On Thursday, March 15, 2018, Becky Park will present “Jemima Boone” in the Archives and History Library in the Culture Center in Charleston. The program will begin at 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Jemima Boone (1762-1834) was the fourth child of Rebecca and Daniel Boone and lived to the age of 67. She would remember her youth when her parents attempted, failed, and finally succeeded in settling in Kentucky, and she lived to see her parents’ last days in Missouri.
In 1776, she and two other girls were kidnapped by Shawnee warriors almost within sight of the fort on the Kentucky River. The story of their rescue provided the basis of the famous novel, The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper. Jemima was the only family member who chose to remain at Boonesborough while her father was captive of the Shawnees in 1777, and she alone of his children took part in the defense of Boonesborough and then witnessed her father’s court-martial and exoneration.
Becky Park has developed dramatic portrayals of several regional settler women, including Sudnar Carpenter Tanner, who settled Spencer with her husband Samuel; Rhoda Ingles, who tells the story of her mother Mary Draper Ingles; and both Rebecca Bryan Boone, wife of Daniel, and daughter Jemima Boone Callaway. Park is also known for her portrayal of World War II hero Col. Ruby Bradley, a native of Roane County, who was a prisoner of the Japanese and career Army nurse.
Park will also lead a discussion on how reading the archives in terms of a person’s life story can bring the pages alive for researchers. Becky Mason Park grew up in Charleston, raised four children in Roane County, and now lives on the West Side with her husband Andy.
Participants may park behind the Culture Center after 5:00 p.m. on March 15 and enter the building at the back loading dock area. There also is limited handicapped parking available in the new bus turnaround.
For additional information, contact the Archives and History Library at (304) 558-0230.
