Robert Crum will visit Davie County on Thursday, Sept. 27 to give a presentation on his North Carolina roots and research, titled “Return to the Land of My Ancestors.”

The program is sponsored by the Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society and the Davie County Public Library, and will be held in the Martin-Wall Local History Room of the library.

Growing up in Illinois, Crum was often told by family that he is a direct descendant of the explorer and “Father of Kentucky” Daniel Boone and his wife Rebecca Bryan. After moving to North Carolina in 1989, he realized he was living and walking in the same places as his Boone and Bryan ancestors.

Morgan Bryan Sr. was a land speculator for about 20 years in Virginia before moving into the colony of North Carolina in 1748 with his large family (His granddaughter Rebecca Bryan was with him.). He purchased thousands of acres from Lord Granville, and he continued his business in land speculation. He and his family of seven sons and two daughters lived in an area where they owned thousands of acres known as the Bryan Settlements.

Squire Boone Sr. and Sarah Morgan Boone moved with their family into the colony of North Carolina in 1751 and purchased two 640 acre tracts from the Lord Granville. Squire Boone was involved with a group of people, including the Bryans, who formed the county of Rowan and its colonial government in 1753, and he was one of county’s first Justices of the Court of Common Pleas.

Squire was buried in what is now known as Joppa Cemetery in Mocksville, when he died on Jan. 2, 1765, and Sarah died in 1777 and was buried beside her husband. Their son Daniel led two large migrations of Boones, Bryans and others from North Carolina into what is now known as Kentucky.

Crum researched and completed a grant and award winning body of oil and watercolor paintings that tells the story of cultural conflict in the 18th century North Carolina back country that led to America’s initial expansion into Kentucky and beyond. He spent the past two years doing extensive research for this project, but it was not just in libraries or “on line.” Crum also spent a lot of time outdoors with experiences and locations that brought him closer to his ancestors, but they were not always the best experiences.

His experiences also included such things as seeing most of his fellow travelers capsizing behind him in the rapids on the Yadkin, breaking his left hand when deer hunting for the first time, and even being bitten by a poisonous snake.

Crum’s talk will be in the Martin-Wall Local History Room of the library at 7 p.m.