James David (Dave) Sturgill was born in a log cabin on the south fork of New River at the mouth of Kings creek in Alleghany Co. NC. He grew up during the reconstruction period following the civil war and had little opportunity to get an education or to obtain any property. After he married Tobytha Amanda Fowlkes, a daughter of the only Doctor in the area, she taught him to read and write and during the winters following he walked across the Blue Ridge mtn. to attend the old Trap Hill Academy.

He paid for his first farm by cutting coke wood for the Ore Knob coppermine and then became an active stock breeder specializing in fine saddle and carriage horses which brought premium prices. His first farm was soon followed by another and among his other enterpizes he became a land speculator, owning more than 5000 acres of land at one time or another during his life.

He was a big man at 6' 4" & 240 lb and some have said that he was a hard man but it should be remembered that he grew up during the roughest period the south has ever experienced and a man had to be tough to even survive much less to prosper as he did. He became a community leader and was active in the Baptist Church, the Masonic Order and the Republican party. He died two weeks after I [David Andrew Sturgill] was born and I never knew him but I am proud to be his grandson and to carry on his name. Dave Sturgill, his wife and all his children were buried in the Piney Creek Cemetery. -p. 114