Without the “e”   

Hello from the staff of the Boonville (Indiana) Standard. We noted with interest a recent column of Thomas Kunkel's that mentioned our home of Warrick County, and some of the local cities and towns (Above the Fold, August/September). Most of the time, when we get attention outside of our own small piece of the world, it's because of something bad, like a deadly tornado or a murder trial. We like a bit of positive ink now and then.

However, we had to take issue with an incorrect note on the lineage of the name of Boonville. It was never "Booneville." It was not named after Daniel Boone. That's a misconception that goes back almost 200 years, when old maps put the extra "e" in "Booneville."

In fact, Boonville was named after Ratliff Boon, a local politician who briefly served as Indiana's interim governor in 1822. Boon picked out the site of the new town, laid out in 1818. The first official record of the town's name that is known — an 1819 application for a liquor license, no less — listed the town as Boonville, with no extra "e" in the middle.

Despite the fact that the name Boone is now far more common than Boon, it didn't start out that way. Ratliff Boon and Daniel Boone were cousins, and it was the Boone side of the family that changed the name. (In his youth, Daniel Boone sometimes spelled his last name without the "e.")

We realize this is all sort of academic, and that even most people in Boonville don't know this history. But we thought we'd set the record straight anyway. By the way, if we find your hawk, we'll tell him you said hello.

Nathan Blackford
Editor
Warrick Publishing Company
Boonville, Indiana