His father had deceased intestate, and, in virtue of the laws then in
force, the whole extensive inheritance of his father's lands descended
to him, to the exclusion of his brothers and sisters. His example ought
to be recorded for the benefit of those grasping children in these days,
who, dead to all natural affection, and every sentiment but avarice,
seize all that the law will grant, whether equity will sanction it or
not. Disregarding this claim of primogeniture, he insisted that the
whole inheritance should be parceled into equal shares, of which he
accepted only his own. But the generous impulses of his noble nature,
were not limited to the domestic circle. His heart was warm with the
more enlarged sentiments of patriotism. At the age of twenty-one, he
accompanied Colonel Beauquette, as a serjeant, in a hostile expedition
against the Indians of the north. Having provided for the comfortable
settlement of his mother and family on James River, Virginia, he moved
to the Holston, where he settled and married.
Having been in the expedition of Lord Dunmore against the Indians, and
having thus acquired a taste for forest marches and incident, he
determined, in 1775, to try his fortunes in Kentucky, which country had
then just become a theme of discussion. He set forth from his mother's
family with three slaves, leaving the rest to her. In Powell's valley he
met with Boone, Henderson, and other kindred spirits, and pursued his
journey towards Kentucky in company with them.
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