John Dusenberry, descended from mid-1600s immigrants from the Netherlands, was born about 1754 and, while residing in Dutchess County, New York, was appointed First Lieutenant of the 8th Company of the 3rd Regiment of the New York Forces of the Continental Army on February 26, 1776, with a commission signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress of the United Colonies. Serving under General Washington, he fought at the Battle of Long Island with Lord Sterling, the retreat from New York, the Battle of Harlem Heights, the Battle of White Plains where he was wounded, the Battle of Trenton after crossing the Delaware River, and the Battle of Fort Independence. He later continued in service as a recruiter and guide because he was well acquainted with the ground, and his service concluded at Philadelphia as the officer commanding the guard of the ordinance taken from Cornwallis at Yorktown until it was distributed to the States. Discharged in early 1784, he received a pension of $20 per month and letters patent to 500 acres in Seneca County, New York. He came to Peoria from Sterling, New York, in the early 1830s, either with or shortly after his only surviving child David Dusenberry and grandson Moses Yoeman Dusenberry. He died in Peoria County, Illinois, on September 26, 1833, and was buried in the Old French Cemetery, which became Block 35 when the Town of Peoria was formed in 1835.