The Proeger Family · Generation 7 — Earl's earliest known

Colby Burris Quisenberry

Probable father of Louisa Quisenberry · 1788–1870

Colby Burris Quisenberry

Probable

Probable father of Louisa Quisenberry · born 1788

Married
Lucy Bush
Sources
14

Research status

Research status: PROBABLE — added 24 September 2026 and entered in the family tree the same day, labelled probable there too; Quisenberry Memorials (1900), p. 67 S333, a compiled family book rather than a record, names Louisa as their daughter and gives her 1827 marriage to David Chenault; the couple's own marriage register, 16 December 1810, Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky, has been read from the image

Evidence: The 1900 Quisenberry family book names Louisa as his daughter; his 1810 marriage register and two sons' death certificates have been read. Weak or missing: No record names Louisa as his child, and his own parents come only from SAR and DAR lineage books. Not yet confirmed. Know more? Confirm or correct this →

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1788
🆕 Colonial Families of the United States gives his birth as 7 July 1788, Fayette County, Virginia (now Clark County, Kentucky). Kentucky was still part of Virginia then, which is why sources say both. It makes him the sixth of thirteen children of James Quisenberry's first marriage, with eleven half-siblings, and has him dying on 30 December 1870. Quisenberry Memorials says 31 December S451S333. added 25 September 2026.
Census1850
🆕 The census has him and Lucy in Clark County, Kentucky: farming in District 2 in 1850 with Tandy, Elkanah and John M. S495; near Winchester in 1860 with Elkanah, Martin and Sarah S496; and still alive in August 1870, aged 80, a retired farmer marked “Insane” S497. Two sons' death certificates name him and Lucy Bush as parents: Colby B. Jr. (1822–1907) and John Martin (1833–1914) S493S494. An SAR application and two DAR entries give his parents as James Quisenberry and Jane Burris; they are compiled lineages, so this is probable S498S499S500. These records prove other children, not Louisa, so the couple's status stays probable. added 25 September 2026.
Birth1858
🆕 The Clark County register of births for 1858 records Mariah, a Black girl born enslaved on 30 December near Winchester, with “Colby B. Quisenberry” entered as her owner S726 Probable confirm or correct →. He was living near Winchester in 1860 S496. What is weak: his son Colby B. Jr had the same name, and the register does not say which Colby it means. added 26 September 2026.
Census1840
🆕 In 1840 “C B Quisenberry” headed a Clark County household with a man and a woman aged 50–59, which fits Colby, born 1788, and Lucy, four men in their twenties, and eight younger people; Thacker and Jackson Quisenberry headed young families a few lines below S741 Probable confirm or correct →. The head is too old to be his son Colby B. Jr., who signed the same way in 1847. What is weak: the 1840 census names only the head, so the initials, the ages and the county are the only link. added 26 September 2026.
Burial1900
🆕 The family Memorials of 1900, in its “A Constructive Descent” on page 7, gives him born in Clark County, then Fayette County, Virginia, on 7 July 1788, dead there on 30 December 1870, and married to Lucy Bush on 16 December 1810 S761. That agrees with Colonial Families S451, so the 31 December credited to the Memorials is the book disagreeing with itself. A compiled book, not a record. added 26 September 2026.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage1810
Married Lucy Bush, 16 December 1810, Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky; born about 1788 and died about 1870, both years from the family book

Open questions what is probable, weak or missing — confirm or correct it

Probable
Probable father of Louisa Quisenberry Chenault, born 29 September 1811, and so grandfather of Nannie Chenault
Probable
🆕 Probably him in 1830: Colby B. Quisenberry headed a Clark County household in 1830 with a man and a woman aged 40–49 and eleven children under 20 Probable confirm or correct → S1060. Evidence: the name and county, and a head aged 40–49 fits a birth in 1788. Weak: only the head is named, and the page with the enslaved and free coloured columns is not on the image. Know more? Use “Add to this record”. added 29 September 2026

In the record Generation 7 — Earl's earliest known

Colby Burris Quisenberry · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

14 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S333A. C. Quisenberry, Memorials of the Quisenberry Family (1900), p. 67. Ancestry collection 62282, image 4297925964. Louisa Quisenberry, born 29 September 1811, married David Chenault 25 October 1827; children include “7. Nancy, m. Martin”. A compiled secondary source, not an original record.
  2. S451Colonial Families of the United States of America, p. 428 — Quisenberry: Colby B. Quisenberry. Ancestry record 7977. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Probable Colby, sixth of the thirteen children of James Quisenberry's first marriage, born 7 July 1788, Fayette County, Virginia (now Clark County, Kentucky); died 30 December 1870; married Lucy 16 December 1810. The book lists eleven half-siblings from his father's second marriage. A compiled family history, not a record, so it is marked probable. Kentucky was still part of Virginia in 1788, which is why other sources say Virginia and the censuses say Kentucky. Quisenberry Memorials (S333) gives the death as 31 December 1870; the two books disagree by a day.
  3. S493Kentucky, U.S., Death Records — City of Lexington, Registered No. 217: Colby B. Quisenberry, 1907. Ancestry record 601240356. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Colby B. Quisenberry [Jr.], widower, born 31 August 1822, Madison County, Kentucky, died 20 March 1907 at Avon, Fayette County; father Colby B. Quisenberry, born Virginia; mother Lucy Bush; informant his son Colby B. Quisenberry Jr.; buried Lexington Cemetery. The informant was a grandson. Three censuses and his brother's 1914 certificate (S494) put the elder Colby's birth in Kentucky.
  4. S494Kentucky, U.S., Death Records — Montgomery County, file no. 8269: John Martin Quisenberry, 1914. Ancestry record 751294136. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed John Martin Quisenberry, retired farmer, born 26 April 1833, Clark County, Kentucky, died 10 March 1914; father Colby Quisenberry, born Madison County; mother Lucy Bush, born Clark County; informant Sarah Frances Quisenberry; buried Machpelah Cemetery, Mt. Sterling. Lucy's birthplace comes from her son's informant, so it is secondary.
  5. S4951850 U.S. Federal Census — Colby B. Quisenbery household, District 2, Clark County, Kentucky. Ancestry record 16999313. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Dwelling 211, 17 August 1850: Colby B., 61, farmer, real estate about $41,580; Lucy, 60; Tandy, 24; Elkanah, 19; John M., 17 (all born Kentucky); and a labourer, Samuel Kapell. A Tandy Quisenbery, 59, farms two dwellings away. One page, two hints (record 16999314 for Lucy).
  6. S4961860 U.S. Federal Census — Colby Quesinbery household, District 2, Clark County, Kentucky (P.O. Winchester). Ancestry record 39306011. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed 14 July 1860: Colby, 71, farmer, real estate $30,600; Lucy B., 70; Elkanah, 27; Martin, 25, shoe merchant; Sarah, 20; and two Perkins children, Leslie C., 11, and Rachael B., 9. One page, two hints (record 39306012 for Lucy). The page does not say who the Perkins children were.
  7. S4971870 U.S. Federal Census — Colby Quisenberry household, Precinct 6, Clark County, Kentucky (P.O. Winchester). Ancestry record 22007133. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed August 1870: Colby, 80, retired farmer, real estate $12,000, marked “Insane”; Lucy, 78. One page, two hints (record 18428720 for Lucy). He was alive in August 1870, so the family books' 1870 death falls after the census.
  8. S498U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications — national no. 27139, James Marvin Hinkle, 1914. Ancestry record 315470. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Probable A great-grandson's lineage: Colby Burris Quisenberry (1788–1870) and Lucy Bush (1790–1872), married 1810; Lucy the daughter of Francis Bush and Rachel Martin (his second wife); Francis Bush born 23 February 1750, Orange County, Virginia, died 1836, Clark County, a private in the 2nd Virginia. The supplemental line gives Colby's parents as James Quisenberry (1759–1830) and Jane Burris, married 1776. A compiled lineage of 1914, not a record, so the parents are probable. The cover sheet is record 315462.
  9. S499DAR Lineage Book, p. 189, no. 88597: Miss Elizabeth B. Karr. Ancestry record 2609444. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Probable Descent through Colby Burris Quisenberry Jr. (1822–1907), who married Sallie Tribble in 1847, from Colby Burris Quisenberry (1788–1870) and Lucy Bush (1790–1872), married 1810, and from James Quisenberry (1759–1830), born Spotsylvania County, Virginia, died Clark County, Kentucky, a private in the Virginia militia. A printed compilation. It agrees with the SAR application (S498).
  10. S500DAR Lineage Book, p. 101, no. 141325: Mrs. Electra Helm Withers. Ancestry record 3600439. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Probable Descent through Joyce Duncan Quisenberry (1828–1911), wife of Joseph H. Withers, from Colby Burris Quisenberry and Lucy Bush; Francis Bush married second Rachel Martin (1767–1860), daughter of Lieut. John Martin and Rachel Pierce. It gives Jane Burris's birth as 1739, where the SAR application (S498) says 1759. Both are recorded.
  11. S726Kentucky birth register, Clark County, 1858. Ancestry record 150265469. Image examined, read 26 September 2026. Probable 30 December: Mariah, female, born alive near Winchester, Black, enslaved; owner Colby B. Quisenberry, of Clark County. Colby Burris Quisenberry and his son Colby B. Jr had the same name; the register does not say which.
  12. S7411840 U.S. census, Clark County, Kentucky, schedule no. 4 (free-white page). Ancestry record 2094442. Image examined, read 26 September 2026. Probable “C B Quisenberry”: one man and one woman aged 50–59, four men aged 20–29, and eight children and young people. Thacker and Jackson Quisenberry head young families a few lines below. A head-only census: the initials, the age brackets and the county are the only link. The slave page is not in this image.
  13. S761A. C. Quisenberry, Memorials of the Quisenberry Family (1900), p. 7: “A Constructive Descent”. Ancestry record 4297926578. Image examined, read 26 September 2026. Probable Generation 13: Aaron Quisenberry, born in Caroline County, Virginia, probably about 1715, died in Orange County in 1795, married Joyce Dudley “as is supposed”. Generation 14: Rev. James Quisenberry, born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, 5 July 1759, died in Clark County, Kentucky, 5 August 1830, settled in Kentucky in 1783, married Jane Burris of Orange County on 4 December 1776. Generation 15: Colby Burris Quisenberry, born in Clark County (then Fayette County, Virginia) on 7 July 1788, died there 30 December 1870, married Lucy Bush of the same county on 16 December 1810. The author calls the whole descent “constructive”; generations 1–12, back to a Questenberg of about 1380, are his speculation and are not used here. The 5 July birth given to James is Jane Burris's birthday on her stone; his own epitaph (S750) says 13 June.
  14. S10601830 United States Federal Census — Clark County, Kentucky, page 96. Ancestry record 1786553. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 26 September 2026. Probable Colby B. Quisenberry, head. Free white males: 2 under 5, 1 aged 5–9, 1 aged 10–14, 1 aged 15–19, 1 aged 40–49; females: 1 under 5, 1 aged 5–9, 2 aged 10–14, 1 aged 40–49(?). A tally with names for the head only. The man aged 40–49 fits a birth in 1788, but nobody else is named, and the second page (the enslaved and free coloured columns) is not on this image.

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Compiled for the Proeger family

Living adults appear by name and relationship, with the year only: no full date of birth and no home town on any page that search engines index, and a living person’s own page is kept out of search engines. Minors appear by name only — no date of birth, no birth year, no age, no school, no place, no address, no other identifying detail. A minor may be named and may appear in a family photograph; nothing further about them is published. Where it is not established whether someone is an adult or a minor, the minor rule applies.

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