Daniel Boone TV show historical accuracy

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Season 6, episode 1: A few words about John Chapman, aka "Johnny Appleseed," played here by Roger Miller. He wasn't born until 1774, and considering that Season 1 was 1775, at one year per season this should still be only 1780 so Johnny should be about five years old here. Israel Boone was fifteen years older than Johnny Appleseed. Johnny did not start his apple seed journeys until 1806, which is still within the boundaries pushed by the series, which included events as late as 1807. Johnny traveled far and wide but never to Kentucky. To my knowledge there is no record of Johnny being musical. He was legendary for many things including wearing a cooking pot on his head, not depicted here, although he carries a couple of cooking pots which clang together.
The Daniel Boone series was never good at closely following the exact history timeline or historical accuracies. It was/is still a good show for entertainment, and I still like it overall.
 
Did they ever say exactly what year(s) or time period specifically show was supposed to be happening in? It seems like that tried to fit 25-30 years of events into that little time on the frontier.That son of his (Isreal?) sure saw alot of history. They even got to meet Abraham Lincoln's parents. And what became of his daughter, Jeminah? She seems to have gotten written of the show. Was there ever an explanation on that show of what happened?
I believe it was implied that Jemimah got married and moved away. Still, it was odd that they never even mentioned her in the series after that.
 
Apparently there was a feud between Patricia Blair who played Becky and Veronica Cartwright who played Jemima. It was a "Either she goes or I go" situation. Needless to say, Blair got her way.

In reality, Jemima was captured by Indians along with other girls from the settlement. Of course, a party was sent out with Daniel leading. They rescued the girls and Jemima married one of those men. I read the story where she tells the other girls, "That's my Pa's rifle" as she hears it in the distance. She used that same line in one of the episodes.

Based on the names chiseled in the obelisk at Fort Boonesborough, Becky (Betsy) and Daniel had and raised many more children than the two on the show.
I believe Daniel and Rebecca had 10 children. At least 2 of them were killed by Indians.
 
My previously-posted moaning about B-Westerns; saw a movie recently (don't recall name!) but it was escaped Confederates again, but almost every darned guy in it had routine, off-the-hook, costume room WESTERN clothing on, with Cartridge Belts, cartridges in the loops, right out of a routine Western; but it was STILL THE CIVIL WAR! I can't stand those, and there are a few like that. Only a couple of oldsters characters had actual clothing looking like 1860's.
 
I got my start in this horrible addiction from this show, watched a whole summer then got a paper route and met the pressroom foreman who had just got a TC Hawking and took me out. Was HOOKED! Then a few months into winter the camera man needed Christmas Money an sold me his CVA .45 KY kit which I built. 10 Year olds don't know what cosmoline is so they leave it in the barrel. Takes 2+ hrs to fire the first time with that left in the barrel. Still hooked. Still occasionally see the Pressroom foreman and talk guns. He about out of BP and into lever guns now. Had an insanely fun childhood at the AZ Daily Sun! Married the business editor. She is SWMBO even yet. Getting wise to my ways. Felt VERY lucky to get the Renegade in without getting caught few days after Christmas!

Fess Parker! I tried for years to split a pine tree with an AX till pop seen me and warned me about gangrene and promised it could not be done.
I once hung a cast iron skillet from a tree branch and was shooting it with a smoothbore. It worked great until mom caught me. (I was 14 years old). I got into a lot of trouble and she never used that skillet again.
 
I believe it was implied that Jemimah got married and moved away. Still, it was odd that they never even mentioned her in the series after that.
No, Jemima was utterly Chuck Cunninghamed. Her absence was not explained or hinted at in any way (neither was Mingo's for that matter). Jemima was never seen after Season 2. A little ways into Season 3, Daniel continued to refer to his "children," plural--Rebecca never did--and then it was dropped and Israel was an only child. Mingo was not seen after Season 4 and it was never explained what happened to him either.
 
I read of one of the early heros, Boone or maybe Ethan Allen (a distant relative) was away from home for a year or so and came back to a new 9 month old baby. I wish I could remember where I read it but it was pretty well documented that it was all in the family.
Ya that was Dan. It seems his wife thought him dead and accepted the comfort of his brother Squire. A daughter resulted. It seems Boone didn’t resent the wife or brother for this conduct and raised the girl as his own
The book Boone by
James Alexander Thom covers this event nicely.
 
I read of one of the early heros, Boone or maybe Ethan Allen (a distant relative) was away from home for a year or so and came back to a new 9 month old baby. I wish I could remember where I read it but it was pretty well documented that it was all in the family.
That was Daniel Boone. He was gone for twenty months and came back to find his wife with a baby much too young to be his. He asked whose baby it was and she admitted it was hers. It turned out his wife and brother had believed him dead and got together to console one another. Daniel said, "The name's the same, it's all the same," and accepted Jemima (who was the baby) as his daughter and referred to and treated her as such. He also harbored no ill feelings against his brother. This is naturally not included in kids' biographies of Boone. BTW in the series Daniel seems to have no relatives other than Rebecca and the kids, when in reality at least some siblings lived nearby with whom he interacted on a regular basis.
 
Ya that was Dan. It seems his wife thought him dead and accepted the comfort of his brother Squire. A daughter resulted. It seems Boone didn’t resent the wife or brother for this conduct and raised the girl as his own
The book Boone by
James Alexander Thom covers this event nicely.
We were giving the exact same answer at the same time.
 
Ya that was Dan. It seems his wife thought him dead and accepted the comfort of his brother Squire. A daughter resulted. It seems Boone didn’t resent the wife or brother for this conduct and raised the girl as his own
The book Boone by
James Alexander Thom covers this event nicely.
Speaking of no resentment it seems Daniel also didn't go after the Native American who seemed to befriend his oldest son James and then tortured and killed him.
 
Now I'm really confused! About Jemima in post 129. How could it be?

;)
Jemima was never mentioned by name after her last appearance on the show. Darby Hinton, who played Israel, did not learn of the reason she left until they met for the 50th anniversary. Ed Ames, who played Mingo, left to pursue his singing career and was never mentioned again either. People had a way of disappearing and sometimes reappearing. Cincinnatus was absent from some episodes and several storekeepers/barkeepers minded the store, a different one every week, then he came back. His disappearance and reappearance was never remarked on.
 
Just be glad it featured Flintlocks. The normal TV practice of the time would have had them using Trapdoor Springfields.
 
I read some time back that Fess Parker was actually jealous of Ed Ames because Mingo got more fan mail each week. He was so jealous that he tried to get him removed from the show by having the network put Ed Ames in his own spinoff and naming it "Mingo." I don't know if there is any truth there or not. I loved watching it as a kid and now I have the complete series on DVD and still love it as much, regardless of the inaccuracies.
 
I read some time back that Fess Parker was actually jealous of Ed Ames because Mingo got more fan mail each week. He was so jealous that he tried to get him removed from the show by having the network put Ed Ames in his own spinoff and naming it "Mingo." I don't know if there is any truth there or not. I loved watching it as a kid and now I have the complete series on DVD and still love it as much, regardless of the inaccuracies.
That is a cruel and untrue rumor. Ed Ames left to pursue his singing career. Period.
 
Back
Top