County of marker: St. Charles County
Location of marker: MO-94, Boone's Judgement Tree Memorial, Matson
Marker erected: 1999
Erected by: Peggy Bradbury, the Town of Matson
Historian: Ken Kamper
"Two hundred years ago, the real Daniel Boone was seventy-five years old. He and his family had just recently moved to the wilderness area west of the Mississippi River, and settled along the Missouri River. At that time he was already recognized as one of America's foremost legends. He personally knew George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and ranked only behind Washington in recognition as one of America's early heroes.
"In the years since Daniel Boone's arrival to Missouri, memories of who he was and what he did have faded into oblivion. Myths have been created to replace the truths, and the important historic events in our history books have been replaced by the modern recessionary history. Instead of protecting our heritage records with accurate history, America's history scholars have failed to search out the history facts. As a result of all of these things, we now know much less about Daniel Boone than was known two hundred years ago.
"Well, he was a man of nearly impeccable character. He had courage to a fault (ignored fear), was very compassionate, totally honest, and because he knew the ways of the Indians and the Indian's means for survival in the wilderness, people on the frontier were totally willing to trust him with their lives. He was the quick-type, natural leader along the frontier.
"Daniel Boone was America's first non-European explorer. He was an exceptional hunter, marksman, path-maker and pathfinder, the epitome of man's challenge with nature, the colonizer, soldier, civil servant, and humanitarian. He is noted in accepted accounts for being captured several times by Indians and escaping, for healing the wounded, for rescuing children taken into Indian captivity, for rescuing white men who had been lost, and for relating to Indians as friends in peaceful times. In all things,
Daniel Boone represented a good image for others to follow.
"Famous persons who came along later, such as Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett, and Abraham Lincoln, all found some degree of acceptance and recognition as backwoods images due to the earlier acceptance of Daniel Boone. In Boone's image and way of life, and the legendary recognition of it, we still see his influences in how we hunt, camp, and explore in nature, and when we travel we still follow Boone's trails with our modern highways. As and example of his influence, much of the image and character traits of Daniel Boone were instilled into the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905. Soon after this group was united with the YMCA group called the Tribe of Woodcraft Indians, to form the foundation for the Boy Scouts of America.
"The many counties, creeks, towns, streets, and other locations across America weren't created in the image of Walt Disney's Daniel Boone TV show, they were created many years earlier based on a respect for the legendary Daniel Boone, in who's example and image many Americans continue to accept life's challenges."
by Ken Kamper, Boone Historian, 1770 Little Bay Road, Hermann, MO 65041
"Although most historians end their stories of Boone in Kentucky, that is hardly the end of Daniel Boone's story, or the story of the tremendous impact that he had on America and Europe. Even today, Boone's doings are part of our way of life in ways we seldom recognize.
"Boone spent his last 20 years of life here in Missouri, a life filled with adventure almost to the end. He was buried nearby, and may be here still. For sure, his heart was buried in Missouri soil." ~ Peggy Bradbury