Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Asbury, Henry C.

Born: 1810-XX-XX Harrison County, Kentucky

Henry C. Asbury moved to Quincy, Illinois in 1834. Educated as a lawyer and known as a Mason, Whig, and later a Republican, Asbury was elected justice of the peace in Quincy in 1836. In 1842, Andrew Johnson assigned Asbury a commissioner of Adams County under the general bankruptcy law. He was appointed register of the U.S. General Land Office at Quincy in 1849. In 1850, Asbury was living in Quincy’s North Ward and owned $2,000 in real property. A friend to Abraham Lincoln, Asbury assisted Lincoln in preparing questions for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Freeport in 1858. By 1860, Asbury and his family were living in Quincy’s Fifth Ward, and he owned $10,000 in real and personal property. Asbury served in various positions on the side of the Union during the Civil War, including serving in the office of the provost marshal. In 1876, Asbury assisted in the formation of the Quincy Bar Association and served as a manager for the first year of the association. In 1882, Asbury published a history of Quincy.

In March 1829, Asbury married Winiford Miers in Pendleton County, Kentucky. After his first wife’s premature death, Asbury married Sarah J. Theobald in 1838. The couple eventually had at least three children.

The Quincy Morning Whig (IL), 20 November 1896, 8:5; Harrisburg Independent (PA), 20 November 1896, 1:1; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 11 March 1842, 2:4; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 7 August 1849, 2:4; The History of Adams County, Illinois (Chicago: Murray, Williamson & Phelps, 1879), 285, 401, 412, 417-18, 494; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), North Ward, Quincy, Adams County, IL, 225; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 501; Henry Asbury to Abraham Lincoln; Kentucky, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1783-1965, 19 March 1829, Pendleton County (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2016); Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Adams County, 4 November 1838, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 5, Quincy, Adams, IL, 304.