Samuel Dusenbury was born to Charles and Mary Dusenbury on August 4, 1792. He left Peekskill during the War of 1812 as assistant surgeon on the privateer "Old Ironsides." At the close of the war, the cruise of the privateer being over, he was given his discharge at the port of Charleston. The country was then in an unsettled state and the next authentic account we have of him he was located in Columbus County, NC.

The original commission granted to Dr. Samuel Dusenbury was written on sheepskin and at last known account, the sheepskin was in the possession of Lt. James Saye Dusenbury, US Army, of Fort Totten, NY. Several years ago one dozen imperish­able photographs were made of this commission and promiscuously distributed among the Dusenbury Family. By virtue of this service on "Old Ironsides" in the year 1849, the United States Government awarded him a land warrant for 160 acres of land. This land was located out west and he realized for $160.

Although many of the Dusenburys stayed in New York, at this time became established the North Carolina branch:

Dr. Samuel Dusenbury became a Baptist preacher and a school teacher, having taught school in Robeson County, NC, at a place called Ashpole Baptist Church. He married a widow, named Lay, whose previous married name was Mary Ellis. An Irishwoman, she had previously emigrated from the Emerald Isle to this country and married one Ellis (she had been Mary Drysdal), whom she met in Charleston, SC. How they ever came to locate in North Carolina, we do not know. She was the mother of six children by her first husband. Her Dusenbury children were all boys and in the order of their birth were: Timothy, Zacheus William, Samuel, Solomon and James Elkanah. When Mary died, Samuel married Sara O’Donnell Lay and had no more children.