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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