ABSTRACT

Davy Crockett was born on August 17, 1786, in Greene County, Tennessee. Davy's father, John Crockett, who was fortunate enough not to be at the homestead when the attack took place, married Rebecca Hawkins about three years later and settled in Greene County, then a portion of Washington County, North Carolina. During his marriage to Polly, Crockett supported his family primarily through farming and hunting, but he also served two enlistment terms as a soldier under Andrew Jackson in the Creek Indian War. died soon after his discharge (as fourth sergeant), and he then married a widow, Betsy Patton, who added two children by her previous marriage, George and Margaret Ann, to the Crockett brood and subsequently bore Davy four more children: Robert Patton, Elizabeth Jane, Rebeckah Elvira and Matilda. Joseph Arpad, citing a letter from Paulding to the oral humorist John Wesley Jarvis, argues that Jarvis contributed a great deal of the humorous material for Paulding's play.