The traditional illustration of David Barton. Some historians question the image’s authenticity. [Howard L. Conard, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Southern History Co., 1901)]

David Barton was born near Greenville, North Carolina, now in eastern Tennessee, on…

Henry Marvin Belden. [University of Missouri Archives, Collection C:1/141/6]

Henry Marvin Belden, a pioneer in the study of Missouri balladry and song, was born October…

French artist Louis-Leopold Boilly’s rendering of members of an Osage traveling party in Europe, including Big Soldier (at right). [Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, object # S/NPG.2011.5]

Big Soldier, a Little Osage war leader, was probably born in 1773 in a village near the…

 Morris Birkbeck. [Morris Birkbeck and George Flower, History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois (Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1882)]

An early pioneer-farming expert and author, Morris Birkbeck exerted an enormous influence…

Karl Bodmer circa 1877. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-50540]

Among the early artists to explore the trans-Mississippi River frontier, Karl Bodmer’s stay…

Lilburn Boggs. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N11644]

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, on December 14, 1792, Lilburn W. Boggs became one of the most…

Lewis Bogy. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, LC-DIG-cwpbh-00128]

Born in Ste. Genevieve on April 9, 1818, as a descendant of early French…

Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N38643]

Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was born in Paris, France, in 1796. His father, a…

Daniel Boone. Boone sat for artist Chester Harding shortly before his death in 1820. It is the only known portrait of Boone painted from life. [National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.2015.102]

Daniel Boone is most commonly known as a hunter, trapper, and frontier settler, but he also…

This lunette in the Missouri State Capitol, painted by Victor Higgins, depicts the sons of Daniel Boone manufacturing salt at Boone’s Lick in central Missouri. [Missouri State Archives, Ken Raveill Collection, MS386, 004-030]

Daniel Morgan Boone was born on December 23, 1769, the seventh child of