David Crockett
b. August 17, 1786 - Greene County, Tennessee
Died March 6, 1836 (aged 49) at Alamo Mission, San Antonio, Texas
Occupation: Pioneer, Soldier (Colonel), Trapper, Explorer, State Assemblyman, Congressman
Spouse #1: Polly Finley - They had two boys: John Wesley was born July 10, 1807, followed by William (born 1809).
They also had a daughter, Margaret.
Spouse #2: After Polly's death, David remarried in 1816 to a widow named Elizabeth Patton, and they had three children:
Robert, Rebeckah and Matilda.
(source: wikipedia.org)
"The facts in the life of D. Crockett are about an unimportant as the facts in the life of Robin Hood--if
there ever was such a person. Yet it is interesting to note what it was that so caught the fancy of young America.
Crockett was a TN frontiersman--strong; independent, frank generous, footloose and almost illiterate. He married
at 18 and failed dismally as a farmer and Mississippi flatboatsman but was a brilliant scout in the Creek War of
1813-14, a mighty hunter of bears in western TN and a local hero. He was sent to Congress, almost as a joke (showing
that Americans like this kind of a joke as early as 1827) but found himself out of his metier and fiinally went
to fight for the independence of TX. He was killed at the defense of the Alamo in 1836 at the age of fifty."
Davy Crockett (whose family name was originally De Crocketagne) was born near the Nolichucky River in Greene County,
Tennessee, descended mostly from French Huguenots settled in Cork in Ireland before moving to Donegal. His grandparents
had immigrated to America and tradition says that his father was born at sea during the passage. David was the
fifth of nine children of John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett. He was named after his paternal grandfather, who was
killed at his home in present-day Rogersville, Tennessee by Indians. His father John was one of the Overmountain
Men who fought in the American Revolutionary War Battle of Kings Mountain.
(source: wikipedia.org)
The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
December 17 1828
One of the most eccentric and amusing members of Congress is Mr. Crockett, of Tennessee. He has his coat of arms
upon a seal, and characteristic enough truly they are of the owner, being a rifle, butcher’s knife and tomahawk,
surmounting his name. “I don’t know why” says Mr. Crockett, “I should be afraid to rise and address the House of
Representatives, for I can whip any man in it.” And his appearance promises a fulfillment of his words. This is
the gentleman who some time since, boasted that he “could wade the Mississippi, carry a steamboat on his back,
and whip his weight in wild cats.” A very clever fellow too – but like Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, an enthusiast
in field sports. He has lately had a wager pending upon his skill with a rifle at a hundred yards, and staked $1000
against 500 that he would surpass his opponent in twelve shots; he firing without a rest, and allowing the other
side to use one. His antagonist prudently paid forfeit, and Tennessee was triumphant. – Maryland Herald
[submitted by Nancy Piper]
Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett, of West Tennessee. New Edition.
The gentleman, who is the subject of these Sketches, was not much known beyond the circle of his neighbors and
fellow-hunters, till, a few years ago, when, by one of those strange and erratic concurrences of circumstances,
which sometimes happen in the political system, he was found in one of the seats of the House of Representatives
of the United States. For which of his eccentricities it was that he was thus distinguished by his constituents,
or for what peculiar talent it was that he was selected to represent their interests in the National Legislature,
we have never been informed, it would hardly be worth the while, perhaps, to inquire since such an inquiry might
lead to an examination of the reasons why sonic scores of other gentlemen have been made subjects of like distinction
arid notoriety. Col. Crockett, we believe, to be a very honest well-intentioned gentleman, and, thus far, superior
as a legislator, to some of his contemporaries, who exercise a greater influence in Congress; and we have no doubt
that he is a very amusing companion, in societies where the backwoods vernacular, and the anecdotes of the uncultivated
son of nature, are more sought for, and better relished, than the refined conversation of the scholar, and the
instructive communion of the intelligent and sober. Doubtless, the anecdotes related of Col. Crockett, and the
oddness of his thoughts and expressions, as they fall from his lips, may not only make the multitude laugh, but
extort a smile from the cast-iron countenance of the profoundest gravity; but to read them in a volume, is but
lenten entertainment. The wit, if there were any originally in his sayings, evaporates in their passage through
the press, and leaves little or nothing for the reader, but what reminds him of the atmosphere of a bar-room, on
the morning succeeding a feast of whisky and cigars. The writer of these Sketches has, creditably to himself, withheld
his name, and, in that respect, we cannot but think he was more careful of his own reputation than he has been
of that of his illustrious subject, or that of the multitude of counsellors of which that subject is so useful
and ornamental a member.
[The New-England magazine. / Volume 5, Issue 6, December 1833, [submitted
by K. Torp]
Davy Crockett's last home in Rutherford, Tennessee, Gibson County.
Taken 05/22/05 in Rutherford, TN, USA by Chiacomo
Posted on Wikipedia.org
It is said that upon going to Texas, his fellow congressman urged him to stay. In response Crockett quickly answered
him:
“ You may go to hell, I will go to Texas. ”
The Alamo Mission
Death of David Crockett.
CAPTAIN REUBEN M. POTTER, U. S. A., writing to correct some statements in an account of the fall of the Alamo that
appeared in an article on General Sam Houston, in THE CENTURY for August, 1884, states that Crockett was killed
by a bullet-shot while at his post on the outworks of the fort, and was one of the first to fall.
Captain Potter says that the story of Crockett being captured with a gun-barrel in one hand, and a huge knife in
the other, and a semicircle of dead Mexicans about him is pure fiction. Bowie was ill at the time of the fight,
and was found murdered in his bed; and a single bullet-hole in the forehead of Travis tells the whole tale of his
death. Nothing else, he adds, can be known.
[The Century; a popular quarterly. / Volume 32, Issue 6, Oct 1886,
[submitted by K. Torp]
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