When David B. Bushman was born on 19 November 1836, in Monroe Township, Clermont, Ohio, United States, his father, John Demos Bushman, was 39 and his mother, Elizabeth Calvin, was 21. He married Paulina Ann Rice on 25 July 1861, in Clermont, Ohio, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in Guthrie, Iowa, United States in 1895 and Washington Township, Greene, Iowa, United States in 1900. He died on 21 July 1904, in Waterloo, Black Hawk, Iowa, United States, at the age of 67, and was buried in Black Hawk, Iowa, United States.