Squire Boone

Always in a history of pioneers of Shelby County must come first the names of Boone, Shannon, Owen, Ballard, Hall, Allen, Pope, Simpson, Logan, Knight, and on almost endlessly.

Squire Boone, a younger brother of the great pioneer, Daniel Boone, was born not far from Reading, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, about 1737, and was left an orphan when about eight years old; soon after he was taken to near Winchester, Virginia, and thence to Holeman's Ford, on the South Yadkin River, North Carolina, in what was then Rowan County, but is now Wilkes County and about eight miles from Wilkesboro, the county seat of the latter. His youngest sister, Hannah, was still living in 1872, in the adjoining county, Caldwell, at the ripe age of eighty-five.

Late in the fall of 1769, Squire Boone and another adventurer (name unknown), left the Yadkin in search of his brother Daniel, who with five others had gone to the wilds of Kentucky , on the first of May preceding. They stumbled upon Daniel's camp—the locality of which is unknown, but was probably on Station Camp Creek in now Estill County—shortly after his and John Stewart's seven days' captivity among Indians; during which time their companions, John Findlay, Joseph Holden, James Monay and Wm. Cool, had abandoned the camp and gone home. The joy of that meeting cannot be described. Soon after, John Stewart was killed by Indians and Squire's companion went home by him-self, leaving the brothers alone in the wilderness. They "prepared a little cottage to defend them from the winter storms." On May 1, 1770, Squire "returned home to the settlement by himself, without bread, salt or sugar, without company of his fellow-creatures or even a horse or dog." On July 27, 1770, Squire met Daniel, "according to appointment, at the old camp." They, soon abandoned this camp for fear of Indians, and "proceeded to Cumberland River , reconnoitering that part of the country until March, 1771, and giving names to the different waters." About April, 1771, they returned to North Carolina , to make preparations for removing to Kentucky .

On September 25,1773, with their families, they started for their new home; and in Powell's Valley, were joined by five
families and forty men; on October 10, when still a few miles east of Cumberland Gap, the rear of their company was attacked by Indians; who killed six men—among them James Boone, Daniel's eldest son; aged eighteen—and wounded one
man. They retreated with their families until March, 1775. They reached Boonesborough on March 31, or April 1, of that
year, and immediately began to erect the fort; and there made their home for several years. On the twenty-fifth of May
ensuing, Squire Boone had his first legislative experience— taking his seat as one of the delegates from Boonsborough in
the Transylvania Convention.

It appears from his and other depositions, taken in 1795, 1797, 1804, 1806, and 1808, and from other sources, that Squire Boone continued generally a resident of Boonesborough until early in 1779, when he removed to Clear Creek, in Shelby County, and erected near where Shelbyville now stands, the station known as Squire Boone's Station or the "Painted Stone." Here he made his home until 1806, except when compelled to abandon it for a short time in consequence of the exterminating Indian raids on Long Run in 1781, and to move to the station at the Falls ( Louisville ). He had been shot in his left shoulder at the siege of Boonesborough, was shot in his breast and in one arm in defense of his station, Then again shot while removing the people to Louisville, as just stated.

While thus disabled and suffering from wounds, he was elected a representative to the Virginia Legislature; and in his own person bore to that body an appeal more eloquent and touching than his mouth could utter for assistance to the brave 
defenders of the frontier. To the day of his death he cherished a proud remembrance of the handsome reception and generous attentions of his brother Legislators and the people of Richmond . His plain hunter's garb, backwoods manners,
and unhealed wounds seemed to be the key to their hearts and sense of justice; his appeal was not urged in vain. In his old days he was deprived of every vestige of his property mainly, it is alleged, through the land sharks who hunted
up a better title to his land—while he rested in fancied security, believing that what he had redeemed from the wilderness and shed his blood to defend from the savages, was assuredly his own. In a deposition at his own house in Shelby County ,
May 18, 1804, he said, "he was principled against going into the town of Shelbyville upon any business whatsoever"—the
cause of which deep-seated feeling the author has not learned. It may have been because of what seemed to him the persecution of the courts. Shortly after, he was in prison bounds in Louisville for debts which he could not pay. Kind friends obtained his release. In 1806—with his sons, Isaiah, Enoch, Moses, and Jonathan, and the five sons of his nephew, Samuel Boone—he, like his great precedent and elder brother, left Kentucky with a sad heart; and forming a new settlement
(called "Boone Settlement"), in the then territory of Indiana, in what is now Harrison County, about twenty-five miles north-
west of Louisville, erected a small mill and laid the foundation of a flourishing and populous township, called also, "Boone
Township," which is now the happy home of many worthy Kentuckians and their descendants. One of them, John Boone, a native of Shelby County, Kentucky, was a prominent member of the convention which formed the constitution of Indiana , and afterwards of the State Legislature. Squire Boone died there, in 1815, and at his special request was buried in a cave near the summit of a lofty eminence that commanded a beautiful and extended view. He was a man of strong and earnest feelings and con via ions, simple-hearted, patriotic and religious.

William Shannon

The name Shannon, in its different forms is widely distributed throughout the United States . Although they are supposed to run back to a common ancestry in Ireland , there are several stocks in this country which seem to have no connection with one another. So far as can be discovered at the present time, the earliest member of the branch to which the subject of my sketch belonged, was Thomas Shannon, who died in Sadesbury Township , Lancaster County , Pennsylvania , in April, 1737. In his will, filed in the office of the Register of Wills, in Lancaster , he names five children, Samuel, John, Margaret, Anna and Thomas. His farm was divided between his sons, John and Samuel, with the provision that his wife, Agnes, should be supported for the remainder of her life out of the share falling to Samuel: The other children arc variously provided for.

John Shannon is the only one of these children of whom any further record can be found. He was one of the executors of his father's will and presumably spent his life on the farm which he inherited. He seems to have been a man of some standing in the community, for in June, 1746, he was given a commission as captain to organize a company of men for an expedition against Canada . The company was formed and sent to Albany , New York , where they spent the winter. They were finally discharged, October 31, 1747, the attack upon Canada having been postponed.

John Shannon married Sarah Reid, the daughter of John Reid, of Delaware . He probably died in the latter part of 1767, for on January 7, 1768, his son John, appeared before an orphan's court at Lancaster , and asked for a division of the estate. He was the father of eleven children, one of whom was William Shannon,.whose life and adventures are the subject of this paper.

The exact date of the birth of William Shannon is not known, but he is understood to have been the oldest of the family. His sister, Agnes, was born in I744 which would place his birth somewhere about 1740. Not much is known of his early life. He seems to have settled in Virginia , at an early age, for his name appears on a roster of the militia of Augusta County , in 1758. There is reason to believe that he was a member of Braddock's expedition against Fort DuQuesne.

During the war of the Revolution, his name appears in the records of the War Department, as ensign and lieutenant in
Captain William Lewis' company of the first Virginia regiment. The company muster and payrolls carry his name until November 30, 1777, when they show that he had resigned, date not stated. He probably served again at a later period for he is called Captain Shannon, in the family traditions. There was a Captain William Shannon, who served as quartermaster under George Rogers Clarke in his western expedition, but it has not been ascertained whether it was this one or not.

There is a tradition that he was a captain in Colonel Lochry's regiment, which was sent down the Ohio River in the summer
of 1781, to join General Clark, in his intended expedition against Detroit . Captain Shannon was sent ahead with seven
men to carry a letter to Clark , announcing the approach of reinforcements. Near the present site of Lawrenceburg , Indiana , they were attacked by the Indians. Several men were killed, and the rest, including Captain Shannon, were made prisoners.

Lochry, unaware of their capture, was attacked at the south of Lochry's Creek, a short distance below Aurora , and defeated.
Forty-two were killed, including Colonel Lochry, Shannon was carried north some distance, but was released or made his
escape.

A difficulty arises in connection with this story from the fact that in the Pennsylvania Archives, Volume XIV, Page 698, the Captain Shannon of Lochry's expedition is called Samuel. Heitman's Historical Register of the Officers of the Continental Army, speaks of a Captain Samuel Shannon, who was captured by the Indians on the Ohio , in 1781, carried north and put to death. Whether this was the same one or another is not known. It is hoped that something may be discovered which will verify the story. William Shannon is said to have been very much liked by the Indians, and they showed kindness to him on several occasions.

About the close of the Revolution, he settled in Kentucky . He was a member of the Virginia Legislature (Jefferson County), in 1790*, and of the Kentucky House of Representatives ( Shelby County ), in 1793. He was an engineer and surveyed his own land, which he received from Virginia while Patrick Henry was Governor. He took up large tracts of land in Kentucky —two hundred thousand, it is said. The present city of Shelbyville , Kentucky , was laid out on his farm, and he gave it a plot of ground for a public square.

He was preparing to go as an officer with Wayne on his expedition against the Indians of Ohio, in 1794, when he came to his death in a quarrel with John Felty. He was struck on the head with a stone and died the next day, July 5, 1794. He was never married. His quarrel with Felty, resulted, his descendants say, from his resentment at language used by Felty in the hotel dining room. In their difficulty he threw a dirk knife at Felty, inflicting a wound from which Felty, also, died.