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Lessee, his gravestone says 74 years at 1850, which would be 1776. The stone was laid when his remains were moved in 1920, so it may not be that reliable.
Looking at the 1810 Federal census, when he would have been either 34 or 26, doesn't give us any clues, because the category is "Free white males, 26 to 44". The 1830 census might a bit more help (54 or 46) but there's no one in either category (40-49) or (50-59). In 1850, the census lists him as 74 years old, but if legend had established his birth year as the same as the country's, there's no reason to think they wouldn't have thought it to be true.
Other sources that have 1776 are The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography. Edited by John S. Bowman. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1995. (CamDcAB) and Webster's American Military Biographies. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1978. (WebAMB)
One source has 1784: Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 2: August, 1949-August, 1952. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1953. (BioIn 2)
It's certainly possible either way. He married in 1809 and would have been 34 - which is a bit old, or 26. At the attack on Derne, he was either 21 or 29 in 1805. What's also possible is that his parents (William O'Bannon and Anne Neville) had two sons named Presley, one of whom died in infancy in 1776 and the other named for this brother. Sounds weird these days, but not uncommon in the late 1700s.
If someone wanted to pull his marriage record (to Matilda Heard on 24 January 1809 in Frederick County, VA), that might have his birth year - or at least what he thought it was.
Bottom line: I don't think anyone knows. Jinian 03:34, Feb 1, 2005 (UTC)
