Olive Vanbibber, wife of Nathan Boone

Olive Vanbibber was the youngest child of Peter Vanbibber II and Marjory Bounds – or Margery or “Major” – depending on how you wish to spell her name or refer to her. At some point following the death of Peter Vanbibber II, Marjory and Olive removed to Ohio, then known as the Northwest Territory to live with Peter Vanbibber III. Peter lived north of the Ohio River near the mouth of the Big Sandy River, south and west of present-day Gallipolis, Ohio and Point Pleasant, WV.

It was at this location where a young Nathan Boone, youngest son of Daniel and Rebecca Boone, came to collect young Olive. From that point they traveled to a fort in Kentucky where they were married and thereafter set out on foot with a herd of ponies for a point west of St. Louis, Missouri, I believe now known as Ash Grove. The date of their marriage is provided as 1799.

I am bereft of details at this point but what I do know is that Olive’s brother Peter Vanbibber III left his land along the Ohio River and settled in (possibly) Ripley County, Indiana. I say “possibly” because it is from Ripley County that on 11 November 1833 that he applied for a soldier’s pension (Fold 3, about 14 pages). When he removed to Indiana, I do not know. But his mother Marjory left his household and went to Missouri to live with daughter Olive and son-in-law, Col. Nathan Boone.

Marjory died on 22 JULY 1844 in Ash Grove, Greene, Missouri. She was 104 years old.

Obituary: Marjory Bounds Vanbibber
from: Missouri Republican; MO History Museum Library and Research Center