When David Bodenhamer was born on 16 July 1796, in Black Mountain, Buncombe, North Carolina, United States, his father, William Bodenhamer, was 36 and his mother, Katherine Shires, was 28. He married Cynthia Wood Reed in 1824. They were the parents of at least 8 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Tennessee, United States in 1870. He died on 13 May 1887, in Giles, Tennessee, United States, at the age of 90, and was buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery, Pulaski, Giles, Tennessee, United States.