known and less has been published. Apparently he was a native
of the north of Ireland. In early life he emigrated to the
neighborhood of Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pa., a district
almost wholly settled by Scotch-Irish Protestants. In
February, 1752, we find him a trader among the Shawnees; the
following year, he was robbed and driven off. It is probable
that he served in the Pennsylvania frontier militia from the
opening of the French and Indian War (1754). Boone met him on
the Braddock campaign (1755), and they became fast friends.
Findlay had already (1752) been in Kentucky as far as the
Falls of the Ohio, in the course of his ramblings as a
trader, and inspired Boone with an intense desire to seek this
El Dorado of the West. It was in 1767, when settled near the
head of the Yadkin River, that Boone first tried to reach
Kentucky by way of the Sandy, but failed. In the winter of
1768-69, Findlay, now a peddler, with a horse to carry his
traps, appeared at Boone's cabin on the Yadkin, and the two
old comrades had a happy time rehearsing their various
adventures during the thirteen years of separation. An
expedition to Kentucky was agreed upon, and the party set
out from Boone's cabin, May 1, 1769; it was composed of
Findlay, now advanced in years, Daniel Boone, the latter's
brother-in-law, John Stuart, and three Yadkin neighbors,
Joseph Holden, James Mooney, and William Cooley. The story of
their expedition through Cumberland Gap, and their long hunt,
is now familiar to readers of Western history. Their
principal camp was probably on Red Lick Fork of Station Camp
Creek. In December, Stuart and Boone were captured by
Indians, but escaped early in January (1770), and on
rejoining their comrades on Rockcastle River found that
Daniel's brother, Squire, had arrived with fresh horses and
traps from the North Carolina home; and with him was
Alexander Neely, whom Squire had found on New (Great
Kanawha) River. Findlay, Holden, Mooney, and Cooley now
elected to return home, leaving the others to spend a longer
period in Kentucky; Findlay took the left-hand road through the
West Virginia settlements, to Pennsylvania, and the others,
turning to the right, wended their