the State Historical Society of Missouri
![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)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-07/1.%20David%20Barton.jpg?h=f781cce3&itok=1vsKYmtb "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 December 14, 1783. He was…
![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]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Big-Soldier.jpg?h=86a29125&itok=SubP6M24 "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 Missouri River, in…
![Frederic L. Billon. [Billon, Annals of St. Louis in Its Territorial Days from 1804 to 1821 (St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1888), frontispiece]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Frederic-Billon.jpg?h=1128d52b&itok=O2ASotLW "Frederic L. Billon. [Billon, Annals of St. Louis in Its Territorial Days from 1804 to 1821 (St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1888), frontispiece]")
Frederic L. Billon’s amateur antiquarian pursuits in the mid-nineteenth century resulted in…
![Morris Birkbeck. [Morris Birkbeck and George Flower, History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois (Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1882)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Morris-Birkbeck.jpg?h=c9fefaae&itok=Lsvu56gN "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…
![Daniel Bissell. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, Portraits, N38584]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Daniel-Bissell.jpg?h=a09a8e46&itok=sWzc640r "Daniel Bissell. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, Portraits, N38584]")
The builder and commandant of Fort Bellefontaine, General Daniel Bissell served with…
![Bollinger’s Mill. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-highsm-65211]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-07/1.%20George%20Frederick%20Bollinger.jpg?h=2e7ead55&itok=rso3eV9U "Bollinger’s Mill. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-highsm-65211]")
A group of German-Swiss immigrants landed in Philadelphia in 1710 and settled in southeast…
![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]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-12/1.%20Daniel%20Boone.jpg?h=edafc073&itok=DQIaObCl "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]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-01/1.%20Daniel%20Morgan%20Boone.jpg?h=92b7ab8c&itok=BifpiXWB "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 …
![Nathan Boone. The date of the photo is unknown. [State Historical Society of Missouri, R. L. Hosman Collection (P0925)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-01/1.%20Nathan%20Boone.jpg?h=4253ce28&itok=IjWRbAYP "Nathan Boone. The date of the photo is unknown. [State Historical Society of Missouri, R. L. Hosman Collection (P0925)]")
Nathan Boone, the youngest child of Daniel and Rebecca Bryan Boone, was born on March 2, 1781, at Boone’s…
![A 1911 State Highway Department map of the Boone’s Lick Road and Santa Fe Trail. [State Historical Society of Missouri Map Collection, 850 M691h 1911]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-05/1.-boones-lick-road.jpg?itok=KLOxhlwD "A 1911 State Highway Department map of the Boone’s Lick Road and Santa Fe Trail. [State Historical Society of Missouri Map Collection, 850 M691h 1911]")
The Boone’s Lick Road was the first major conduit to the trans-Mississippi West after the …