Shortly after an article about this powder horn
and leather pouch appeared in the April 2004 issue of Compass, Gene
B. Leslie passed away. At the time of his death, he was in possession
of the below pictured powder horn and pouch. His stepson, Richard
Ray, who originally sent the photo for Compass, reports that these
historic artifacts, treasured by the Leslie family since about 1790,
disappeared about the time of Gene Leslie’s 2004 death. Ray
is requesting the Boone Society’s help in locating these items.
April 2004 Compass carried the story about the powder
horn and leather pouch believed to have once belonged to Daniel
Boone. These items were reported to be traded by Boone to William
Robert Leslie in about 1790 in Eastern Kentucky
After Leslie’s death, The
Boone Society was contacted by Tim Albert and he explained, “I
have never seen this horn or bag, but if they were to be proven legitimate,
I would like to make a documented copy of them. I’m a hornsmith
and leather worker, specializing in measured replicas of existing
artifacts. “I
would like to help the Leslie family recover their property. It is
my hope to see the bag and horn and, with permission from the family,
to make a detailed copy of them as they would have been in Daniel’s
day,” says Albert.
These items were offered on Ebay for
$500,000, but no bids were submitted. In explaining the provenance,
Richard Ray said, “Daniel Boone traded it to William Robert
Leslie in about 1790. It has passed from father to son ever since: from
William Robert Leslie to Robert Leslie to James Harvey Leslie
to John Buchanan Leslie to Shirley Hugh Leslie (Shirley was a
male, the father of Gene B. Leslie.) and finally to Gene Bennet
Leslie, my stepfather, recently deceased.” (This lineage
has been verified through census records by Society President
Cochran.) |
“The Horn is covered with carvings,
Boone’s initials, deer, snakes, daisies, geometric figures
and many other things. There is a knife scabbard on the back of the
pouch, continues Ray.”
The
Boone Society is grateful to Tim Albert for his help in researching this
valuable Boone artifact. Albert has also sent to the Boone Society with
the Leslie family’s permission, copies of the family’s history
research. In a November 14, 1951 letter to Mr. Henry P. Scalf, author
of the book, Kentucky’s Last Frontier, Shirley Leslie wrote, “I
own the shot pouch and powder horn. It is in a glass case at the museum
room of the Pikeville College (KY) and I let Mr. Page, President of the
College, keep it until I call for it, on loan.” In retrospect,
it’s a shame that Shirley Leslie removed these Boone artifacts
from the Pikeville College Museum.
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