Renaissance man

David was the son of Benjamin V. Alexander and Harriet Cobb. They were the original "Brady Bunch", with B.V. having three children from his first marriage and Harriett also having three from her first marriage and once married they had three children. His father B.V. was a small man who everyone called "Tiny". His mother Harriett had migrated to Alabama with her first husband Harley Hyde. Harley was soon killed by a boiler explosion at the cotton gin where he worked.

In the early 1900's in rural America a classroom education was a luxury many had to do without. David and his sister Hattie were the exception to this rule with the 1910 U.S. Census indicating they were still attending school. It has been speculated, that one of the reasons he was able to attend school for so long instead of working to support the family, was a large insurance pay-out from Harley Hyde's death. In addition to the standard math and English classes, he also learned to play the piano and read music. As a young man he utilized his education to become a teacher in the area of Arab, Alabama.

In 1914 at the old age of twenty he married Mary Elizabeth McWhorter. In order to support his family, he attempted to become a farmer, an occupation he was willing to do, but one he hated. One area of farm life he did enjoy was helping neighbors out with their live stock. With few actual veterinarians in the area, David was often called on to help deliver calves and perform other minor surgeries on animals in the area. During the Great Depression he briefly worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), planting Black Locust Trees along Thompson Falls Road.

His favorite pastime was Fox Hunting with his friends. Unlike European Fox Hunters who road horse's and ultimately killed their quarry, Southern Fox hunting was more a social event. In the evening, the men would gather with their dogs, usually somewhere around Brown's Valley and release the hounds. The enjoyment was listening to the dogs when they found the scent. Each man knew the sound of his dogs and would have bragging rights when they thought theirs was leading the pack. When the dog's continued to bark without moving, this usually meant the Fox was cornered. Often times when the men would arrive it would be a raccoon or opossum treed. Whatever the hounds cornered the dogs would ultimately be called of an the animal allowed to escape. Occasionally the dogs would get a hold of the animal and depending on the damage would be put down by the hunters. Likewise, on occasion a dog would get to close to a raccoon, and end up on the wrong end of the hunt.