One cannot understand one's family's history without considering the history of their locale and time. That my great grandfather, Daniel Ratcliffe Boone, arrived in Lonoke in the early years of its incorporation was no mystery. The city archives are rich with his history. He left his mark as an early city mayor, founder of D.R. Boone & Son Drugs, President of the now defunct Bank of Arkansas, and superintendent of the Lonoke School District.  What was left unanswered was how he arrived in this frontier town, leaving a well established family in Hernando, Mississippi. Unknown to my family until recently was an even earlier arrival of his father Capt. William J.A. Boon in the early 1880's.

William John Abner Boon was the first son of a prominent family in Johnston County North Carolina. He was born in the town Boon Hill (now Princeton) on September 24, 1821. His father Daniel and mother Sarah were planters in North Carolina. His grandfather was Joseph Boon who served as a U. S. Senator from North Carolina in 1787. Daniel (no direct kinship known to the frontiersman Daniel) was a staunch Baptist who was frequently referred to as Revernd Boon. He had been one of the founders and trustee of Wake Forest College in 1833, later to become a well known university. William was among the first class and studied and lived in Wake Forest, North Carolina from 1833-1841. He married a young girl of 16, my great-great grandmother Augusta in 1846.  Shortly after his graduation his and his entire immediate family moved to Mississippi sometime around 1837 with the large migration that followed after the last of the  Choctaw Indianland treaty had been signed and the available land resulted in a relatively large migration of North Carolinians to Mississippi


Though it has been over 100 years since his death  WJA perhaps arrived  to escape his debtors in De Soto County Mississippi. We now know that his close friend, Dr. Lemuel Hall, was already in Lonoke with his medical practice before his arrival. Dr. Hall had served under Capt. Boon as leutenant of Company D of the 1st Mississippi Regiment, also known as the "DeSoto Greys". Togeather they fought  numerous campaigns with General Beale in Mississippi, Tennessee, Ft. Donelson until their surrender in a campaign in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Captain Boon never really gave up hope on the Confederate Staes cause. After the war he returned to his family plantation in Hernando still paying his debtors with worthless confederate bills. If it weren't for his family having buried their valuables during General Grant's march to Vicksburg, the family would have been certainly impoverished after the war. Rebuilding his life in Hernando was too costly. Foolishly he bought confederate bills from others who were more than willing to dispose of the worthless note. Perhaps he thought that the bills would be restored with the Confederacy in time. 

The details of his departure from Hernando was quick as there are no records found from that town at that time. It is known that he moved to Lonoke where his former leutenant, Dr. Hall, was in practice. It is also now known that his son, D.R. Boone arrived around the same time or shortly after. There was probably very little time left for him as his obituary lists the cause of death as "Malignant Carbuncle" which claimed his life on July 13, 1885. His burial at the Lonoke City Cemetery was in  Dr. Hall's family plot. His  marker , next to the grave of Dr. Hall has languished over the years. The lawn had covered his grave marker so effectively that later Lonoke family probably had only a vague family history that he was buried 'somewhere' in the cemetery until even that was forgotten in time. I discovered it only after finding Dr. Hall's grave. Capt. Boon's marker was barely visible. The flat marker had crumbled, and the only inscription read "WJA Boon 1821-1885" in small letters was readable. Incidently, the grave of D.R. Boone's infant son Wellington Boone was next to his grandfather. Currently I am arranging for a replacement marker for both.