My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone [Hardcover]

Neal O. Hammon (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 1999

One of the most famous figures of the American frontier, Daniel Boone clashed with the Shawnee and sought to exploit the riches of a newly settled region. Despite Boone's fame, his life remains wrapped in mystery.The Boone legend, which began with the publication of John Filson's The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boone and continued through modern times with Fess Parker's Daniel Boone television series, has become a hopeless mix of fact and fiction. Born in 1819, archivist Lyman Draper was a tireless collector of oral history and is responsible for much of what we do know about Boone. Particularly interested in frontier history, Draper conducted interviews with the famous and the obscure and collected thousands of manuscripts (he walked hundreds of miles through the South to save historical materials during the Civil War). In an 1851 visit with Boone's youngest son, Nathan, and Nathan's wife, Olive, Draper produced over three hundred pages of notes that became the most important source of information about Daniel. The interviews provide a wealth of accurate, first-hand information about Boone's years in Kentucky, his capture by Indians, his defense of Fort Boonesboro, his lengthy hunting expeditions, and his final years in Missouri. My Father, Daniel Boone is an engaging account of one of America's great pioneers, in which Nathan makes a point of separating fact from fiction. From explaining the methods his father used to track game to detailing how land speculation and legal problems from title claims caused Boone to leave Kentucky and take up residence farther west, Nathan Boone's portrait of his father brings a crucial period in frontier history to life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Daniel Boone remains one of the most enduring and intriguing American icons. Unfortunately, the man and the myth have become so hopelessly entangled that it is almost impossible to separate legend from reality. In 1851, historian and archivist Lyman Draper spent several weeks visiting Nathan Boone, the only surviving child of Daniel Boone. As a result of this extended interview, Draper amassed more than 300 pages of notes intimately detailing the personal life of one of the American frontier's most memorable characters. Though the Draper interviews have provided numerous Boone biographers with their primary source of material, this is the first time this wealth of information has been organized into book form and made readily accessible to the public. Rather than a larger-than-life caricature, what eventually emerges is an affectionate, down-to-earth, immensely likable American hero. Invaluable oral history. Margaret Flanagan

Review

"This little volume will remain the standard for many years." -- Arkansas Review

"Draper's material is as close as we'll ever get to an honest, myth-free life of Boone." -- Bob Edwards in the Lexington Herald-Leader

"This is the first time this wealth of information has been organized into book form and made readily accessible to the public. Rather than a larger-than-life caricature, what eventually emerges is an affectionate, down-to-earth, immensely likable American hero." -- Booklist

"Offers fascinating information, and Nathan himself seeks to sort fact from fiction." -- Choice

"Must reading for Boone family genealogists, as well as for readers interested in the life of Daniel Boone.... Rich with information about the extended Boone family that has been omitted from narratives that focus on the life of Daniel Boone." -- Compass: Newsletter of the Boone Society

"An invaluable source of information about Daniel Boone." -- Florida Historical Review

"Whets the appetite to read more about this famous man and the times in which he lived." -- Indiana Magazine of History

"Students of Daniel Boone and the early frontier should delight in My Father, Daniel Boone." -- Journal of Illinois History

"Read as an illuminating recollection of Daniel Boone's life, or used to establish facts of chronology, this book is a reliable source." -- Journal of Southern History

"Hammon's accomplishment is to make this vital primary source available to the reading public in an attractive, accessible book format." -- Journal of the West

"Nathan Boone and his wife, Olive, dispel many half-truths and myths about the legendary pioneer." -- Kentucky Living

"Few people know a father better than a son and it shows in My Father, Daniel Boone." -- Kentucky Monthly

"Considered the most important source of material about Boone." -- Knoxville News-Sentinel

"Nathan provides invaluable records of Boone's years in Kentucky, capture by Indians, defense of Fort Boonesboro, his hunting expeditions, and his final years in Missouri." -- Library Booknotes

"This is one of the most important sources on Daniel Boone's life. It will be welcomed by readers interested in Boone and the frontier period." -- Lowell Harrison, Western Kentucky University

"Nathan Boone was obviously aware that he had the opportunity to correct the historical record concerning the activities of his father." -- McCormick (SC) Messenger

"An important contribution to the fields of Boone studies and the American frontier." -- North Carolina Historical Review

"Offers a fascinating look at the famous pioneer from the viewpoint of his oldest son." -- Publishers Association of the South Newsletter

"We can learn much about Daniel Boone, his family, and life on the frontier from this important contribution." -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Certainly, Daniel Boone would have remained little more than John Filson's creation had Draper not interviewed or corresponded with so many who knew Boone." -- Stephen Aron, UCLA

"Brings the Draper interviews back to life in a compilation of a very interesting series of narrations that cover much of Daniel Boone's life." -- Virginia Quarterly Review

"For anyone interested in life on the frontier, this book is an important addition to that understanding." -- West Virginia History

"Provides access to source accounts that generations of scholars have heretofore found available only at the Society." -- Wisconsin Magazine of History

"Daniel Boone was, in the early accounts, the subject of exaggeration and inaccuracies by those who chose to write about him without knowing him well. [His son] Nathan was perceptive and assiduous in trying to correct the historical record." -- Steve Goddard's History Wire

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (April 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813121035
• ISBN-13: 978-0813121031
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,038,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Boone, From Myth to Reality, September 5, 2000

By 

James Daniels (Monticello, Ky.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone (Hardcover)

The Draper Interviews provide insight into the life of Boone, free of the myth and larger than life stereotype that has always surrounded this remarkable frontiersman. Nathan Boone's recollections of his father also gives us a glimpse of how Daniel himself viewed the world in which he lived and allows us to more clearly understand the man from which the legend sprung. Though many books written from similiar interviews are dull and rather boring, the Draper Interviews are arranged so that they make for rather stimulating reading and keep the reader eagerly in longing for the next chapter. Truly a "must read" for anyone interested in Daniel Boone or early Kentucky history.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nathan and Olive Discuss Father Daniel Boone, June 24, 2003

By 

Avi Hathor, M. S., M.F.A. (Lexington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone (Hardcover)

Nathan Boone and his wife, Olive van Bibber Boone, had the kind of memories most people wish for. They remembered virtually all of the early history of Commonwealth of Kentucky. When Lyman Draper came to visit them for two months in 1851 he found them full of the most interesting and detailed memories of Daniel Boone. Not only had the elder Boone lived with them and shared his own memories, they had also lived through many of the incidents themselves, and knew many of the old pioneers -- old van Bibber was one of the earliest settlers in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Enjoyable, highly readable. I highly recommend this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of My Father, Daniel Boone by Draper, March 26, 2010

By 

H. Marshall (Fayetteville, AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone (Hardcover)

I thought it an excellent book which sheds some interesting light on Nathans father, Daniel Boone. Nathan seems to have had a pretty good memory for detail at his age. How I would have loved to been there when Simon Kenton made his last visit to Daniel. Two great frontiersmen in their twilight. Their kind will never be again.. the frontier is gone.

Tragic that Daniel Boone would die penniless due to legalities with land claim issues and some bad business ventures. But his heart was always in the right place, and he kept his honor and dignity to the end. In short, a book worthy of any serious student of American History, or those that want to know about Daniel from the mouth of his son.