Among the list of famous Quakers are actors, musicians, and presidents.
But perhaps the most surprising name on that list is Daniel Boone, the legendary pioneer and frontiersman.
Boone was born in Pennsylvania in 1734 to Squire and Sarah (nee Morgan) Boone. Sarah’s family were Quakers from Wales. The Boones raised their 11 children as Quakers.
The family did create some drama in their Quaker community. Their oldest daughter (in 1742) and their oldest son (in 1747) both married non-Quakers. That was not acceptable at the time, and both were expelled from the faith.
Squire supported his son and was also expelled from the Quaker community, while his wife Sarah continued to attend meetings with her other children.
In 1750 Squire moved the Boones to North Carolina, and supposedly Daniel never attended any church after the move, although he did consider himself to be a Christian.
Daniel Boone the frontiersman was legendary, and it may be that many of the stories told about him are, in fact, legends.
You can’t read about his exploits without coming across expressions like “possibly folklore” and “embellished”.
Those embellishments might obscure the fact that Boone’s first 16 years growing up as a Quaker may have influenced him throughout his life.
Popular stories tell of many battles he waged against the Native Americans. But in fact, he had great respect for Indians. Boone believed he actually killed only three and expressed regret for taking even those lives.
Boone often lived in Native American territories and preferred to negotiate rather than fight. That was not a common approach for those times. He was quoted as saying that Indians “have always been kinder to me than the whites.”
At least one non-Quaker aspect of Boone’s life was that he did own slaves.
Although his history has been complicated by popular culture throughout the years, it’s interesting to know that one of America’s greatest folk heroes was raised as a Quaker.
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