David Crockett: His life and adventures written by John S. C. Abbott
have the story of a poor man by the name of Crockett who sailed from
Ireland to the New World on an emigrant ship a little over a century
ago. He was in the lowest possible position in life. But aside from the
devastating end of his career, very little is known about it. His wife
and three or four kids made up his family. A son was born just before he
set sail, or during the Atlantic crossing, and he gave him the name
John. The family most likely arrived in Philadelphia and spent a year or
two living someplace in Pennsylvania in one of those slab shanties,
which are known to everyone as the homes of the poorest class of Irish
immigrants. After a few years, Crockett traveled across the very
impassable Alleghanies with his small family. The only ways to get food,
shelter, and even clothing were with the hatchet and the rifle. A cozy
camp that would shield them from the wind and rain could be built with
the hatchet in about an hour.