Family Myth Versus Research

by Donna Swagerty Shreve

My family grew up believing we were direct descendants of Daniel Boone’s brother Edward. Edward and Daniel had married sisters. Rebecca Bryan and her sister had the distinction of being descendants of Brian Boru (941-1014) who was a hero of Ireland when he unified the country. He is considered by some as the first king of Ireland. Of course, my brother Brian loved this connection. 

The story we heard was that Daniel and his younger brother looked very similar and were on a hunting trip when they were attacked by Indians. Daniel hid in a cave and realized when he heard the celebrations from the Indians, thought they had killed him. He waited until it was safe and then came out of a cave after killing an Indian dog which would have given him away to his enemy. This story worked until one got to two generations away from Milton Boone our great grandfather. The missing link to Daniel was a result of a fire in an Indiana court house which destroyed some vital records. It was a weak link but this story was reinforced by various aunts of my mother who retold the stories of Daniel. My mother used to laugh when she relayed that her aunts considered Daniel Boone a squaw chaser and a link to Pat Boone, a singer of the 1950s, was a much better connection. I even met a third cousin in Edina Missouri area, where my grandfather Jesse Boone grew up, who continued the story. She wrote a book with such information to pass it along. She was considered quite the expert in the local area. 

What helps the Daniel Boone connection is a story that Jesse Boone told to my mother Melva. My mother commented that her father told her many stories throughout her childhood but she was not interested. However, one story that stood out to her was the story about Joseph Boone, Jesse’s grandfather, going turkey hunting with Daniel Boone when Joseph was 17 years old. After some research I discovered that Joseph at age 17 was living in Missouri  and Daniel Boone was also living in Missouri and would have been 72. Daniel lived to be 80 years old. The ages and location add up so I would like to think that incident happened.

Unfortunately by this time, a second cousin to me, Diane Glover, had done research and used DNA which was just beginning to be a tool. The challenge was to find a male direct descendant of Milton Boone or his father Joseph Boone. Jesse Boone no longer had any male descendants as of 1995 as his only son Ronald Boone has already died in 1993. Milton had several brothers. One of his brothers had a surviving son who agreed to a DNA test. His results ended the debate. We did not come down from Daniel Boone’s brother Edward. We came down from a first cousin of Daniel Boone. This was not so direct and we lost Brian Boru. Mother and I were crushed but convinced when Diane presented her evidence to us on a visit. We accepted and moved on. That third cousin back in Edina, Missouri refused to budge. She liked the family legend and did not want any new information.

The Boone line was not the only family to have family myths. I never met my great grandfather Abraham Lincoln Aldrich (1864-1942) as he died before I was born. He was known only through the many stories told by several generations of descendants. First there were the family stories originated by him and then, after some genealogy research, the facts. The story of most fame was his naming. He was born in January of 1864 during the Civil War which had been ongoing for three years. The story goes that his father knew his wife was expecting again but he was off to fight in the war. He told his wife to wait to name the child until after the November election. If the child was a boy, he would be named after the president. The tale does not mention what to do if that child was a girl. The father then went off to war never to be heard from again. The wife waited until November and then named the child Abraham Lincoln Aldrich. Abe was the fourth child born to Harris and Lucy Aldrich. He had a half brother Myron that was his father’s son from a first wife who died.

I mention Myron because he served in the Civil War and did return to lead a successful life. Harris, his father, never served as he was too old. He was 51 at the outbreak of the Civil War and his headstone is in Humboldt, Iowa. Harris stayed with the family and two more children were born after Abe. Abe’s youngest daughter Lucy told several stories about her father’s reluctance to discuss his immediate family. Lucy would ask if she had any cousins. She claims her father’s response was, “Several but you don’t want to meet them.” Lucy never met any of his relatives as they were all back in Iowa and Abe had moved the family to California in 1907. Later at the age of 74 in 1938, Abe and his wife would travel back to Iowa to visit relatives. They took their fourth child Ethel and a grandson Web to help with the driving. There are wonderful pictures of Abe with one of his brothers and Ida with her two sisters.

When Abe was 15, his father died. Abe is listed in 1880 as 16 and occupation is a farmer. I wonder if Abe was being a bit rebellious at that young age and never resolved father/son issues. A year later his mother was remarried to a neighbor, William Shove. Abe stayed in the area working the farm until 1892 when he married Ida Laura Palmer. She was still 17 and he was 29. When I presented my research to Abe’s daughter Lucy, she commented that she liked the family myth better.

I have found family stories to be entertaining and good leads to the facts. I feel the responsibility to pass on stories that are true and to reveal if a story is a family myth. There are plenty of stories based on facts to discover.

1063 words

9/25/2021

• Back to Stories
• Back to Swagerty/Boone Stories