by Ralph Barnes
Citizen Voice & Times
January 23,1997
Daniel Boone was among the first colonists to view the picturesque river valley
on the western edge of the Cumberlands that was destined to become Estill
County. Years before civilization arrived in the area, the famous frontiersman,
during one of his early visits to the region, selected the idyllic glen for a
base camp. The campsite was conveniently located near a large creek that
emptied into the nearby Kentucky River. The charm of that spot must have impressed
and delighted those long ago hunters as it had their Indian predecessors in
prehistoric times. Boone gave the spot the practical, if unromantic, name of
Station Camp. For years afterward Station Camp and the nearby creek of the same
name were used by the early pioneers as a reference point on primitive maps of
the region. In time, the place where the ancient hunting camp stood, became a
part of Estill County.
The old pioneer never lived here but in a sense he is still in the county or at
least his genes are still around. One of his grandsons and many of his
descendants are buried in Estill County. A number of people who live in the
county can trace their lineage to Boone. Most have blood ties to the Goe family
of Old Landing. The Goes descended through Boones’s daughter, Rebecca; who
carried the same given name as her mother.
Rebecca Boone married Phillip Goe in 1788 when both were still in their
mid-teens. That youthful union eventually produced a large number of little
Goes. Actually, Boone was not very fond of his son-in-law. According to old
accounts, Goe was given to drink and was not a good provider for his family.
Daniel put him in business on a couple of occasions only to end up with the tab
after Goe went belly-up. The Goes lived in a number of places in the state
probably as a result of Phillip’s failed business ventures. Phillip died while
the family was living in Nicholas County and presumably is buried there.
Rebecca died at her sister’s house in Clark County and is buried not far from
the site of the famous fort that will be forever linked to her father by name
and legend.
Nathan Boone Goe was born to Phillip and Rebecca in January of 1791. Nathan was
thirty-one when he married twenty-two year old Elizabeth Frame of Clark County
in 1822. Sometime around 1840 Nathan and Elizabeth moved to the Old Landing
area near the border of present day Lee and Estill Counties. Nathan died in
1862 and Elizabeth twenty years later. Both are buried in an Old Landing
cemetery. Several of their children married Old Landing natives and they, in
turn, spread Boone’s genes all up and down the river, and throughout the hills
and hollows of the two counties. The Children of Nathaniel Boone Goe and
Elizabeth Frame were: Ambrose, Isabel, Mary, William, James, Celia, Benjamin
Turner, Elizabeth, Dorcus, and Susan. Two of his youngest children probably
have the most descendants left in Estill County. Benjamin Turner Goe remained
in the area and married Mary Francis Howard. They produced at least nine
children and probably have dozens of descendants living in Lee and Estill
counties.
Dorcus married Gideon Ashcraft and spent her entire life in the Old Landing
area. The Ashcrafts also generated a large number of progeny. Dorcus has at
least four grandchildren still living. Clara Horn, widow of Buell Horn, along
with her siblings Bertha Fike, Herman and Orville Newton are only three
generations removed from Rebecca Boone and are among her closest living
relatives.
Mary Jo Palmer, down at the bank, is a gggg granddaughter of Daniel Boone. Gene
White (not to be confused with his wife Jean White), Sandra Gooch, Bill Dozier
(son of Randy Dozier and Wilma Floyd), Wayne, Donald, Dextral, Jerry and
Darrell Horn are but a few of the Estill County natives that can claim kin to
the great trailblazer. They also are related to the famous pop singer of the
fifties, Pat Boone, who was Daniel’s g g g grandson.
The following personality traits have been attributed to Boone by one or more
of his many biographers: brave, intelligent, dependable, adventurous,
born-leader and pragmatic. On the negative side he has been described as: being
slovenly in his appearance, having a tendency toward laziness and given to
exaggeration. All of the above listed people should have inherited one or more
of the old pioneer’s characteristics. Which of Boone’s idiosyncrasies are
discernible in these individuals? Spouses, mothers and mother-in-laws are apt
to arrive at contrasting conclusions and should not participate in this
exercise.
There probably are dozens of people in Estill and Lee Counties that can count
Daniel Boone among their ancestors. Some of the Estill County families with a
possible blood tie to Boone through the Goes are: Ashcraft, Bush, Dozier,
Estes, Fike, Harris, Horn, Howard, Newton, Tincher, White and others. Anyone
wanting to find out if they are one of Boone’s progeny should contact the
Estill County Historical and Genealogical Society for advice on how to research
their ancestry. The Society meets the first Tuesday of the month at 7pm in the
Estill County Public Library on Main Street. Visitors are welcome.