My fifth great-granduncle married the grand-niece of legendary frontiersman 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗻𝗲 on October 4, 1810. A decade later, Boone sat for his first ever portrait at the age of 85. He had to be steadied by a friend while famed American portraitist Chester Harding painted him in June 1820. The original oil sketch on canvas (shown here) is from the collection of the Massachussetts Historical Society in Boston. It was the only portrait ever painted of Daniel Boone 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 his lifetime. He died just three months later. Harding created three other portraits based on his original sketch. One is at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. Another is at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. The third was lost. Countless images of America’s first folk hero have been created by other artists over the past two centuries and all were derived from this portrait.