Contents
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family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Milton Waller Chenault
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationMilton Waller Chenault
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- 1 June 1849
- Died
- 27 January 1917
- Parents
- David Chenault & Louisa Quisenberry
- Married
- Nannie E. Dunn
- Children
- Luther Dunn Chenault
- Sources
- 8
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED — added 24 September 2026 from a record that names the parents; entered in the family tree the same day.
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1849
Born
1 June 1849, Tennessee; Milton, 11, in his father's household in 1860
S206Death1917
Died
27 January 1917, Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee; buried in the Chenault Graveyard
S427Census1870
🆕 In 1870, aged 21, still farming in his father's household at Castalian Springs; his mother Louisa held $8,200 of real estate in her own name
S397. The Sumner County licence to marry
Nannie E. Dunn is dated 26 February, but the year's last digit was never written; 1874 fits his being single in July 1870
S399. In 1880 he farmed next door to his parents with Nannie, born Kentucky, and their children Henry and Mary
S398; in 1910, aged 60, he was a
general merchant, married 36 years, and Nannie had borne 9 children, all living
S400. The 1910 sheet gives Tennessee for Nannie's birthplace and 1880 gives Kentucky; not settled. added 24 September 2026.
Death1849
🆕 His death certificate:
Milton W. Chenault, farmer, born 1 June 1849 in Tennessee, died 27 January 1917 at
Castalian Springs of Bright's disease, and was buried the next day in the
Chenault Graveyard. It names his father as D. Chenault of Kentucky and his mother as a
Quinsberry of Kentucky. That is a second child's certificate pointing to the Quisenberry family
S427. added 25 September 2026.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1874
Married Nannie E. Dunn, 26 February 1874
Marriage1870
🆕 His wife Nannie’s probable parents: in August 1870 a
Nancy, 16, born Kentucky, was in the household of
Woodruff Dunn, 45, farmer, and
Mary, 37, in the 2nd Civil District of Sumner County (P.O. Enon College), with brothers Luther and Leo and sisters Eliza, Artemisia and Alice
Probable confirm or correct → S1050. Evidence: name, age, Kentucky birth (as in 1880) and the district, four years before the marriage licence. Weak: one census, no relationships stated, and no record yet names her parents. Know more? Use “Add to this record”. added 29 September 2026
Children1887
🆕 His son
Luther Dunn Chenault was born on 10 August 1887 in Tennessee and died in Memphis on 12 July 1950, a retired travelling salesman. His death certificate gives his mother’s maiden name as
Nancy Dunn and leaves his father blank
Confirmed S1131. He is the Luther D., 24, at home with Milton and Nannie in 1910
S400.
In the record
Generation 5 — Earl's great-great-grandparents and their siblings
- S2061860 U.S. Federal Census — David Chenault household, District 3, Sumner County, Tennessee (P.O. Gallatin). Ancestry record 22605797; page 48, dwelling 323. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. David Chenault, 60, farmer, born Kentucky, RE $52,600, PE $31,120; Louisa, 48, born Kentucky; Nancy, 15; with Harvy 23, [Lucy?] 12, Milton 11, Mariah 8 and William 6. 🔑 Nannie at fifteen in her father's house, ten years after [S97]. ⚠ The household may continue on page 49 (not fetched); one sister's name is not certain.
- S3971870 U.S. Federal Census — David Chenault household, 3rd Civil District, Sumner Co., Tennessee, P.O. Castalian Springs, page 5, lines 35–40. Ancestry record 10638827. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed David Chenault, 70, farmer, real estate $50,200, personal estate $14,000, born Kentucky; Louisa, 58, keeping house, with her own real estate of $8,200, born Kentucky; Milton W., 21, farmer, born Tennessee; Mima L., 18; Wm, 16, at school; Fillmore, 14; enumerated 19 July 1870. The household runs on to the next sheet (see S385).
- S3981880 U.S. Federal Census — Milton Chenault household, First District, Sumner Co., Tennessee (S.D. 3, ED 208, page 16B, lines 18–21). Ancestry record 10075961. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Milton Chenault, 30, farmer, born Tennessee of Kentucky-born parents; wife Nannie, 24, born Kentucky of Kentucky-born parents; son Henry, 5, and daughter Mary, 2; enumerated 11 June 1880. Next door, David Chenault, 80, and Louisa, 69; his brother Harvy four dwellings on. Faint pencil marks in the insane, maimed and cannot-read/write columns on his line are not published: the same marks run across an unrelated household, and 1910 shows him reading and writing.
- S399Sumner County, Tennessee, marriage licence — Milton W. Chenault and Nannie E. Dunn, 26 February 187_. Ancestry record 1653663. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Licence to any minister or justice to marry Milton W. Chenault and Nannie E. Dunn, given at the clerk's office of Sumner County Court on 26 February; clerk's surname Cage. The last digit of the year was never written in. Ancestry's index reads 1870; FamilySearch's index gives 1874, and he was still single in his father's house in July 1870 (S397). No minister's return is on this image.
- S4001910 U.S. Federal Census — M. W. Chenault household, Civil District No. 1, Sumner Co., Tennessee (ED 131, sheet 5A, lines 44–50). Ancestry record 27544642. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed M. W. Chenault, 60, general merchant on his own account, owning a mortgaged farm; married 36 years; wife Nannie, 55, mother of 9 children, all 9 living; at home Henry, 34, Louise, 28, Milton W., 26, Luther D., 24, and Sarah A., 19; enumerated 21 April 1910. This sheet gives Tennessee as the birthplace of his parents and of Nannie; 1870 and 1880 say Kentucky.
- S427Tennessee death certificate, file no. 26 — Milton W. Chenault, 27 January 1917, Castalian Springs, Sumner County. Ancestry record 15187030. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Milton W. Chenault, white, married, farmer, born 1 June 1849 in Tennessee, died 27 January 1917 at Castalian Springs, Civil District 18, Sumner County, aged 67 years 7 months 26 days, of Bright's disease; father D. Chenault, born Kentucky; mother “Quinsberry”, born Kentucky; buried in the Chenault Graveyard, 28 January 1917. Ancestry attached this record to his father and indexed the mother as “Winesberry”; the image reads Quinsberry. The day of birth is overwritten, but the stated age counts back exactly to 1 June 1849.
- S10501870 United States Federal Census — 2nd Civil District, Sumner County, Tennessee, page 18, dwelling 117 (P.O. Enon College). Ancestry record 10638623. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Probable 9 August 1870: Woodruff Dunn, 45, farmer, born Kentucky; Mary, 37, keeping house, real estate $4,200 in her name; Luther 18, Nancy 16, Leo 13, Eliza 12, Artemisia 10, Alice 8, all born Kentucky. The 1870 census states no relationships; Nancy (Nannie) is taken to be Nannie E. Dunn by name, age, Kentucky birth and district, four years before her Sumner County licence to marry Milton W. Chenault.
- S1131Tennessee death certificate no. 50-16512, Shelby County, 1950 — Luther Dunn Chenault. Ancestry record 30806043. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 25 September 2026. Confirmed Luther Dunn Chenault, male, white, married, born 10 August 1887 in Tennessee, died 12 July 1950 at 1842 Mignon Avenue, Memphis, aged 62, a retired travelling salesman for a road-machinery company; father left blank; mother’s maiden name Nancy Dunn; buried at Elmwood, Memphis, 13 July 1950. The father’s name is blank on the certificate.