, Jesse, Jonathan, Elizabeth, and Sarah (Sallie).
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY
BY DESCENDANTS OF ISRAEL, HIS WIFE AND THE BOONE SOCIETY
MAY 2009
Sources:
Abstracts of Court of Common Pleas, Rowan County, North Carolina.
Anson County, North Carolina Deed Records.
Barnhardt, Mike, “Science Meets History: Radar Used to study Below the Surface at Joppa Cemetery,” Davie County Enterprise Record, June 25, 2009.
Barnhardt, Mike, “There’s a New Oldest Grave at Joppa: Israel Boone Buried Here in 1756,” Davie County Enterprise Record, May 14, 2009, pages 1 & 8.
Belue, Ted Franklin, Editor, The Life of Daniel Boone by Lyman C. Draper, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1998.
Boone, Alice H., Descendants of Israel Boone, McCann Printing & Litho Co., Springfield, Missouri, 1969.
Colonial and State Records of North Carolina.
Draper, Lyman Copeland, Draper Manuscripts, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
Faragher, John Mack, Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, New York, 1992.
findagrave.com/memorial/8117530/Israel-boone.
Fries, Adelaide Lisetta, Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, 1752-1771, Vol. 1, Publications of the North Carolina Historical Commission, State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina, Reprinted 1968.
historicbethabara.org.
Linn, Jo White, Abstracts of the Deeds of Rowan County, North Carolina, 1753 – 1785, Books 1 through 10, Salisbury, North Carolina, Privately published, 1983.
Linn, Jo White, Abstracts of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Rowan County, North Carolina, Volume I – 1753-1762, Volume II – 1763-1774, Volume III – 1775-1789, Salisbury, North Carolina, Privately published, 1977, 1979, 1982.
“Marker at Israel Boone’s Grave to be Dedicated: Daniel’s Less Famous Brother Died Here on June 26, 1756,” Davie County Enterprise Record, Mocksville, North Carolina, April 30, 2009, page 4.
Preston, David L., Braddock’s Defeat: the Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 2015.
Ramsey, Robert W., Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier 1747-1762, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1964.
Rowan County Deeds, Salisbury, North Carolina.
Rumple, Rev. Jethro, A History of Rowan County, North Carolina: Containing Sketches of Prominent Families and Distinguished Men, Published by J.J. Bruner, Salisbury, North Carolina, 1881.
Spraker, Hazel Atterbury, The Boone Family, The Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, 1922.
U.S. Quaker Meeting Records 1681 – 1935.
Van Noppen, Ina Woestemeyer and John James, Daniel Boone, Backswoodsman: The Green Woods Were His Portion, The Appalachian Press, Boone, North Carolina, 1966.
Wall, James W., History of Davie County in the Forks of the Yadkin, Davie Historical Publishing Association, Mocksville, North Carolina, 1969.
Wall, James W., Martin, Flossie, and Boone, Howell, The Squire, Daniel, and John Boone Families in Davie County, North Carolina, Davie County Printing Company, Mocksville, North Carolina, 1982.
Weiss, Katherine, “Israel Boone’s Burial,” Compass, The Boone Society, Inc., October 2005, page 11.
www.stdisens.org.uk/history
