When We Were Boones, Part VIII

by Glenn N. Holliman

I In 2011, my wife and were driving I-40 east through western North Carolina, when we came upon the Mocksville exit.  As we approached the town, I asked if she would like to see the Squire and Sarah Boone graves.  She said yes, so we took Exit 168 and just east of the intersection came up on the following historical sign which I had not seen in my previous visit to the area.

Hmm...I had taken Exit 170 the previous spring.  A little exploring and I realized the Boone cemetery is only a mile or two from the Boone farmstead historical sign, as the 'crow flies'.  Much of the area is still farmland, but the 'urbanization' of the area due to the Interstate is eating into the original land deeded to the Boones over 250 years ago.

Ironically, just a hundred yards or so away from the Boone tract is another sign commemorating another local resident, who lived a hundred years later.  Hinton Rowan Helper is generally known only to southern historians today, but his book damning slavery in the late 1850s added to the passions that unleashed the Civil War, a conflict that brought devestation to many of the descendants of Squire and Sarah Boone.

Below, my wife, Barb, snapped this picture of yours truly comtemplating my 7th great grandparents grave sites.  Squire was born in Devonshire, England in 1696s and immigrated through Bristol, England to Philadelphia and the Welsh settlement.  Later he moved to a farm near Pottsville, Pennsylvania until in the 1750s. An old man for the time, he migrated south to the Granville Tract of North Carolina.  There he died in 1765 and rests today on the edge of his former property.

Sarah Morgan Boone entered life in the Welsh settlement outside of Philadelphia, her parents from Wales.  She died in 1777. One historian believes her death 'freed' her youngest son, Daniel, to finally leave the area and open the settlement of what became Kentucky. Perhaps, but my 6th great uncle and his parents had been demonstrating wander-lust for some time.

After the above snapshot, we went back to the car, drove through a sprawl of fast food stores, gasoline stations et al, entered I-40 at Exit 170 and continued our journey to family further east.  We American families still do considerable 'wandering', especially at holiday times.