David Rumph Jamison was the eldest son of David Flavel Jamison and Elizabeth Anne Carmichael Rumph. Born in 1834 at Beaver Creek Plantation, he received his early education from his father. He was graduated from the Citadel in 1854 and began the practice of law in Orangeburg, SC shortly thereafter. When the War Between the States began, he enlisted in his brother in law, General Micah Jenkins' Brigade, and served as quartermaster of that Brigade throughout the War. He was with his father at the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston in April 1861 and with the Palmetto Sharpshooters (also known as Jenkins' Brigade) at surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Apolmatox Courthouse in April 1865. He was thus present at the first shots of the War and present at its demise.

David married Ella Zimmerman in 1858 and their only child Daniel was born in 1860. David would return from War in May 1865 to find his plantation in Barnwell, SC burnt to the ground by Sherman's men, and his wife and child destitute. After the war, he sold his land and moved to Florida to raise oranges. In 1871, his only child, Daniel, died, and David continued to live a miserable existence with his wife, whom he and his family described as having a most unfortunate personality. In the 1890's after a series of devastating frosts, he gave up orange farming in Florida and returned to South Carolina. He contracted encephalitis in his latter years and became an invalid. He attended the local Confederate Veterans meetings and would recount the many battles in which he was involved. Oddly the war years were some of his most memorable. When he died in 1908, he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave next to his father. The funeral was attended by those who remembered his father, the venerable D. F. Jamison, and who honored David Rumph Jamison for his service to his country.