The History of Kentucky

Harriet Morgan Boone (1794-1861), the granddaughter of pioneer Daniel Boone (1734-1820), owned this copy of Humphrey Marshall’s history of Kentucky.   One of the first histories of the Bluegrass State, it was published just as Kentucky’s pioneering generation – people like Harriet’s grandfather – were passing away. Included in this copy is a rare plate depicting a scene from Boone’s life, in which he and his cohorts “were suddenly met on the side of a Cane-Break, and immediately fired upon…. An Indian, as their custom was, rushed upon Stewart, and with one hand wound in the hair of his head, and the other grasping a knife, took his scalp.”