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REBECCA'S APRON part 4 of 4

© Mary Trotter Kion

“Life was really good for Rebecca Boone, her husband Daniel, and their family after they moved to Missouri. It was some good times. I know, since being Rebecca’s apron I saw it all. Spain even granted Daniel several thousand acres of land there. However, there turned out to be one slight hitch in the situation.

“It seems that when Spain gave Rebecca’s husband those thousands of acres in Missouri it was before 1803 when the Louisiana Purchase was signed. After that noted date the United States Government didn’t recognize any land grants made by the Spanish to frontier men who had fought for their country and lost so much, men such as Daniel Boone.

“Rebecca Boone, during all those years before the Boones settled in Missouri, saw Indians capture her husband and felt his absence for many months until he escaped and returned. She lived through a time of the fort in Kentucky being held under siege by Indians who sent their burning brands into the enclosure as they tried to burn the settlers out while she molded bullets and loaded rifles.

“Whether it was because of combined disagreements with his fellow settlers or other factors, Rebecca packed up to move when Daniel said it was time to go. This time the Boones moved on to settle Boone’s Station north of the Kentucky River. She stood by supportively when Boone was robbed of $20,000 of his own money and $30,000 belonging to a friend to buy warrants to establish title to some unclaimed acreage.

“Rebecca was a tough and practical woman. She also had a tremendous capacity for getting along by her self, with my help of course, when Daniel was gone. One time she shot seven deer from a tree while Boone was away from their home on the Yadkin River. Over the years her talents became considerable. She could hoe the garden and chop wood. She bore 10 children and helped Daniel run a tavern he’d opened on the Ohio River. She’d holler at him when he’d get blood on his shirt from some deer he’d be butchering, but she’d followed him to wilder frontiers without complaint. More recently she’d go into the Missouri woods to cook for him and help him boil maple sugar. But those times are over now for Rebecca Boone. She’s earned her rest.

“They’ll be burying Rebecca today, March 18, 1813, here in Warren County, Missouri. And I’ll be going with her, of course. She’ll be wearing me, her chambric apron, for the occasion. It’s kind of funny and a whole lot sad: all those years Daniel went tramping around, leaving Rebecca alone to do the best she could, now its her turn to find some peace and solitude and leave him behind. Daniel will most likely follow in a few years, I expect.