Home History Mysteries History Mystery: Daniel Boone Family 1925

History Mystery: Daniel Boone Family 1925

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Boone Family Association  members posing in front of Daniel Boone's grave in 1925.

Boone Family Association members posing in front of Daniel Boone’s grave in 1925.

As KHS prepares to host another Boone Day Celebration, we love to remember previous celebrations. However, when looking at this photo, purported to be an image of the 1925 Boone Day Celebration, new facts came to light. In 1925, Boone Day was postponed until the following week because of a competing event that also celebrated the life of the famed pioneer. Apparently, the year before, in the summer of 1924, the Boone Family Association was newly formed. As an act of honoring their famed ancestor, the decided to host a family reunion of sorts in 1925 at Daniel Boone’s grave in Frankfort Cemetery. On June 4th, the scene was described by a reporter from the Frankfort State Journal Newspaper:

“”The ceremony started with a parade from the new capitol to the grave of Boone in the State Cemetery. It was imposing. A troop of cavalry, under the command of Captain John Fuss, led the way, followed by automobiles bearing the governor of the state, William J. Fields, and the members of the Boone Family Association, of which Mr. William Boone Douglas, Washington D.C., is president. These were followed by machines containing the state officials and citizens who desired to join in the tribute to the memory of the greatest pioneer in the history of the Commonwealth” Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 23, No. 69, pg. 265-266.

As you can see from the photo, a select number of dignitaries have posed in front of Daniel Boone’s grave, surrounded by flags and flowers. According to another source, the only people we can conditionally identify are: William Boone Douglass and Alvira Luckett Douglass – pictured third and fourth from the left. Hazel Atterbury Spraker – third from the right. Mrs. Spraker was an author who wrote “The Boone Family” in 1922.

We would love to be able to put names with faces for all of the people posing in front of the grave, but to do that, we may have to appeal to a nation-wide audience. If you look closely, many of the people standing there are wearing ribbons with “Missouri” or “Boone Family” attached to their lapel/dress. Since we know that many of the attendees and BFA officers were from various states, they could have come from very far away! It was also reported that while most of the attendees were members of the Boone family, only one was a direct descendant of Daniel Boone himself: Jesse Procter Crump from Missouri. Is Mr. Crump among the people in this photo? Was the report wrong? Were there others who could trace descent from Daniel Boone? Many questions come to mind when considering this wonderful photo from the Wolff Gretter Photographic Collection. If you can provide any further information about the event or attendees, just let us know! To read more about the event, the above mentioned issue of the The Register contains two newspaper accounts that are quite charming.

For additional fun and sleuthing, here is another photo in the collection of this event (the only other one we can find), but as you can see, it is heavily damaged. In the faint image, can you recognize any familiar faces? (Click on the image to see a higher resolution)

More celebration attendees.

More celebration attendees.

free sample merely need to remember that the that nothing will betray.

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Comments

  1. wrote on June 24th, 2014 at 1:48 pm

    Olivia M. D'Alessandro

    Having been researching John Colter Boone for the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of pictures of Boones, both living and dead. The gentleman in the very center of the group, five from the left and five from the right looks like many of the Boones I’ve seen pictures of. He’s also seems to be the correct age since I believe Jesse Proctor Crump was born around 1867, putting him in his later 50s in 1925.

    So, my guess is that if Jesse Proctor Crump is in this picture, he’s the gentleman in the light suit, bow tie, dead center, five from the left and five from the right.

    • Profile photo of Cheri Daniels
      wrote on June 25th, 2014 at 11:06 am

      Cheri Daniels

      Olivia,
      That is wonderful! Great sleuthing! I think you are spot on with this. While we haven’t conducted the same amount of research, your suggestion got me looking at other possible clues. When Jesse is searched in Ancestry.com, there is a Family Tree that has been submitted with photos, which includes a great photo of Jesse P. Crump taken a few years before this one. They look too similar to be a coincidence! The photo they have is supposedly Jesse with “Alice”, but the woman looks very much like the woman next to him in our photo above. We may have the wrong label on this woman, based on the information we got from another site. His wife was named Mary Creswell Gregg, not “Alice”, so we’re still a tad confused. If you would like to write more about your research into this family, just let us know, or submit a piece via the Submission Guidelines – I’m sure our readers would want to learn more!
      C

    • wrote on March 24th, 2022 at 12:56 pm

      marya

      you are awsome for keeping this history alive

  2. wrote on July 20th, 2014 at 3:08 pm

    Lou

    I have a 1925 family history of the Boone family. Any idea if there is an organization that I can contact whom might be interested.

  3. wrote on July 26th, 2014 at 11:36 am

    Marilyn McDaniel

    I am a 7th cousin of Rebecca Bryan Booth, would love info on them.

  4. wrote on July 26th, 2014 at 11:38 am

    Marilyn McDaniel

    My 5th great grandmother was Jane Kenton, Simon’s sister. I know they all ran around together.

  5. wrote on July 26th, 2014 at 11:39 am

    Marilyn McDaniel

    I want to be able to see my family history, help.

  6. wrote on September 7th, 2022 at 9:26 am

    Joshua vandemark

    Daniel Boone is my 8th great uncle if anybody has anymore information about him and anybody else who’s related to him and is still alive please email me🙏🏽 I’m very interested in finding out more about this famous person I’m related to

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