Crockett was born on August 17, 1786, but the location is disputed, with his birthplace given as near the Nolichucky River in Greene County, Tennessee; in Limestone Cove, Washington County, North Carolina; or in Hawkins County, Tennessee.[3] A recreation of his birthplace cabin stands in Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park on the Nolichucky River near Limestone, Tennessee.[4] His father's ancestors were of Scots-Irish and Anglo-Irish descent, while his mother's ancestors appear to have been exclusively English. Tradition has it that David Crockett's father was born on this family's migrational voyage to America from Ireland, but, in fact, it is his great-grandfather, William David Crockett, who was registered as being born in New Rochelle in 1709.[5]
The Crocketts were the descendants of Huguenots who fled France in the 17th Century and migrated to Ireland. Crockett is an Anglicized version of the name "de Crocketagne".[citation needed]
David Crockett 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 in 1775. His father John was one of the Overmountain Men who fought in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Kings Mountain. The Crocketts moved to Morristown, Tennessee sometime during the 1790s and built a tavern. A museum now stands on this site and is a reconstruction of that tavern.[6]
According to Crockett's autobiography, his early years were filled with adventure, hardship, and traveling. In 1794, he told his father he wanted to hunt with a rifle. John Crockett said he couldn't afford to waste rifle balls on "a boy's missed shots" as he put it. David promised to make every shot count, and began to hunt with his older brothers. Shortly after being sent to school, he dropped out to run away from home and avoid an unfair beating at the hands of his father. According to Crockett he apparently had "whupped...