Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Quisenberry family papers, 1862-1957. Accession 54194. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Viki Saul Coen, Fort Myers, Florida

Biographical Information

Vivian Quisenberry was born 12 October 1793 at Cherry Grove in Orange County, Virginia. He was a planter who held enslaved persons. Quisenberry married first Sarah Elizabeth Wright (1796-1863) on 28 October 1811 and they had seven children. He married second Elizabeth Coleman Herndon (1814-ca. 1880) on 29 November 1866. Vivian Quisenberry died 30 September 1875 at Cherry Grove.

George Wright Quisenberry was born 13 April 1827 at Cherry Grove in Orange County to Vivian and Sarah Quisenberry. George Quisenberry became a merchant in Rappahannock County, Virginia. During the Civil War, he served in Company K, 49th Virginia Infantry. He was never heard from after his last letter home in February 1865 and his body was never located. It's believed he died at Petersburg, Virginia. George Quisenberry married Melvina Amanda Miller (1836-1884) 18 July 1861 and they had one child. After the Civil War, Melvina Quisenberry became a teacher and eventually worked at Western Maryland College in Westminster, Maryland, where she died 16 February 1884.

Vivian N. Quisenberry was born 21 June 1832 at Cherry Grove, Orange County, to Vivian and Sarah Quisenberry. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1854, and practiced in Orange County. During the Civil War, he served as a doctor for the Confederate army. After the war, he and his wife moved to Texas briefly, then returned to Orange County. Vivian Quisenberry later moved to Hinton, Summers County, West Virginia, and practiced medicine. Vivian Quisenberry died 17 March 1888. He married Anne Elizabeth "Betty" Robinson 10 December 1857 and they had an adopted daughter. The daughter, Sarah Mobley Quisenberry (1870-1962) married George Oscar Quisenberry (1863-1918), the son of George and Melvina Quisenberry.

Jane Quisenberry was born 12 August 1834 at Cherry Grove, Orange County, to Vivian and Sarah Quisenberry. She married Ferdinand Richards (1829-1892), a merchant in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 9 March 1852, and they had seven children. After the Civil War Jane and Ferdinand Richards relocated to Augusta, Georgia, where Ferdinand Richards was a merchant. Jane Quisenberry Richards died 19 November 1916.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1862-1957, of the Quisenberry family of Orange and Rappahannock Counties, Virginia, consisting of letters, 1864-1865, between George Wright Quisenberry (1827-1865) and his wife Melvina Amanda Miller Quisenberry (1836-1884); account book, 1862-1864, of Dr. Vivian Quisenberry (1832-1888); list, 1870-1871, of students at Western Maryland College; biographical and genealogical information on members of the Quisenberry and Miller families; photographs of members of the Quisenberry and Miller families; and a psalm and hymn book.