Global InformationDavid Edward Jackson information
David Edward Jackson | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1788 Randolph County, Virginia, US |
| Died | December 24, 1837 (aged 49) Paris, Tennessee, US |
| Other names | Davey Jackson |
| Occupations |
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| Employer | Rocky Mountain Fur Company |
| Spouse | Juliet T. Norris |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Stonewall Jackson (nephew), Andrew Jackson (cousin) |
David Edward Jackson (c. 1788 – December 24, 1837) was an American pioneer, trapper, fur trader, and explorer.
Davey Jackson has often been referenced to as a son of the American Revolution. His father Edward Jackson and his Uncle George Jackson, both served as Virginian Militia Officers during the Revolutionary War. During the War of 1812, Jackson was commissioned as an Ensign in the 19th Infantry in Virginia.
The family had two other Military Patriots. Genealogy records show that War of 1812 hero and seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was his older cousin. His nephew, Colonel Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, led the victorious battle against the Union at Harper’s Ferry, Maryland, during the Civil War in 1862.
Davey Jackson was born in Buckhannon, Virginia (present day West Virginia), on October 30, 1788, into a prominent family. In addition to learning the business, farming, hunting and surveying skills of his father, he was educated at the Virginia Randolph Academy. In 1809, at age 21, he married Juliet Norris and the couple had four children.
In 1822, Jackson saw an ad in a Missouri newspaper, seeking young men to travel the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, to be employed as guides, hunters, explorers and trappers with the Rocky Mountain Trading Company. Although his wife was against the idea, Jackson saw this as a great opportunity to explore and gain wealth. He joined the company, along with many other young men, such as Jim Bridger, William Sublette, and Jedediah Smith, while his wife and children remained in Virginia.
For eight years Jackson pursued this adventure, fraught with troubles, including harsh weather, difficult terrain, competition from Canadian, British and French trading companies, and both kindness and treachery from the Native tribes. The company suffered many losses as their beaver pelts were often stolen. Many trappers died under the harsh conditions of life in the Rocky Mountains, or by murder at the hands of competitors or native tribes.
Eventually Davey Jackson, William Sublette and Jedediah Smith formed their own fur trading company, “Smith, Jackson and Sublette.” Jackson often returned to the valley in the Teton Mountains where he had established his own trapping territory, which Sublette eventually dubbed “Jackson’s Hole.” (Today, the town of Jackson, Wyoming, in that valley, bears his name.)
He and his partners sold out in 1830, as the fur trade was declining. Jackson became involved in other expeditions, including to Santa Fe (in present-day New Mexico) and California, both under Mexican control since it had achieved independence from Spain in 1821.
Jackson returned east, without amassing his fortune. He reunited with his son William Pitt Jackson in St. Genevieve, Missouri, in the early 1830’s.
On a business trip to Paris, Tennessee in 1837, Jackson became ill with Typhus Fever. By December 1837, although gravely ill, he managed to write a letter to his oldest son Edward John Jackson, known as “Ned,” asking him to conclude all his business dealings. He provided his son a thorough written account of all the money that was owed to him, and all the debts he had yet to pay.
Jackson died shortly after that at age 49, on December 24, 1837, in Paris, Tennessee. He was a long time member of the Masons. Upon his death Jackson was buried by fellow Masons from Paris, Tennessee, in the Paris City Cemetery, Henry County, Tennessee.