The Person:
From the Wikipedia Entry on Daniel Boone:
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"Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734 [O.S. October 22] – September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman, whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky, which was then part of Virginia but on the other side of the mountains from the settled areas. As a young adult, Boone supplemented his farm income by hunting and trapping game, and selling their pelts in the fur market. Through this occupational interest, Boone first learned the easy routes to the area. Despite some resistance from American Indian tribes such as the Shawnee, in 1775, Boone blazed his Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains from North Carolina and Tennessee into Kentucky. There, he founded the village of Boonesborough, Kentucky, one of the first American settlements west of the Appalachians. Before the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 Americans migrated to Kentucky/Virginia by following the route marked by Boone.
Boone was a militia officer during the Revolutionary War (1775–83), which, in Kentucky, was fought primarily between the American settlers and the British-aided Indians. Boone was captured by Shawnee warriors in 1778. He escaped and alerted Boonesborough that the Shawnees were planning an attack. Although heavily outnumbered, Americans repelled the Shawnee warriors in the Siege of Boonesborough. Boone was elected to the first of his three terms in the Virginia General Assembly, during the Revolutionary War, and fought in the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782. Blue Licks, a Shawnee victory over the Patriots, was one of the last battles of the Revolutionary War, coming after the main fighting ended in October 1781.
Following the war, Boone worked as a surveyor and merchant, but fell deeply into debt through failed Kentucky land speculation. Frustrated with the legal problems resulting from his land claims, in 1799, Boone emigrated to eastern Missouri, where he spent most of the last two decades of his life (1800–20).
Boone remains an iconic figure in American history. He was a legend in his own lifetime, especially after an account of his adventures was published in 1784 by John Filson, making him famous across Europe as the typical all-American frontiersman. An American edition made him equally famous across the United States. After his death, he was frequently the subject of heroic tall tales and works of fiction. His adventures—real and legendary—were influential in creating the archetypal Western hero of American folklore. In American popular culture, he is remembered as one of the foremost early frontiersmen. The epic Daniel Boone mythology often overshadows the historical details of his life."
The Place:
From the Wikipedia page for Madison County, Missouri:
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"Boone County is a county in the U.S. state of Missouri. Centrally located in Mid-Missouri it is home to Columbia, Missouri’s fourth largest city and location of the University of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 162,642; a 2017 estimate put the population at 178,271 making it the state's seventh-most populous county. The county was organized November 16, 1820 and named for the recently deceased Daniel Boone, who’s kin largely populated the Boonslick area having arrived in the 1810s on the Boone's Lick Road. Boone County comprises the Columbia Metropolitan Area. The towns of Ashland and Centralia are the second and third most populous towns in the county.
Boone County was organized November 16, 1820, from a portion of the territorial Howard County. The area was then known as Boone's Lick Country, because of a salt lick which Daniel Boone's sons used for their stock.
Boone County was settled primarily from the Upper South states of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The settlers brought slaves and slave-holding with them, and quickly started cultivating crops similar to those in Middle Tennessee and Kentucky: hemp and tobacco. Boone was one of several counties to the north and south of the Missouri River that was settled by southerners. Because of its culture and traditions, the area became known as Little Dixie, and Boone County was at its heart. In 1860 slaves made up 25 percent or more of the county's population, Boone County was strongly pro-Confederate during the American Civil War."