25 Facts About James Harrod

James Harrod was possibly underage when he served in the French and Indian War, and later participated in Lord Dunmore's War.

James Harrod rose to the rank of colonel in the local militia.

In 1792, James Harrod disappeared while on a hunting trip in the wilderness.

James Harrod was born in Bedford County, Province of Pennsylvania, a British Royal Colony, now Bedford County, Pennsylvania, as one of twelve children born to John and Sarah Moore Harrod.

James Harrod grew up a frontiersman, and became particularly adept at hunting, trapping, and fishing.

The family relocated to Fort Littleton, where James Harrod served as a ranger and a guard.

Early sources record that James Harrod was illiterate, but Klotter points out that he is known to have kept written records and possessed books in his house.

In 1763, James Harrod joined Henry Bouquet in his relief of Fort Pitt during Pontiac's Rebellion.

James Harrod spent some time with the Indians in the area, and learned to speak their languages as well.

In 1774, James Harrod was ordered by Lord Dunmore to lead an expedition to survey the bounds of land promised by the British crown to soldiers who served in the French and Indian War.

The men divided the land amongst them; James Harrod chose an area about six miles from the settlement proper, which he named Boiling Springs.

Just as James Harrod's men had completed the settlement's first structures, Dunmore dispatched Daniel Boone to call them back from the frontier and into military service against the Indians in Lord Dunmore's War.

In 1778, James Harrod married Ann Coburn McDonald at Logan's Station, a settlement established by fellow explorer Benjamin Logan.

James Harrod successfully opposed Richard Henderson's colonization schemes for the area.

In 1777, James Harrod became a justice in Kentucky County, and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1779.

James Harrod became increasingly socially detached and went to make long, solitary excursions into the wilderness.

Several other theories hinge on the idea that James Harrod abandoned his family and went to another part of the country.

Ann James Harrod offered the men one thousand dollars to take her to James Harrod's location, but the men declined, stating that the trip was too dangerous.

Wilson claimed that James Harrod told him "You will not see me here again," and that years later, someone had claimed to have seen James Harrod in the northern United States.

Ann James Harrod claimed that she had warned her husband that she feared that Bridges was planning to murder him because of a dispute over some property that the two had some years earlier.

James Harrod allowed a fellow explorer and friend, Michael Stoner, to accompany him on the trip.

When James Harrod did not return, Bridges offered to look for him.

James Harrod soon returned and claimed that he had seen fresh signs of Indian activity in the woods, and was sure Harrod must have been killed.

The shopkeeper sent the buttons to Ann James Harrod, who said they belonged to her husband.

Later, while searching the area where James Harrod was last seen, some of James Harrod's friends found some bones in a cave.