The Sons of Daniel Boone (sometimes the "Society of the Sons of Daniel Boone") was a youth program developed by Daniel Carter Beard in 1905 based on the American Frontiersman. When Dan Beard joined the Boy Scouts of America in 1910 as one of their National Scout Commissioners, he merged his group into the fledging BSA. Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734-September 26, 1820), was a famous United States pioneer and frontiersman who blazed the Wilderness Road and founded Boonesborough, Kentucky (also known as Boonesboro). ... Daniel Carter (Uncle Dan) Beard (June 21, 1850– June 11, 1941) was an American illustrator, author, and social reformer from Covington, Kentucky. ... The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is an organization for boys between the ages of 7 and 18, and for both young men and women between the ages of 14 and 21, based in the United States of America, with some presence in other countries. ...

Boys were organized into "Forts". The officers of the Fort took on names of frontiersman and had specific insignia:

• Daniel Boone’s (President) is a powder-horn
• Simon Kenton's (Vice-president) is a tomahawk
• Kit Carson's (Treasurer) is a flint arrowhead
• John James Audubon's (Librarian) is a bird
• Johnny Appleseed (Forester) has a tree
• David Crockett (Secretary) has a coonskin
• George Catlin, the totem painter, wears a buffalo head on sleeve

The "uniform" of the boy's was based on the fringed buckskin outfit of the frontierman. Simon Kenton Simon Kenton (April 3, 1755-April 29, 1836) , was a famous United States frontiersman and friend of Daniel Boone. ... Tomahawk may refer to: The tomahawk, a type of axe made and used by Native Americans The BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile, built in the United States The Curtiss P-40 fighter aircraft Tomahawk, an alternative rock band fronted by Mike Patton Tomahawk, Wisconsin, a city and Tomahawk (town), Wisconsin... Kit Carson Kit Carson (December 24, 1809–May 23, 1868), born Christopher Houston Carson, was an American frontiersman. ... John James Audubon John James Audubon (April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a Franco-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. ... Johnny Appleseed, Harper’s Magazine, 1871 John Chapman (September 26, 1774 - March, 1845) was an American pioneer and Swedenborgian Christian missionary known as Johnny Appleseed because he planted apple trees in large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. ... Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786–March 6, 1836) was an American folk-hero usually referred to now as Davy Crockett. ... George Catlin was an American Painter (1796-December 23, 1872) who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the American West. ... Buckskin is a color of horses; it also refers to other things that are the color of a buckskin horse, such as the color of some breeds of dogs. ...

There were no ranks or advancement, but boys could earn 'notches' and 'top notches' for achievements in different areas.

Beard first promoted the program in Recreation magazine in 1905. He then moved over to Womans' Home Companion in 1906. When he left that magazine in 1908, he was apparently forced to rename the program "Boy Pioneers" because the magazine felt they owned the name. The name "Boy Pioneers" would continue after 1910 as a program for boys not yet old enough to join the Boy Scouts.

External Sites

• Boy Pioneers on-line copy of the SDB's handbook, published in 1909.
• Boys' Historic Uniforms: The Sons of Daniel Boone/Boy Pioneers