Elias DeBusk the son of Palser DeBusk and Mary Sarah “Sally” Surber was born 05 Jul 1824 and Martha Edmondson daughter of Andrew “River Andy” Edmondson and Susan DeBusk was born 16 Mar 1824. They were first cousins. They had three children Elijah, Andrew and Susan.

Elias DeBusk joined Company H, 27th Battalion of Virginia Mounted Rifles, 25th Virginia Cavalry on 3 October 1862 at Whitesholes, Lee County, Virginia. He was definitely with the 25th just before it was decimated in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. The 25th was part of General Jubal Early’s Army. In all probability Elias was present at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania where General Early took revenge on the north for actions of the Union General David “Black Dave” Hunter in Virginia. On 20 December 1864 he was listed as absent without leave. This was very common as the 25th. Virginia Cavalry was no longer a viable unit. Many of the men were sent home to get replacement horses, but were only given 30 days to go from Oak Hill, Virginia to Abingdon, Virginia by train. They then had to walk to their homes in Lee County, about 75-80 miles. He was paroled on 27 April 1865 at Cumberland Gap, Kentucky by Colonel William Y. Dillard of the 34th Kentucky Infantry Volunteers of the Union Army after swearing allegiance to the United States of America.

A party of 10 people, which includes Elias, Martha, and their 3 children and their family and a brother Christopher DeBusk, left Lee County, Virginia in 1868 in a covered wason for Texas. They came through the Cumberland Gap and down the Boone Trail to the ferry at Boonsboro. The trip to Texas took them 9 weeks. They originally settled in Collins County, Texas. This is only one year after Colonel Randall Slidel McKenzie defeted the Comanche and Kiowa Indian in Palo Duro Canyon which effectively eliminated the indian from Texas. In 1875 they moved to Brown County, Texas, where they remained until their death

Elias and his three children all became ranchers in the northwest corner of Brown County, Texas very near Cross Plains, Texas. Some of his descendants still live in this area.
Their children were:

Susan DeBusk born 29 Mar 1845 married James Patton Helms
Elijah DeBusk born 25 Jan 1847 married Sarah Catherine Ball
William Andrew DeBusk born 18 Aug 1850 married Martha Ann McAbee