Jefferson Davis Harrelson was born on 31 December 1861. He was the son of
James Franklin Harrelson and
Margaret Amanda Dellinger. Jefferson Davis Harrelson married
Margaret Alice Mason. Jefferson Davis Harrelson married
Annie Pyatt on 2 July 1901. Sometime after the death of his first wife and after he remarried and had two daughters , Jefferson Davis Harrelson fled the Nebo, North Carolina area because was apparently had been or was going to be accused of murder in the McDowell Co. or Gaston Co., North Carolina. He went to Chesterfield Co., Virginia and changed his name to John Dellinger and became a farm hand on a dairy farm. Jefferson Davis Harrelson died after 1917; Jefferson Davis Harrelson, aka John Dellinger, died sometime after 1917 when his son, Thomas Kincaid Harrelson found his father living in the Chesterfield Co., Virginia area. However when Thomas K. Harrelson returned at a later date he was told that John Dellinger had died.