Peter M. Boucher, Jr. (February 11, 1770 — November 1854)
| Parents: |
Peter Boucher, Sr. and Jane Waddell Hans Michael Goodnight and Mary Landis |
| Son: | Isaac D. Boucher |
In 1770, the population of the American colonies was 2,210,000 people. But they were divided people, and many were unhappy with the British rule of the colonies. In 1770 in the Colony of Massachusetts, the Boston Massacre happened, in which a group of British soldiers fired on an anti-Crown mob. John Adams, who would later become the second United States president, represented the troops, most of whom were acquitted, but two of whom were branded and released.
In Loudoun County, in the Colony of Virginia, Francis Lightfoot Lee, a younger brother of Richard Henry Lee, was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Richard Henry Lee was a member of the same house for Westmoreland County. Both agitated for independence from Britain. Francis Lightfoot Lee was later a member of Virginia of the committee that framed the Articles of Confederation.
We do not know where Peter Boucher Jr, Sr., and his wife, Jane Waddell Boucher (both Loudoun County natives), stood on these issues, and we do know. However, they had another focus that year, the birth of Peter Boucher, Jr., on February 11, 1770.
Over seven years later, Peter's future wife, Sarah (Sally) Goodnight, was born on April 6, 1777, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. They married on May 27, 1795, in Mercer County, a small central Kentucky county.[1]
Sometime after that, the young family moved to what is now Allen County, Kentucky. He first appeared in the records there in 1797, when he appeared in the tax records for Warren County, Kentucky. Yes, Warren County. Allen County was formed in 1815 from parts of Barren County and Warren County. Peter lived in the portion formed from Warren County. He also appeared on the 1800 Warren County tax rolls.[2]
Peter and Sally had ten children:
| Nancy Boucher | ||
| Elizabeth (Betsy) Boucher | 1796 | |
| Mary (Polly) Bouche |
March 6, 1798 Allen County, |
November 29, 1860 Lawrence County, Missouri |
| Isaac D. Boucher |
January 29, 1800 Allen County, |
July 5, 1876 Allen County, |
| Cary Boucher |
June 4, 1802 Allen County, |
January 1827 Prob Allen County, Kentucky |
| Jacob A. Boucher |
November 8, 1804 Allen County, |
August 20, 1832 |
| John Goodnight Boucher |
January 22, 1809 Allen County, |
August 6, 1884 Washburn, Missouri |
| Enoch Boucher | August 20, 1832 |
1848 Edmonson County, Kentucky |
| Harrison Boucher |
January 14, 1814 Allen County, |
February 14, 1899 Allen County, Kentucky |
| Lemuel Boucher | February 14, 1816 | 1861 |
In an article in a vanity biography published by a grandson of Peter and Sally,
Peter came to Kentucky with Daniel Boone on his second or third trip and was in the battle of Blue Licks, where the Indians defeated the whites, killing nearly all of them. His horse was killed under him, but he managed to make his escape by bounding upon a horse behind a soldier who was passing. He lived to be ninety-three years of age, his death occurring in Allen County, Ky., in 1856.[3]
The biography continued with Peter's wife:
His wife, Sally (Goodnight) Boucher, was born in 1777 and emigrated with her parents from Germany to Virginia when she was three years of age. They soon moved to Boone Station, Ky., making the trip on ponies, but broke down about a day's journey from the station and were obliged to leave a portion of their goods.[4]
Peter, Sally, and their family appeared in the 1820 census for Allen County, the first for the new County. The records showed that he had in his household two free white boys under the age of ten, two boys and two girls between ten and sixteen, two between 18 and 26, and one (Peter) 45 and older. He also had one white female (Sally), 45 and older.[5]
Allen County, Kentucky deed records showed that Peter Boucher bought a 23-acre property near the Bays fork from Isaac Lee on August 11, 1827. He paid $500 for it. The witnesses on the deed were Peter. Jr.'s son Jacob and his son-in-law John Spilman. The deed was recorded on November 19, 1827."[6]
Peter and Sally's son, Cary, died in January 1827, leaving a daughter, Cary Ann Boucher, who had been born the year before. An abstract of an 1828 deed showed that Peter, Jr. decided to provide well for this infant granddaughter. On May 1, 1828, Peter, Jr.
"for & in consideration of the good will and affection I entertained for my son Cary Boucher deceased.. hereby give . . . unto Caryann Boucher infant heir of the aforesaid CARY decd a . . . parcel of land . . . being in the aforesaid County on the waters of Baysfork and Barren River it being a part of a tract of 2300 acres patented to PETER BOUCHER Senior by the commonwealth of Kentucky . . . bounded . . . corner of JACOB TABERs 80 acre survey . . . containing 70 1/2 acres.[7]
The 1840 Allen County census showed Peter as the head of a household consisting of a boy between 5 and 10, two young men between 20 and 30, and one man between 70 and 80 (Peter). Also in the household was a young woman between 10 and 15, two young women between 20 and 30, and an older woman between 60 and 70 (Sally). There was also enslaved woman between 35 and 55 years old.[8]
Sally died the next year, on February 13, 1841.
The 1850 census showed Peter a final time, four years before his death. This time the information is more detailed. It showed he was an 80-year-old millwright and farmer. He lived alone. His place of birth was listed as "unknown." [9]. The separate 1850 slave schedules showed that he had a fifty-year-old enslaved Black woman in the household.[10]
Peter died in November 1854, several years shy of the 93 years of age the biography mentioned above later claimed. According to one researcher, he died at his family's Kentucky home.[11]