The Boone family had the original allotment at Neptune Beach on the Lummi Reservation. This history of the family was contributed by Cheryl Metcalf.
George Boone, a Haida, was born in Alaska about 1844. His father was Joseph, a French-Canadian and an unknown Alaskan Mother. Not much is known of his early childhood. But it is known that he married Florence Ritchie in Snohomish County on April 28, 1878.
Florence was born in Washington state on May 8, 1859, to John Ritchie (born 1829 in France) and a unknown Skagit woman. She was raised in a Convent School. She lived for a time with the John Leary family in Seattle.
After George and Florence married they came up to Whatcom County, traveling by canoe through the Swinomish Channel to Padillo Bay.
The original allotment given to them was known as the 101 Ranch. It is in sections 6 and 7 off the Ferndale Road.
Florence was teaching school at Marietta in 1880. At that time she had a 1-year-old daughter Mary Agnes (died June 24, 1882, age 3) and another on the way. Joseph died December 3, 1891, age 10. One of the children she taught that year was Mary Etta Allen, the young girl the town was named for.
One of the other teachers was Theresa Forsythe Finkbonner. When The Finkbonners were allotted the land at Neptune Beach/Sandy Point, Theresa told her friend about the sections available at Neptune Beach. Soon George and Florence were living here.
Between 1884 and 1888 George and Florence had four daughters, Mariah (Marie), December 3 1883, Mary Agnes in 1885, and Florence in 1888. Only Marie lived past 1906.
Sometime between 1915 and 1920, Marie married James Thomas Sullivan. He was born in Nevada on May 10, 1884, to John and Delia Sullivan. Both his parents were born in Ireland.
On September 17, 1921, they sold the first of their land to Percy Hood. The Hood family remained good friends with the Boones till the time of their deaths.
