REBECCA'S APRON part 1 of 4

"Yes, that's right. I am Rebecca Bryan's cambric apron. I guess you could say I was born, actually sewn, in 1755. Rebecca made me when she was just a young girl of sixteen back in Virginia. Rebecca is an old woman now of seventy-four, this year of 1813, March 18th to be exact here in the wilds of Missouri. Oh yes, I'm still with her and I'm probably a little thread-barren by now. She has packed me along all these many long years. It's quite a story how she and I got from Virginia to Missouri. Here's what happened.

"Rebecca made me to wear over her first woman length dress for the wedding of Mary Boone, one of Rebecca's best friends. Mary was wedding Rebecca's uncle, William Bryan. There was a wedding feast that day for the married couple. Now I suppose Rebecca knew of Mary's brother Daniel, and possibly Daniel had his eye on tall, dark-haired Rebecca.

"Well, something was sparking between Daniel and Rebecca that day because he gave her hand a tight squeeze, then said he'd be back for her. And that was that. They didn't get married right away since Daniel Boone was a volunteer under Major General Braddock and his British regulars. But when the army returned William and Mary Bryan put on a big shindig for all the Boones. It was at this feast that Daniel Boone popped the big question to Rebecca Bryan. She said 'yes' and they were married on August 14, 1756. Folks said it was a fine match, too, since Rebecca was nearly as good with a rifle as her new husband.

"The new Mr. and Mrs. Boone didn't have their own cabin right off so they stayed with his folks for a spell. After a while they built their own cabin on Sugar Tree Creek. Shortly after they move into their new cabin there first child was born. They moved back on the Yadkin River in North Carolina in 1759 and Boone bought 640 acres from his father for L50. He built Rebecca a cabin there and put in a crop of corn. Soon after, he was off west into the mountains. He'd come home and farm a bit in the spring and summer and then disappear again. In the fall he'd hunt. Come winter he'd be off trapping beaver.

"Later on the Boones moved to another cabin in Culpepper County and stayed there until 1766. The Boones did a considerable amount of moving around. I guess it didn't take long for Rebecca to realize that this man of hers was the restless sort that just had to see what was on the other side of the next hill, then the next. They moved again, this time to the head of the Yadkin River.

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