Peter Boone was born near Ash Grove, Missouri in about 1850. Peter Boone began life enslaved, as chattel of Nathan Boone. After Nathan Boone’s death in 1856, Peter was sold at auction. This sale inhumanely separated Peter from his siblings and from his mother, Ann Boone. Through this sale, Peter was enslaved by Nathan Boone’s son-in-law, Franklin T. Frazier, for $726.50. In 1869, after emancipation, Peter was living near Ash Grove with his mother Ann and his half-brother known as "D". According to Greene County legal records, on September 26th of that year, Peter and D were arguing over a chicken when Peter shot D in the head. Peter claimed it was an accident but was convicted of murder. Peter was sentenced to 20 years in the Missouri State Penitentiary, where he was living in 1870 according to the 1870 census. Peter must have been granted an early release, because in 1880 he was back in Greene County, living with his mother on a farm near Ash Grove. According to the 1900 census, Peter was still living nearby and working as a day laborer while boarding with a man named Isaac Rector; Peter's mother was absent from the 1900 census, possibly having died. On October 19, 1905, Peter married Caroline Hogan in Ash Grove. In 1910, Peter and Caroline were living in Ash Grove and he was working as a laborer. Peter died on November 25, 1913. According to the local paper, “Rev. Bond conducted the funeral Wednesday afternoon [November 26] and the body was interred in the colored cemetery. Uncle Peter was an honest, upright, man and had the good will of everybody" (Russel 2012).
Grave Marker: Peter Boone's specific place of burial within the Berry Cemetery is unknown and there is no individual headstone for Peter. However, Peter is memorialized by the inscription of his name (shown below) on the new monument, installed in 2017, for individuals interred in unmarked graves in the Berry Cemetery.
