David Murphree was born about 1760 at Orange County, North Carolina, a son of Daniel Murphree and Sarah.  David served as a Private in the Orange County Militia during a backcountry campaign at Hillsborough, however; there are no known service records of this operation.  He also supported the American Revolution by providing supplies in North Carolina, as documented in North Carolina Revolutionary War Pay Vouchers.  According to family lore, he provided beef to the troops.             

Murphree relocated to the Pendleton District, South Carolina, after the Revolutionary War.  He married Jemima Cornelius about 1795.  They were the parents of ten children over a period of twenty years.  His two eldest sons, Martin and Ransom, separated from the rest of the family during the Mississippi relocation and settled at present-day Calhoun County, Mississippi, where there is a local SAR chapter named in honor of David Murphree.  

He was a miller by trade, though he served as a Justice of the Peace at Pendleton District.  The Murphree family moved to Rhea County, Tennessee, about 1807.   They relocated to Walker County, Alabama, about 1817.  Murphree was a Justice of the Peace at Tennessee and Alabama. 

A few years after the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek was signed in 1832, Murphree and his family relocated to Mississippi.  They settled on property at present-day Yalobusha County that was acquired through the land office at Pontotoc.  Murphree operated a grist mill until his death, February 18, 1838.  Murphree  and his wife were buried next to each other at the Airmount Cemetery, Yalobusha County.  Their graves are encircled with mill stones symbolizing David Murphree’s work as a miller.