Squire Boone, brother to the famous pioneer Daniel Boone, first came to present day Shelby County in 1775. He writes, " In the spring of the year 1776, I came again to the same place and took a stone out of the creek and with a mill pick, picked my name in full and the date of the year thereon, and I painted the letter and figures all red from which this tract of land took the name of Painted Stone Station."
It was mid April in 1780 when Squire Boone and Evan Hinton along with 13 families and several single men came to the area. They built a large station with cabins on an acre of land.
One morning in April of 1781, Indians attacked three young men clearing ground outside the station. Other men coming to their aid were also killed. Squire Boone himself was wounded. More and more Indian raids were reported and by the fall the decision had been made to abandon the station.
On the morning of September 13, 1781 the militia came to help evacuate the station. The Indian attack during the move became known as the Long Run Massacre. On the following day 27 men under Col. John Floyd of the Jefferson County militia rode out to bury the dead. The ambush that followed became known as Floyd’s Defeat. Of the 27 men that rode out from Linn’s Station that morning, only 10 returned. Seventeen were either killed or captured.
The life of the founder of The Painted Stone Station.
Squire Boone, Jr. is best known for being the younger brother of Daniel Boone. But he was every bit the explorer and adventurer that his brother was. Squire was born in Oley Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania on Oct. 5, 1744 to Squire Boone, Sr. and Sarah Morgan Boone.
Around the time he was five years old, the family moved to the forks of the Yadkin River in North Carolina. At age 15 he was sent back to Pennsylvania to learn the gunsmith trade. After apprenticing for five years he returned to North Carolina and married Jane Van Cleave (1749-1829). They had five children.
In 1775, Squire and his family joined Daniel at Fort Boonesborough. Before this move, Squire had made several trips into what would become the state of Kentucky, taking provisions and ammunition to Daniel. During the Siege of Fort Boonesborough he was severely wounded in the left shoulder. He was shot in the breast and arm while defending his own station, Painted Stone, several times from Indian attacks. Squire Boone also represented the “County of Kentucky” in the Virginia Legislature.
He will forever be remembered in Shelby County, Ky as the founder of Painted Stone Station, which lies on the banks of Clear Creek. Settling the station in early 1780, it suffered continual harassment from small Indian raids throughout 1781. By late summer there was an increase in Indian sightings. The inhabitants decided to abandon the isolated station and Squire sent a request to the Beargrass Stations for a militia guard to escort the settlers to safety. They were ambushed on September 13, 1781 while trying to make it to Lynn’s Station, near present-day Eastwood, Ky. Squire had stayed behind at the fort, still revering from wounds received earlier in the year.
In 1804/1808 Squire moved to Indiana with his family and five sons of Samuel Boone, his cousin. They formed a settlement in Harrison County, Boone Township. Squire built a mill, made guns in his spare time, and cut out stone from the hillside to build a house. He died in 1815 from heart failure and before this had requested that his body be buried in a nearby cave. He had carved his own casket from walnut trees. His son Enoch later removed his body and reburied his father on his farm (near Fort Knox, Ky) next to Squire’s wife, Jane.
ADDRESS
P. O. Box 1381
Shelbyville, KY 40066
CONTACTS
Email: info@ paintedstonesettlers.org