Hugh McGary brought his family to Kentucky in the spring of 1775 as members of a party of settlers led by Daniel Boone. The family was a blended one, comprised of Hugh, aged 31, his wife Mary Buntin Ray McGary, aged 40, her three sons by her first husband, James (aged 14), William (aged 12) and John (aged 10), as well as her children by Hugh, Robert (aged 8), Daniel (aged 4) and Mary Ann (aged 1). They travelled in a large party of settlers, some well known to them as either relatives or friends, others perhaps less familiar. There may have been slaves in the party as well as Hugh McGary is recorded as a slaveowner in later records. They brought with them a substantial amount of livestock, including 40 horses by one account. Parting company from Boone and others who headed to Fort Boonesborough in present day Madison County, the McGarys and at least two other families set out for the James Harrod Boiling Spring settlement in present day Boyle County, Kentucky. At this point, the party experienced an all-too- familiar predicament—they became lost. Leaving the older boys at the mouth of Gilbert’s Creek with the livestock, the rest of the party pushed forward to find their destination, promising to return in a few days. The time stretched to two weeks before McGary could retrieve the boys and the livestock. This incident underscores a common condition of the frontier: settlers were in unfamiliar territory with only oral instructions and perhaps a few crudely drawn maps to guide them. They eventually settled at the site of Fort Harrod in present Mercer County, Kentucky, on September 8, 1775, some five months after the Revolutionary War began. Numerous families congregating at defensible forts or stations was standard procedure for Kentucky settlers during the war; this communal style of living provided safety in numbers and sanctuary for incoming settlers prior to the establishment of their
Hugh McGary brought his family to Kentucky in the spring of 1775 as members of a party of settlers led by Daniel Boone. The family was a blended one, comprised of Hugh, aged 31, his wife Mary Buntin Ray McGary, aged 40, her three sons by her first husband, James (aged 14), William (aged 12) and John (aged 10), as well as her children by Hugh, Robert (aged 8), Daniel (aged 4) and Mary Ann (aged 1). They travelled in a large party of settlers, some well known to them as either relatives or friends, others perhaps less familiar. There may have been slaves in the party as well as Hugh McGary is recorded as a slaveowner in later records. They brought with them a substantial amount of livestock, including 40 horses by one account. Parting company from Boone and others who headed to Fort Boonesborough in present day Madison County, the McGarys and at least two other families set out for the James Harrod Boiling Spring settlement in present day Boyle County, Kentucky. At this point, the party experienced an all-too- familiar predicament—they became lost. Leaving the older boys at the mouth of Gilbert’s Creek with the livestock, the rest of the party pushed forward to find their destination, promising to return in a few days. The time stretched to two weeks before McGary could retrieve the boys and the livestock. This incident underscores a common condition of the frontier: settlers were in unfamiliar territory with only oral instructions and perhaps a few crudely drawn maps to guide them. They eventually settled at the site of Fort Harrod in present Mercer County, Kentucky, on September 8, 1775, some five months after the Revolutionary War began. Numerous families congregating at defensible forts or stations was standard procedure for Kentucky settlers during the war; this communal style of living provided safety in numbers and sanctuary for incoming settlers prior to the establishment of their