In 1832, David Harrison Blalock was an eighty year old resident of Fayette County, Tennessee (the county directly to the east of Memphis, which sits in Shelby County). David was born in March of 1752 in Brunswick County, Virginia, American Colonies.  He was the son of David Blalock, but all we know of his mother is that her name was Ann.  Though his pedigree is not rock solid, this is the most likely arrangement:

Little of David's early life is known to us.  His father and mother moved to North Carolina at one point, but it is not known whether they came at an early date or if they followed their son after he had already moved there.  The entire family wound up in Orange County at first (1760's) and then at Chatham County, North Carolina before the Revolutionary War broke out.  David probably married his first wife, whose name is unknown, in about 1770 in North Carolina.  Before the war started he already had one son, David S. Blalock (ca 1770 - 1842), and during the war he had another, Jeremiah Blalock (ca 1775 - 1827).  About 1775, British troops killed David's father and burned his home down, leaving his mother helpless.  It may have been this action that caused David to enlist, which he did around 1775.  From this point on his mother lived with his family.

During the war, David lived and often returned to Hickory Mountain, in Chatham County, about 10 miles from Pittsboro.  In the war itself, he served three tours totaling about 15 months, all of which is detailed in the following papers.  After the war, he moved to Montgomery County, North Carolina by 1800, and then in 1820 he was found in Franklin County, Tennessee.  He continued moving west through Tennessee, winding up in Bedford County in 1830 and in Fayette County in 1840.  It was in Fayette County in 1842 that he had to provide a Declaration of Service in order to gain pension benefits for his service in the Revolutionary War.

David wound up in Shelby County, Tennessee.  He died there on February 28, 1842.  He may have married three times and supposedly had 11 sons and at least 3 daughters in his almost ninety years of life.  His daughters Margaret and Mary Webb are mentioned in his declaration, and it is through Mary Rebecca Blalock Webb, born about 1795 in Chatham County, North Carolina that two of my four grandparents descend from (you may begin to see why I am so interested in him!).  She married Hiram Webb in Lincoln County, Tennessee and moved to Itawamba County, Mississippi.  It was her son William Jefferson Webb that would ultimately give me my surname.  It was also through her daughter Lucinda Webb that my maternal grandfather was descended.

I hope you enjoy reading over David's Declaration of Service - a most interesting and entertaining document!