Author: John R. Hundley III
William Boone - ACN56257
William Boone was born about 1740 in King George County, VA. He was the son of John Boone (1716-1776) and Jane Hampton who had immigrated from Bedfordshire, England. He married Keziah Green February 1, 1770 in King George County, VA and was sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff later that year. The family lived on a plantation known as "Popular Grove". William Boone served as a soldier in the Virginia Continental Line. He also had public service claims for providing 1,075 pounds of beef to the Revolution. William Boone died before February 5, 1795 in King George County, VA.

Additional biography submitted by Submitted by Claude S. “Chuck” Farmer
William Boon was born about 1746 in King George County, Virginia. He was the second son of John Boon and Jane Hampton. William Boon and Keziah Green married in 1770 in King George County and had seven children. William died of smallpox between 17 February 1792 when his will was signed and witnessed) and 5 February 1795 (when the will was probated). Following the death of a son, John Boon, before late 1806, Keziah, with four of the children and their families, relocated from the Northern Neck of Virginia, to Fayette County, Kentucky. They eventually settled in Athens, near Lexington, Kentucky. Keziah passed in September 1814. (Of note: I have not found a final “e” used on the surname until the 1820’s.)

The Sons of the American Revolution, as well as the DAR, credit William Boon, spouse of Keziah Green, as having served as a private soldier in the Virginia line during the Revolutionary War, I question whether he served on active service, during that period. I believe it is more likely that the William Boon serving in the Virginia line was the son of William and Keziah, as the elder William was in his late-20s to late-30s at the outset of the Revolution, with at least three young children and farmed 125 acres. He would likely have not left his family and served as a private soldier. From comments in William’s will, I expect that four of his seven children were born between 1776 and 1782. In early 1771, William had been appointed in King George County as a deputy sheriff, overseeing twelve jurors during an inquest valuating land. He had also been elected in mid-1770 to a committee inspecting the importation and purchase of goods for the Sundry Associators (sic) of King George County.

Records in the Virginia State Archives show William Boon’s name on provision return lists of public service claims for King George County for 11 June 1781, 2 October 1781 and 1782.

William Boon and Keziah Green had seven children that I have been able to identify; Jane, who married Ewell Morriss (sic) in 1797, and died before 1805; John, who it appeared may have been disabled (from a clause in William’s will). He died before 1806; Nancy, who married Henry Saunders; William Boon (2nd), born 2 May 1768 in King George County, married Elizabeth Hansford there in 1792, and emigrated with his mother (Keziah) and other family members to Fayette County, Kentucky, in about 1806; Mary, born in King George County, on 12 March 1770, marrying Obediah R. Harrison in March 178, and passed in Boyle County, Kentucky, on 28 October 1852; Elizabeth, born in 1776 in King George County, married James O’B. Nelson after Feb 1792 and died in 1855 in Lewis County, Missouri; and my ancestor George Green Boon (who added the final “e” in about 1829) born on 14 November 1781, in King George, marrying Mary Berkley, and siring nineteen children with Mary and her two successors. George passed in Athens, Fayette County, Kentucky, on 3 November 1854. Beyond farming and operating a mill, George Green Boon was pastor of Boone’s Creek Baptist Church, in Athens, Kentucky (and also a right smart fiddle player until he received his calling).

William was the first of his line to own real property, beginning about 1771, when he bought 94 acres in King George and Westmoreland counties. He continued acquiring land, with the two final plots purchased in December 1776 and March 1777.

Notes:
When John Boon, William’s father, died on 15 February 1776, he named only his spouse Jane and son William, in his will signed on 15 January 1776. It did not appear from the will, that John had children other than William. There was another son, John, likely older than William. The only mention of John is in an apprenticeship indenture made in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, on 4 February 1760, apprenticing the younger John to work for Robert Cummings of Cecil County, Maryland, to learn …”the art & trade of forge-building and mill wright”. This leads me to believe that John, junior, pre-deceased his father.

I also note that, from an indenture found in the London Metropolitan Archives, the elder John Boon, who immigrated in early 1735/36 for Pennsylvania, was obliged five years of service. As his father was a blacksmith in Toddington Parish, Bedfordshire and his eldest son was training for a similar trade, it is reasonable that the immigrant John was similarly employed. Cecil County, Maryland lied within thirty miles of the Delaware River, the route to Pennsylvania. Cecil County was also the locale of the Principio Iron Works, begun in 1719. Could it be that John Boon’s indenture was bought by Principio Iron Works as the ship on which he travelled sold cargo in Delaware? If so, Robert Cummings and John Boon may have had an acquaintance in Cecil County. In addition, Principio also was connected to Potomac or Accokeek Iron Works near Fredericksburg, VA, in which Augustus Washington had significant financial interest. I think it possible that John might have been reassigned from Principio to the Accokeek site once he proved himself in Cecil County.

From the surname, particularly incorporating the final “e”, and residence in Kentucky, there has been speculation that the John Boon line in kin to that of Daniel Boone. Adding to this misconception was the location of George Green Boon’s farm/mill on the banks of Boone’s Creek, his pastorship of Boone’s Creek Baptist Church, and that a relative of Daniel Boone stood surety for George Green Boon when he was licensed in Fayette County to solemnize marriages. DNA tests by two proven descendants of this Boon line showed significant differences in markers when compared to known descendants of the renown Daniel Boone.