An artist’s drawing of Daniel Boone leading settlers across the Appalachian Mountains. Some have hypothesized that the man in the right is Michael Stoner.

Michael Stoner was born in 1748 in what is now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. At about sixteen years of age, he left Pennsylvania, and traveled to Virginia where he met Daniel Boone. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

In 1774 Governor Dunmore of Virginia commissioned both to warn the surveyors in Tennessee and Kentucky of Indian outbreaks. They made the journey to the falls of the Ohio River and back in 62 days. In the spring of 1775, Boone and Stoner marked and cut the road to Fort Boonesborough that Stoner helped build and defend.

In 1780 Michael Stoner took part in the Battle of Kings Mountain. He also fought and was wounded in the Battle of Blue Licks. He was present at the taking of Vincennes by General Clark and may have been with Clark on all of his campaigns.

In 1786 Michael Stoner married Frances Tribble, a daughter of Andrew Tribble, who rendered patriotic service. They settle in Clark County, Kentucky. By 1797, Kentucky was becoming too thickly settled for Stoner, who felt hemmed in if he could see the smoke from his neighbor's chimney. He moved down the river to Pulaski County, now Wayne County near Monticello.

In 1808, Daniel Boone sent word to Stoner to come and visit him. They went up the Missouri River hunting and trapping. Boone became ill and turned back, but Stoner kept on going up river 1,600 miles above any habitation. After this, his last hunt, he returned home.

Michael Stoner died in 1815 and was buried in Wayne County, Kentucky.

To read more on Michael Stoner, visit The man behind Dan’l Boone and Michael Stoner: The Frontiersman Who Was Always There.