Longhunter

TL;DR -- Boone was there, in the times of the French-Indian affair, the Revolution, and after. He was of a type that can be known as longhunter. They wandered and brought back information. And, turned around and led people west. This post is of the 250th theme. We are about two years away from that celebatory event. 

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Four years ago, COVID became a reality. There had been little glimpses earlier. People were talking about an illness in China. We came home from a regional jaunt and heard, on the news, that people had been identified in the area where we had bee as being diagnosed with the disease. Okay, not long after, there was the respite put into  place. Rather, it was lockdown with rules put into place which went on for a few months. 

We had already been supporting history and genealogy work. Some of this had the flavor of finding paths taken by families as they went west. Or, from our perspective, as they came west. Earlier, we had seen entry into flyover country from several directions. The Ohio River ran from PA down to MO. But, it was Daniel Boone (see post Boone himself and search results - Boone) who figured in a large way. He was involved in the Revolution. Prior to that, though, he had explored westward our of the southern states. 

As we had noted, our focus was on the coast for a long while as we caught up with the 400 years that had passed by. Dr. Frank's work was a launching point bot from the family research and The Massachusetts Magazine which printed for eleven years and was discontinued when the Spanish Flu hit as well as WWI came about. But, we had done some work with families who went west. See Flyover Country, for one. As an aside, we are considering how to update Dr. Frank's work with respect to recent findings brought to us by technology. 

Fortunately, about the time of the pandemic, we were getting more inquires with regard to people coming west. Here are some examples (these posts are not in chronological order): Jedediah Strong Smith; Judge Thompson; Col. T. W. Higginson; and St. Louis as the site of the partitioning efforts. Too, though, we tracked several families that followed Boone west. He, BTW, ended up in MO with his son coming further into KS. 

Boone, wandering

Now, let's look at Boone and what he represented. He was a longhunter. These guys went out on their jaunts for months at a time. And, during that period, they were self-sufficient. When they returned, they brought back information and some artifacts, such a pelts. 

We are talking about the area, for the most part, that was east of the Mississippi River. There were explorers out further west, some from the Candian regions. Jedediah was out in California in the 1830, by foot both his and his steeds. He passed through St. Louis on his way. Later on, as we know, two massive killing periods happened out west: beaver; buffalo. 

The numbers of venturers was small. But, where Boone was, a Cherokee chief by 1769 was complaing about the influx of the long hunters. Mainly, they were noisy. And, other stories abound. 

But, getting to our interests, we are finally concentrating on Tennessee. It is a huge state. All together, it touches nine states. Its northern neighbor, Kentucky, touches seven states. We follow families who went west through both of those areas. Too, their border was a dividing line during the U.S. Civil War. We have not discussed that topic in detail, yet, but intend to at some point. Since we're in KS, there is a pre-civil-war history involved with families in the area. 

Back to the longhunters, they are similar in spirit to those who sailed the seas as we saw with New England. We had an earlier post (Final migration) that quoted authors on the subject. There were many trails west, as the railroads later showed us. Jedediah, in CA, had travels that map out the current highway system. Culturally, we would point the travels of the Native Americans over their long time on the continent. 

Other types of early travelers have been touched upon during our research. About a century before the area depicted in the Flower Moon movie, a mission was established in SE KS to aid the Osage and, eventually, other tribes brought into the area. Several local sites were the local for negotiations and treaty agreements. 

Back east, the history goes back 400 years. In the interior, we are talking the long reach of New England over a 250-year period. A lot of families arrived later; but, many carry the history int heir genes over the entire period. Both require attention. So, there's no end to research. 

Lately, we have had a focus on CA, for several reasons. Some of the interest has to do with family being there early. But, we have seen lots of older photos being brought to the fore. Recently, we did a post about a photo taken in downtown LA in the 1880s. We have one from this week to add. But, the area of the photo was where Butterfield had his stage coming into the area prior to going up to San Francisco. His first arrival was in the 1850s. Change is on theme. Some things remain. Many, most do not. 

Society needs its adventurers. Of late, there are new types that we will be discussing. Despite that, we still need the old ways for many reasons. 

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Example? Technology has developed a thrust and lust for the virtual. That theme needs constant attention for several reasons. One deals with the respect for the land and the people involved across all of the time frames that will be associated with the U.S. and its history. 

Now, AI and even AIn't? History can be retold in more interesting ways using technology. Yet, the truth of the matter remains an open issue that hopefully we'll be able to address more fully if we determine the necessity as we ought. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/27/2024

01/27/2024 --