John Boone By Linda H. Barnette
John Boone was the first cousin of the more famous Boone, Daniel. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1727 but spent his childhood with his uncle and aunt, Squire and Sarah, after the early death of his mother. He was named after his father’s brother John, who was a teacher and who kept the records and was the early historian of the family. He came to North Carolina with his uncle and family in the middle of the 1700’s.
John married a girl named Rebecca after he moved here. They received a land grant from the Earl of Granville for 630 acres on Hunting Creek near the present-day Godbey Road just south of Center Methodist Church and only a mile or from his uncle’s home site in Davie County, then Rowan. He and Rebecca had 9 children, who all just happen to be named in Rebecca’s will.
A successful farmer, he continued to acquire property until he had over 1,000 acres; thus, it was considered a plantation. Legend has it that John was well-known for his size and strength, and one story tells that he killed a panther with a tree limb when it was attacking his livestock.
The Moravian minister, George Soelle, an early circuit-riding preacher, writes about many visits to John in the “Moravian Records.” It would seem that he hoped that the Boones would join the Moravian fellowship. However, he wrote that Boone “will probably join the Baptists for the sake of communion.” We do know that one of his sons became a Baptist preacher, so Soelle’s theory was undoubtedly correct.
When he died in 1803, he might have been buried on his land or either at Joppa Cemetery, the Presbyterian burying ground which is where Squire and Sarah Boone are buried and is a popular tourist attraction here in Davie.
My interest in Boone came from finding some information while I was working on another family tree that puts him not as my direct ancestor, but his cousin Hannah is since she married into the Penry family. You never know what you are going to find out, but the search is fascinating!
Further, my grandmother Smith, born in 1891, was in possession of two deeds signed by John Boone’s son, John, Jr, for property that was sold to her family after John’s death. Both were original, dated in 1813 and were given to the library for safe-keeping. Mama Smith also told me one time that she recalled going to the John Boone cabin one time when she was a child for a taffy-pulling! The cabin is no longer there, but what memories it must have held!