David Chenault (1833)

David Chenault (1833)

KentuckyProbable

Son of David Chenault · 1833–1907, brother of Nannie Chenault

Parents

David Chenault & Louisa Quisenberry

Sources

15

Research status

Research status: PROBABLE as a son of David Chenault and Louisa Quisenberry, from two compiled family books and the 1870 census. His marriage to Martha Elizabeth Head is Confirmed (1856 bond and 1900 census). What is weak: no original record names his parents, and his birth day and death date rest on his memorial. Know more? Use “Add to this record”

Evidence: Two compiled family books list a son David among the children of David Chenault and Louisa Quisenberry: the Quisenberry Memorials of 1900 as their third child, between Colby and James (S333), and a 1907 family history as “David Chenault, 1833” (S1292). In the 1870 census of the 3rd Civil District of Sumner County a David Chenault, 37, born in Kentucky, farms two dwellings from the old couple, with Martha E., 32, and four children (S2269). His memorial gives his birth as 13 January 1833 and his death as 11 April 1907 (S2268). An 1887 county-history sketch of him has him born in Madison County, Kentucky, in 1833, the third of fourteen children, and married in February 1856 to Martha Elizabeth, daughter of Horace and Mary (Brown) Head (S2270). Weak or missing: No original record names his parents: the 1870 census states no relationships, and its lines for his household are read from the index, not the image; the birth day, the death date and the burial rest on a volunteer’s memorial alone; the 1887 sketch is read as a volunteer’s retyping of the printed page, not the page itself; no marriage record has been read. Not yet confirmed. Know more? Confirm or correct this →

Life in the order the records give it

Census1860

Confirmed The other censuses, read from the images: in 1860, District 3 of Sumner County, post office Castalian Springs, David, 27, born in Kentucky, with Martha E., 22, and Walter, 2, an estate of $32,000, Beverly Head and Edward I. Tyree among the neighbours S2303; in 1880, the 1st District, David, 47, Martha E., 43, Walley, 22, Eliza, 18, Lula, 15, and Jo., 10, with two younger sons whose names are under an ink blot, next door to Penelope Lauderdale, 70 S2304; in 1900, Civil District 3, David, born January 1833 in Kentucky, and Mattie, born July 1836, married 44 years, nine children born and five living, with their son Walter’s family S2305.

Note—

DNA is consistent with his place in this family: one of Earl’s matches (GEDmatch) descends from him. DNA only corroborates here; it proves nothing by itself.

Death2026

History of this card. 19 Oct 2026

David Horace Chenault’s Texas death certificate (S2356) read: Confirmed as a son of David and Mattie Head; his certificate’s “born Sumner County” for his father is secondary, so Madison County, Kentucky, stands. Martha Elizabeth in Horace Head’s 1850 Obion County household (S2357). SWEEP-1019G. 18 Oct 2026 — card created. He was entered in the family tree that day as a son of David Chenault and Louisa Quisenberry, Probable, from the Quisenberry Memorials (S333), the 1907 family history (S1292), the 1870 census index (S2269) and his memorial (S2268). 18 Oct 2026 — the 1887 county-history sketch added (S2270): birthplace Madison County, Kentucky; wife Martha Elizabeth Head, daughter of Horace and Mary (Brown) Head, married February 1856 (her maiden name no longer rests on the memorial alone); six children living in 1887 named, the children line raised from Possible to Probable (PA-1018J). 18 Oct 2026 — her own memorial (Find a Grave 41515189) given its own source, S2271; it had been cited under his memorial, S2268. 18 Oct 2026 — his wife Martha Elizabeth Head entered in the family tree beside him, Probable, from the same sources; nothing on this card changed. 18 Oct 2026 — his birthplace, Madison County, Kentucky (S2270), entered in the family tree; nothing on this card changed. 19 Oct 2026 — the marriage raised from Probable to Confirmed: the 1856 marriage bond read from the image (S2302) and the 1900 census, married 44 years (S2305); the line had said no marriage record had been read. The 1860, 1880 and 1900 censuses (S2303–S2305), Joseph Tyree Chenault’s 1955 death certificate (S2306) and the Head genealogy (S2307) added. His own parentage stays Probable. SWEEP-1019E.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Siblings—

Brother of Nannie Chenault, John Chenault, Colby Burris Chenault, James Thomas Chenault and William Chenault

Marriage1856

Confirmed He married Martha Elizabeth Head: their bond was entered in Sumner County on 27 February 1856, with Jo. Tyree as surety, read from the image S2302 (the index misreads her surname as “Schad”). The 1900 census has them married 44 years S2305, and the 1887 county-history sketch gives February 1856 S2270. Probable confirm or correct → She was a daughter of Horace and Mary (Brown) Head and was born on 29 July 1837, by the sketch, the Head family genealogy S2307 and her memorial S2271. Her birthplace is Hickman, Kentucky, in the sketch and Kentucky in 1880 S2304, but Tennessee in 1860 and 1900 S2303 S2305 and on her memorial; the record does not settle it. In 1850 she was Elizabeth, 13, born in Tennessee, in the household of Horace Head, 42, a physician born in Virginia, and Mary, 39, in Obion County, Tennessee (census, read from the image) S2357. She died on 4 December 1927 by her memorial; the Head genealogy gives the year. What is weak or missing: her parents rest on compiled sources; her death day rests on the memorial alone. Know more? Use “Add to this record”

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

Probable

Probable confirm or correct → Born on 13 January 1833, in Kentucky by the 1870 census, before the family settled in Sumner County, Tennessee. The Quisenberry Memorials list him third of the fourteen children, between Colby (1831) and James (1834) S333, and the 1907 Miller family history gives “David Chenault, 1833” S1292; the day is from his memorial S2268. The 1887 county-history sketch places his birth in Madison County, Kentucky, in 1833, the third child of nine sons and five daughters S2270. What is weak or missing: both books and the sketch are compiled, without sources, and the day rests on the memorial. Know more? Use “Add to this record”

Probable

Probable confirm or correct → In July 1870 David Chenault, 37, a farmer born in Kentucky with $16,000 in land and $2,500 in personal estate, headed dwelling 25 in the 3rd Civil District of Sumner County, post office Castalian Springs, two dwellings from David Chenault, 70, and Louisa, 58 S2269 S397. With him were Martha E., 32, keeping house, and Walla, 12, Lizzie, 8, Newton, 5, and Joseph, five months. The census states no relationships; Martha E. is taken as his wife and the four as their children. What is weak or missing: these 1870 lines are read from the index, not the image. Know more? Use “Add to this record”

Probable

Probable confirm or correct → He died on 11 April 1907 and was buried in the Chenault Cemetery at Castalian Springs, Sumner County, by his memorial S2268. What is weak or missing: the date and the burial rest on the memorial alone; no death record has been read. Know more? Use “Add to this record”

Probable

Probable confirm or correct → Children: the 1887 sketch says nine were born and names the six then living

Walker, Elizabeth (wife of Daniel C. Amos, near Bowling Green, Kentucky), Lutie, Joe, David Horace and Frank S2270. His memorial links Waller (1858–1930), the Walla of 1870 and the sketch’s Walker (Waller, the family name of his uncle Milton Waller Chenault, is the likelier reading); Elizabeth (Amos), the Lizzie of 1870; Joseph Tyree, the Joe of the sketch and the infant Joseph of 1870; David Horace, a banker of Sweeny, Brazoria County, Texas, born on 7 September 1873 in Sumner County, who died at Temple, Texas, on 13 July 1941 and was buried at Sweeny, by his own Texas death certificate, which names his parents as David Chenault and Mattie Head Confirmed S2356; and Sallie (1864) and Harry, two of the children who had died by 1887. Newton of 1870 is named in neither. Joseph Tyree Chenault died at Nashville on 23 March 1955, a retired railroad clerk, and was buried at Woodlawn, by his own Tennessee death certificate, which gives his birth as 11 February 1870 and names his parents as David Chenault and Martha Head Confirmed S2306. The 1900 census’s nine born, five living S2305 agrees with the sketch’s nine. None has a card or is entered in the family tree. What is weak or missing: the sketch is a retyping of the printed page, and the other children’s exact dates rest on the memorial alone. Know more? Use “Add to this record”

In the record Generation 5 — Earl's great-great-grandparents and their siblings

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. 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).
3. S1292W. H. Miller, History and Genealogies of the Families of Miller, Woods, Harris… (1907), pp. 449–454 — Rev. David Chenault’s family and the children of David Chenault and Louisa Quisenberry. Ancestry, “U.S., Family History Books”, record 4410664306, and the Internet Archive scan historygenealogi1907mill. Page images examined (pp. 450–452). Rev. David Chenault, born 30 September 1771 in Albemarle County, Virginia, married Nancy Tribble in 1793 and died 9 May 1851; his ten children are numbered, the third being David, who married Louisa Quisenberry. Probable “3. David Chenault: married Oct. 25, 1827, Louisa Quisenberry, born Sept. 29, 1811, issue: 1. John Chenault, 1830–96, settled in Dallas County, Texas. Served through the Civil War, in the confederate army. 2. Colby Chenault, 1831—, … 3. David Chenault, 1833, … 4. James Chenault, 1834, also a confederate soldier, with Tennessee troops. 5. Harvey Chenault 1837, a confederate soldier in the Civil War, with Tennessee troops. 6. Sallie A. … 7. Nancy … 8. Lucy … 9. Frances … 10. Milton Waller … 11. Maria Louisa … 12. William, 1853. 13. Millard Filmore Chenault, 1856.” A compiled family history of 1907 with no sources; it gives birth years only, and its list of David and Louisa’s children copies A. C. Quisenberry’s of 1897 (S750), so the two are one line of testimony. Another Harvey Chenault (1838–1858), a cousin, is on the same page and is a different man. The image of p. 449 (Rev. David’s parents, William Chenault and Elizabeth Mullins, married in Albemarle County in 1770) is in Documents. PROBABLE.
4. S2268Find a Grave memorial 41515175 — David Chenault, Chenault Cemetery, Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee. Findagrave.com, read 7 October 2026 (memorial page; no gravestone photograph opened). A volunteer’s compiled page, not an original record. Probable Born 13 January 1833; died 11 April 1907; buried in the Chenault Cemetery, Castalian Springs. Wife Martha E. Head, 1837–1927, married 1856. Children linked: Waller (1858–1930), Elizabeth (Amos), Sallie (1864), Joseph Tyree, David Horace and Harry. Martha’s age and the names Waller, Elizabeth and Joseph agree with the 1870 household (S2269), and a Head family is on the same census page. What it does not settle: his parents (the parents it links are a volunteer’s link, not evidence); his dates and burial rest on this page alone. His wife’s maiden name Head is also in the 1887 sketch (S2270) and on her own memorial (S2271).
5. S22691870 U.S. Federal Census — David Chenault household, dwelling 25, 3rd Civil District, Sumner Co., Tennessee, P.O. Castalian Springs, lines 15–20. Ancestry record 10638827 (the same page as S397), index rows. Probable David Chenault, 37, farmer, real estate $16,000, personal estate $2,500, born Kentucky; Martha E., 32, keeping house; Walla, 12, at school; Lizzie, 8; Newton, 5; Joseph, 5/12, born in January, all born Tennessee. Two dwellings on is David Chenault, 70, with Louisa, 58 (S397). The census states no relationships. These lines are read from the Ancestry index, not the page image; the image of the same page was examined for the old couple’s household only.
6. S2270Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee (Nashville, 1887), Sumner County biographies — sketch “David Chenault”. Read as the Sumner County TNGenWeb transcription (tngennet.org/sumner/fadch.htm, retyped by a volunteer, 1999–2001), not the printed page. Probable David Chenault, born in Madison County, Kentucky, in 1833, the third child of a family of nine sons and five daughters; married in February 1856 Martha Elizabeth, daughter of Horace and Mary (Brown) Head; she was born at Hickman, Kentucky, on 29 July 1837; of nine children, Walker, Elizabeth (wife of Daniel C. Amos, near Bowling Green, Ky.), Lutie, Joe, David Horace and Frank were living. A compiled county history, written from the family’s own account. It agrees with her own memorial (S2271) on Martha’s birth date, her parents and the 1856 marriage; the memorial gives her birthplace as Tennessee. The marriage itself is now read on the 1856 bond (S2302).
7. S2271Find a Grave memorial 41515189 — Martha Elizabeth Head Chenault, Chenault Cemetery, Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee. Findagrave.com, read 18 October 2026 (memorial page). A volunteer’s compiled page, not an original record. Probable Born 29 July 1837, Tennessee; died 4 December 1927, Tennessee, aged 90; buried in the Chenault Cemetery; inscription “Mother”. Parents linked: Dr Horace Head (1806–1885) and Mary Brown Head (1817–1850). Spouse linked: David Chenault (1833–1907), married 1856. Children linked include Waller (1858–1930) and Elizabeth Chenault Amos (1861–1936). It agrees with the 1887 sketch (S2270) on her birth date, her parents and the 1856 marriage, but gives Tennessee where the sketch gives Hickman, Kentucky. What it does not settle: her death day and burial rest on this page alone (the Head genealogy, S2307, gives the year 1927); the parents and children are a volunteer’s links, not evidence.
8. S2302Sumner County, Tennessee, marriage bond (1856): David Chenault and Martha E. Head. Ancestry record 5586307. Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0440, 19 Oct 2026). Confirmed Bond dated 27 February 1856; surety Jo. Tyree. The index reads the bride’s name as “Schad”; the image reads Head. The minister’s return is not on the image.
9. S23031860 U.S. census, District 3, Sumner County, Tennessee (Castalian Springs), household of David Chenault. Ancestry record 22606052. Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0440, 19 Oct 2026). Confirmed David, 27, born Kentucky; Martha E., 22, born Tennessee; Walter, 2; estate $32,000. Neighbours include Beverly Head and Edward I. Tyree. The census states no relationships.
10. S23041880 U.S. census, 1st District, Sumner County, Tennessee, household of David Chenault. Ancestry record 16810402. Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0440, 19 Oct 2026). Confirmed David, 47; Martha E., 43, born Kentucky; Walley, 22; Eliza, 18; Lula, 15; Jo., 10; two younger sons under an ink blot. Next door: Penelope Lauderdale, 70. Martha’s birthplace is Kentucky here but Tennessee in 1860 and 1900.
11. S23051900 U.S. census, Civil District 3, Sumner County, Tennessee, household of David Chenault. Ancestry record 61298768. Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0440, 19 Oct 2026). Confirmed David, born January 1833, Kentucky, and Mattie, born July 1836; married 44 years; nine children born, five living; with their son Walter’s family.
12. S2306Tennessee certificate of death 55-05001 (1955), Joseph Tyree Chenault, Nashville. Ancestry record 31437301. Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0440, 19 Oct 2026). Confirmed Born 11 February 1870; died 23 March 1955, Nashville; retired railroad clerk (N.C. & St. L.); buried Woodlawn. Father David Chenault; mother Martha Head.
13. S2307Head family genealogy, p. 138, no. 317: Martha Elizabeth Head. Ancestry record 4307562016 (book page). Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0440, 19 Oct 2026). Probable Born 29 July 1837, died 1927; daughter of Dr Horace Head and Mary Brown; children include Lutie, Joseph and David. A compiled family account, not an original record.
14. S2356Texas death certificate no. 30428, David Horace Chenault, 13 July 1941, Temple, Bell County. Ancestry record 83784961. Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0725, 19 Oct 2026). Confirmed Banker of Sweeny, Brazoria County; born 7 September 1873, Sumner County, Tennessee; died at Scott & White Hospital, Temple; father David Chenault; mother Mattie Head; informant Mrs. John Chenault, Sweeny; buried at Sweeny. The father’s birthplace on the certificate (Sumner County) is secondary.
15. S23571850 U.S. census, District 6, Obion County, Tennessee, 19 November 1850, dwelling 1069, household of Horace Head. Ancestry record 6461343. Read from the image (Stage 2 batch 1019-0740, 19 Oct 2026). Confirmed Horace Head, 42, physician, born in Virginia; Mary, 39; Elizabeth, 13, born in Tennessee. No relationships stated.