In the early records of the French Protestant Church of New York City,
appears the name of John David, a Huguenot, an emigrant, who married
Elizabeth Whinehart. They settled in Albany, and had eleven children, of
whom only five attained majority. Peter David, the sixth child, born
March 11, 1764, married Elizabeth Caldwell, born May 24, 1764, the only
child of Joseph Caldwell, an officer in the British navy. They also
lived in Albany and had a large family of eleven children; Barnabas
Brodt David, born August 8, 1802, the subject of the following sketch,
was the ninth child and fifth son. On the death of his mother, which
occurred September 17, 1808, the family was widely scattered, and the
lad Barnabas found a home for the next five years with a family named
Truax, in Hamilton Village, New York. At the end of this period he was
taken into the family of an older brother, Noble Caldwell David, who
resided in Peterborough, New York. Of his previous opportunities of
instruction we are not informed, but during his stay of two years in
Peterborough he was permitted to attend school part of the time. The
death of Caldwell David's wife became the occasion of a third removal,
which brought him to Keene, New Hampshire, into the care of an older
sister, Mrs. David Holmes. The journey was made in the winter, in an
open sleigh, without robes, and being poorly clad, the hardship and
exposure were vividly remembered. He was interested in his studies, and
enjoyed the privileges of the schools in Keene, so far as they were open
to the children of the town. The question of an employment coming up for
decision, it was determined by his friends that the lad should go to
Boston and enter the shop of his eldest brother, John David, as an
apprentice to the art of whip making. At that time no machinery was
employed in the business, and the apprentice was taught every part of
the craft.