Simon Kenton Farm
Simon Kenton, Kentucky Frontiersman
Simon Kenton lived during a fascinating time in American history that few people know about. As a frontiersman, soldier, and spy, he was close friends with Daniel Boone, saving Daniel's life when Chief Blackfish and 200 Shawnee warriors attacked Boonesborough in Kentucky. Simon was also friends with Davy Crockett, who combined with Daniel Boone and Kit Carson received all the recognition and Kenton's exploits were hardly known.
Born in the Bull Run Mountains (in what was then a part of Prince William County, Virginia) on April 3, 1755 to Mark Kenton and Mary Miller. At the age of 16 Simon had a run in with another young man over a girl they both admired. During a fight, he unleashed a series of savage blows that left his opponent slumped against a sapling with blood running out of his nose and mouth. Fearful that he had killed him, Simon knew that he couldn't go home, well aware of what his fate would be if he were to be caught and convicted of murder.
Fleeing west, Simon had an uncle, Thomas Kenton, who worked as an Ohio River Indian trader out of Fort Pitt. His uncle had told him of a land known as Middle Ground that was full of wild game and cane fields. To conceal his identity, Simon changed his name from Kenton to Butler. Along the way to Fort Pitt he stayed in Warm Springs, Virginia where he worked for a miller, earning enough money to purchase a long rifle and other necessities that he would need to continue his journey. For the next eight years he would be known as Simon Butler.
During his stay at Fort Pitt Simon learned to hunt, trap, read sign, and shoot straight. He served in Lord Dunmore's war as a scout, becoming friends with a young man named Simon Girty, who would change sides and serve with the British and Indians during the Revolution. After having been captured and tortured by the Shawnee Indians and then taken to Fort Detroit by the British, it was Simon Girty who helped Kenton to escape.
During 1779, Simon learned from some of his Virginia friends that the young man he thought he had killed had not died. Changing his name back to Kenton, and after the American Revolution, Simon built a blockhouse on Limestone Creek, near present-day Maysville, KY, and established Kenton's Station. Over the years he acted as a guide for new arrivals traveling down the Ohio River, safely guiding them inland. For this work he was paid in land, acquiring thousands of acres of Kentucky land.
Simon married twice and fathered eight children. His first wife, Martha Dowden, was only 17 years old when they married in February or March of 1787. They lived in a brick house on a 1,000-acre farm in present day Mason County, KY, and had four children. Unfortunately, he lost most of his land to speculators who took advantage of his inability to read or write. Tragedy struck Simon's family on December 13, 1796, when the house caught fire. Martha, who was pregnant, died, leaving Simon with four children. Two years later he remarried 19-year-old, Elizabeth Jarboe, and together they had five children.
In 1794, Simon served under General "Mad" Anthony Wayne during his successful campaign against the Shawnee and Miami tribes. At the dawn of the 19th Century, once the Indian threat was over, he moved his family north to the Ohio territory.
American History
