Thomas Boone

Thomas Boone (c. 1730 – 25 September 1812) was the 7th Royal Governor of New Jersey and the 28th Royal Governor of South Carolina. The New Jersey town of Boonton (Boone Town, Booneton) is named in his honour. Early life Boone was born in England in 1730 or 1731. His father, Charles Boone, was a merchant with interests in the East Indies whose family also included major landowners in the Province of South Carolina, and his mother, Elizabeth Garth Boone, was from a military family from County Durham. The extended family was well connected to the politically powerful Duke of Newcastle. Thomas' older brother Charles served in Parliament for many years, married into the wealthy and powerful Crowley family, and was a friend of Horace Walpole. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, Boone came to South Carolina in 1752 to claim title and lands he had inherited from the Boone and Colleton families. He traveled to England in 1754, and returned to South Carolina in 1758, at which time he married Sarah Ann Tattnall Perroneau. Political career Possibly through the influence of his brother Charles, Boone was appointed Governor of New Jersey in 1759, but he did not arrive in New Jersey until 10 May 1760. He did not meet with the colonial assembly until 30 October 1760. Six months later, he was appointed Governor of South Carolina. He arrived in Charleston in December 1761, and replaced acting governor William Bull II.