General Notes

Also Known As:<_AKA> /Davey/
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> HQBW-85
Davy is said to be buried in a cemetery in Dyers, Tennessee.  Texas swears they have him.
DAVID CROCKETT
David Crockett, a legend in his time and since, was born in 1786 in East Tennessee. He knew first-hand the brutalities of frontier life. His grandparents were murdered by Creek and Cherokee Indians before he was born. By twelve years old he was bound out to a cattle drover from whom he had to escape through a snowstorm when the drover forcefully kept Davy past the end of his contract. Not having any luck with formal education, Crockett ran away from home at the age of thirteen in 1799.
Between 1811 and 1813 Crockett fought under General Andrew Jackson in the Creek War. It was his reputation as an Indian fighter and frontiersman that first established his popularity. He used rough, exaggerated images of himself as soldier and hunter to rise to political positions. Although he was admired for being a strong, hard and heroic frontiersman, the obsessive admiration of Davy Crockett was due in large part to his humor. He was charismatic and possessed the mastery of vernacular coupled with common sense that made him a natural storyteller with the power to enthrall his audience and parody his opponents. He served two terms in the Tennessee legislature and was elected to Congress three times. After years as a Democratic Jacksonian, Crockett broke ties with Jackson in 1828 and became a Whig for the remainder of his political career.
A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (1834) is the autobiography most likely to be the actual work of Crockett; edited by Thomas Chilton. Much of the other writing attributed to Crockett was actually penned by ghost writers (presumably due to Crockett's lack of formal education) and was approved by Crockett before publication. "Bear Hunting in Tennessee" <crockett.htm> is a story from A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett that emphasized Crockett's reputation as a great bear hunter-- one of the first mighty hunters <hunter.htm> in Southwestern humor. Unlike Thorpe's <athompso.htm> later creation of the mighty hunter, Jim Doggett, Crockett's role is used to further the myth that allowed Crockett to become a legend of the old West within his lifetime and for years to come.

Davy is said to be buried in a cemetary in Dyers Tennessee. Texas swears they have him. ;)

BIOGRAPHY:     1820 Census for Lawrence County TN lists David as head-of-household of family consisting of: 1 WM (0-10) 3 WM (10-16) 1 WM (45+) 3 WF (0-10) (1 WF (45+) 1 Slave
BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS, CROCKETT, DAVID, 1786-1836:
Crochett, David, (father Of John Wesley Crockett), a Repersentative from Tennessee; born at the confluence of Limestone Creek and Noli-Chuckey River in the State of Franklin, which later becane Greene County, Tenn., August 17 1786; attended the common school for a short time, moved to Lincoln County about 1808 and to what is now Gibson County in 1822; commanded a batallion of mounted riflemen under General Jackson in the Creek campaign in 18132 and 1814; Member of the State House of Repersentatives 1821-1823; unsuccesful candidate for election in 1825 to the Nineteenth Corgress; elected to the Twentieth and Twenty-first Congresses (March 4, 1827-March 3, 1831); unsuccesful candidate for rerlection in 1830 to the Twenty-second Congress; elected as an anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-third Congress (March 4, 1833-March 3, 1835); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1834 to the Twentyfourth Congress; went to Texas to aid the Texans in their struggle for independance in 1836; joined a band of 186 men in the defense of the Alamo, San Antonio de Bexar, and was among those killed in that battle which terminated on March 6, 1836; his body destroyed by pyre at the alamo.

BIOGRAPHY:     Controversy exists today about whether Crockett actually died in the battle or was murdered afterwards. The following is extract