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.
