There is no documentation of his birth, but it is believed John Tarleton was born in November 1808.

Orphaned at an early age, John went to live with an aunt in Vermont, and his brother was sent to another relative in Virginia.

Tarleton tried to join the army, but John, who was naturally small for his age, was advised by recruiters to grow up before he applied again. When his aunt heard of the boy’s attempt to join the armed forces, she offered him money for flailing wheat stored in the barn.

With the $15 Tarleton earned from this job, he left Vermont and worked his way to North Carolina where he cut wood. Then he worked cradling wheat for $1.50 a day. It was while in North Carolina that John learned of the death of his brother.

Making his way to Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarleton taught school for $30 a month and later applied to Perez Dickerson for a job in the Cowan-Dickerson mercantile.

He stayed there for some 40 years living frugally in the back of the shop and investing his salary in government certificates issued to soldiers of the War of 1812 as bounties for locating land.