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Maria (or Marie) Boone, mother of Caroline (Boone) Berry, was born in Kentucky in 1819, most likely as a slave. Berry oral tradition recounts that Maria was enslaved on the plantation of Nathan Boone and gave birth to at least one child—Caroline—fathered by Nathan Boone. Census records indicate that in 1850 and 1860, Nathan Boone’s eldest son James "owned" a female slave matching Maria's age. This woman appears to have given birth to mulatto twins in about 1850 in Polk County, Missouri, where Caroline’s son said she was born. However, the first definite record of Maria Boone is the 1880 census, where she is listed as a widow, living with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren in Ash Grove, Missouri. Maria died thirteen years later, at the age of 73 (Russel 2012).
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Maria Boone. Ozarks Afro-American History Museum Online, accessed February 3, 2022, https://oaahm.omeka.net/items
/show/146.
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Maria Boone, date unknown
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Grave Marker: The grave marker for Maria Boone is a cross vault obelisk style monument. Both the monument and its base are limestone. Excluding the base, the monument is 23 x 6 x 6 inches in size. The base is 11 x 14 x 11 inches in size. By 2010, the upper portion of the monument had detached from the base. In 2017, with funding from the Phenix Marble Co., the upper portion was re-attached to the base of the monument. Text is engraved on the west face of the monument, and the surname "BOONE" is inscribed on the west side of the base. Images are engraved on the north and south sides of the top of the obelisk.
The gravestone and base in 2010, before repair.
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Text on west face of monument:
MARIA BOONE born Aug. 5, 1819 died Dec. 19, 1893 --- BOONE 
West face of monument
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