The Henderson family are of Scotch-Irish origin, and several of the name came to Boston with those Protestant Irishmen who settled at Colerain, Massachusetts, about 1740. John Henderson's name is found among the proprietors, who signed the petition for the first won meeting at Colerain, dated Jan. 27, 1741-42, in the fouteenth year of the reign of King George, the second.

(II) Edward, son of John Henderson, was born in 1745, and he used to say that the only thing he could remember of his father was that he sat upon his lap when he was dressed in soldier's clothes, just before he went off into the Indian war and was killed. When Edward was about five years old his mother died, and the family became scattered; Edward was bound out to a Mr. Sweeney, and his sister Jennet married Daniel Clyde. Edward Henderson grew up sturdy, brave, adventurous and possessing the peculiar characteristics of the race from which he sprang. Before the revolutionary war he was engaged in the fur trade; starting in the early spring in a flat boat loaded with goods and supplies at Albany the traders went up the Hudson to Cohoes, and carrying round those falls, literally pushed their boats with poles up the Mohawk to a point near Rome, where there was a short carry over to Wood Creek, thence down that stream through Oneida Lake and tahe Oswego River into Lake Ontario, and up through that lake round Niagara Falls, on to Detroit. It took all summer to make the journey, a trip which can now be made in twelve hours. After trading there with the Indians during the winter, the next summer was spent in the return. Edward Henderson was among the patriots at the breaking out of the revolutionary war and we find him at Bennington, and his name on the roster of Captain Samuel Robinson's company in General Stark's army. A great-grandson, Hiram T. Henderson, of Himrods, Yates county, N.Y., now owns the powder horn the hero carried in the Bennington battle, with the incription carved theron "Edward Henderson, his horn, 1775."
The adjutant-general of Vermont writes that the name Edward Henderson appears nine times in the records of revolutionary soldiers of that state, and it also appears several times in the New York records; at one time he was a lieutenant of militia; he is on the list of revolutionary pensioners. Shortly after the close of the war, Edward Henderson came to New York and stopped for a short time near Schenectady, but in 1792 pushed on and settled in the town of Norway in the then wilderness of northern Herkimer county. Avoiding the valley lans for fear of the ague, he bought a farm on the hills of about two hundred acres, covered with forest. Here he built a log house, and reared his family. He was thrifty and industrious, and took a leading position in the new community.

Edward Henderson married Mary, born in 1744, daughter of Joseph Mathias, who when a boy was one of the defenders of the famous siege of Londonderry in Ireland. They had six children, two of whom died in infancy, and the others were:
1. Jennet, born June 3, 1776, died Oct., 1848; she taught the first school in the town of Norway; she married John Sherwood; they removed to Urbana, Steuben county, Ohio; they reared a large family; some of her descendants still reside at Hammondsport, N.Y.; one granddaughter, Mrs. Carcene Dildine, bears the family name Jennette.
2. Hugh, born Feb. 4, 1779, died about 1810; he removed to Watertown, N.Y., and was sheriff of Jefferson county in 1808; he was a candidate for congress, and died, during the canvass; he left one daughter Eliza, who married a Mr. Woodruff.
3. John Mathias, see forward.
4. Daniel Clyde, born Dec. 8, 1784, died May 30, 1860.
They father of these chldren died in 1811, aged sixty-six; his wife died in 1826; they are buried in Norway, N.Y.

John Mathias, second son of Edward Henderson, was born June 27, 1782, died Nov. 29, 1857. He was one of the early graduates of the Fairfield Medical College and went to Jefferson county, N.Y. to practice his profession. After serving as a surgeon at Sacketts Harbor during the war of 1812, he removed to Willoughby, Ohio, in 1814, and later to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, where he practiced medicine with his son, Dr. Samuel Henderson, until his death.
By his first wife Rebecca Wirt, he had one son, Samuel W., who died May 6, 1857, a few months before his father.
By his second wife, Samantha Hine, he had one daughter, Rebecca, who married L. Tubbs of Elkhorn, Wisconsin.
Rebecca Tubbs died in 1908, leaving five children; Henry H., Frank W., Eva S., Willis J. and Edward H.
By his third wife, Hattie Findlay, who was a widow with one daughter, Mary, he had two daughters, Jeanette and Virginia H., and one son Edward.

Dr. John M. Henderson was a man of strong character and a skillful physician. The death of his son Samuel W. was a great shock to the father and both will long be remembered in Elkhorn. Samuel W. left three sons: John M., who enlisted in the Union army in 1863 and lived after the war in Elkhorn, died several years ago, leaving one daughter Cora and three sons, Eugene, who lives in Tacoma, Brick, and John M., who lives in Janesville, Wisconsin; Edward G., married and had two children, Catherine and Wells; Edward G. died at Evanston, Illinois, June 30, 1909. Samuel W. Jr., lives in Delevan, Wisconsin.
Jeanette Henderson, daughter of John Mathias Henderson, married Chipman Holley, who served in the war of the rebellion in the Nineteenth Wisconsin regiment, was taken prisoner at the battle of Richmond and confined in Libby Prison. He was six feet seven inches in height; his widow Jeanette resides with her daughter, Mrs. Harle, in Boise City, Idaho; her children are: Claribelle M. Harle, Amelia Jeanette Mitchell, Hetty Maude Holley, Bertha F. Elder, wife of Robert H. Elder, assistant district attorney of Kings county, N.Y., and Robert D. Holley.
Virginia Mathias Henderson, is unmarried, and resides with her sister, Mrs. Bunker, at Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Mary Findlay, step-daughter of Dr. John Mathias Henderson, married Hiam S. Bunker, of Elkhorn, and lived for many years in Chicago. They had two children: Findley S., married a Miss Swift, and died in 1877, aged twenty-seven, leaving one daughter, and Frank Davis, married Harry H. Hallett of Bridgeport, Conn. [transcriber's note: Frank has to be the wife's given name]. The Halletts live in Chicago, and have two children: Louie B. and Harold B. Hallett.

Edward Henderson, son of Dr. John Mathias Henderson, was born July 24, 1844. He served with distinction throughout the war in the Union army. He married a Miss Swan and lived some time in Mississippi; came to Chicago and practiced medicine; went on an exploring expedition for a mining company to Honduras, Central America, and died there at Minas De Ora, Oct. 8, 1897.
Daniel Clyde Henderson, son of Edward Henderson, married Margaret Carpenter in 1804. She came from Rhode Island but was of the Rehoboth, Mass. family, and her line is given in "The Carpenter Memorial" by Amos Carpenter, as follows:

"1st John Carpenter, 1303; and Richard, born 1335; 3d John S., Town Clerk of London; 4th John, born 1410; 5th William of Homme, born in 1440; 6th James; 7th John; 8th William, born 1520; 9th William, born 1540; 10th William, born 1576, came to America with son William in the ship "Bevis" and went back to England; 11th William, born 1605, came over with his father in ship "Bevis" in 1638 and settled at Rehoboth, Mass.; 12th Samuel, born 1644, married Sarah Readaway; 13th Solomon, born 1677, married Elizabeth Tifft; 14th Daniel, born 1712, married Renewed Smith; 15th Daniel, born 1744, married Ruth Cornell; 16th Daniel, born 1764, married Susan Champlain; 17th Margaret, born 1776, married Daniel C. Henderson.
Daniel C. Henderson was a captain and adjutant and was with his regiment at Sacketts Harbor in the war of 1812 and afterwards becama colonel of militia. He served his town for many years as school commissioner, justice of the peace and supervisor and was member of the assembly from Herkimer county in 1827; his mother lived with him after the death of her husband on the homestead farm at Norway, N.Y., and died in 1826. She is said to have been a woman of great intellectual ability, an earnest Episcopalian; has left a marked imprint on her family and has ever been held in high esteem by her descendants.
Daniel C. was for a long time a vestryman of Grace Episcopal Church at Norway, a member of old "Sprig" Lodge of Masons, and a lifelong Democrat. Late in life he sold the farm and moved into Norway village, where he died May 30, 1860; his wife Margaret died Dec. 31, 1861. They are buried at Norway.
Of their children:
Dryden was born Oct. 15, 1805.
Nathaniel S., June 2, 1807.
Hugh, June 27, 1809.
Mary Ann, May 15, 1812.
John D., Dec. 13, 1814.
Juliet, Dec. 25, 1824.
Sarah, May 14, 1828.
Dryden taught school and practiced surveying, became a carpenter and builder, married Maria Coe of Norway, and removed to Hammandsport, N.Y.; there he lived many years, was a vestryman in the Episcopal church, a leading Democrat, held many town offices, was member of the assembly from Steuben county in 1853, and died in 1879, leaving three children: Frances, Minerva and Nathaniel S.; Frances married Judge Goodspeed in Nov., 1867, one of the circuit judges of Illinois, and resided at Joliet. He died in 1897, his widow still lives (1910) at Joliet.
Minerva married George Benham, who was a soldier in the civil war and died while in the service; one daughter, Jennie, died when about nineteen, unmarried, and one son Harry Benham, lives at Joliet. Minerva died in 1904.
Nathaniel S., born in 1848, lives in Seattle, Washington. He married Dora Hepner in 1882 and they have two chldren: Augustus, born in 1885 and Frances, born in 1890.

Nathaniel S., second son of Daniel C. Henderson, was born in Norway, June 2, 1807; married Angeline Ayres Feb. 12, 1835; Angeline was daughter of Stephen and Roxana (Snow) Ayres, of Fairfield, N.Y., and was born Aug. 29, 1811.
Captain John Ayres, a resident of Ipswich, Mass., fron 1648 to 1672, married Susanna, daughter of Mark and Johanna Symonds; Mark was born in England in 1584, died at Ipswich 1659. Captain John Ayres was killed by the Indians at Brookfield, Mass. Aug. 3, 1675, and left a large family. His third son Samuel, married Abigail, daughter of William Fellows, April 16, 1677. Jabez, their sixth child, was born Dec. 27, 1690, and married Rebecca, born Oct. 12, 1694, daughter of Henry Kimball, at Newbury, Mass., Dec. 8, 1718. Tradition has it that this Rebecca, when an infant, was found after an Indian raid, scalped and thrown among the dead, but still living. They moved from Rowley to Brookfield, Mass. Their seventh son, Jabez, was born April 26, 1737, at New Braintree, Mass., married 1766, Persis, daughter of Antipas Stewart, and removed to Salisbury, Herkimer county, N.Y. in 1792. He was a soldier in the French-Indian and revoutionary wars and was a member of Captain Whipple's company of Mass. militia. He built the first frame house in the town of Salisbury, which was still standing near Burrill's Corners in 1910. He died in 1824 and his widow died in 1833; they are buried in Manheim.
Their third son, Stephen, was born at New Braintree, Mass. Feb. 16, 1770, married Roxana Snow, of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, Dec. 8, 1795. Roxana was descended from Richard Snow, of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who settled at Woburn, Mass. and died Nov. 11, 1711; his son John died Nov.2 6, 1706; his son Zerubbabel, was born at Woburn, July 19, 1672, married Jemima Cutter and died Nov. 20, 1733. Their son, John, was born at Woburn, March 30, 1706; his son, Warren, was born at Southboro, Mass. Feb. 12, 1734, married Oct. 25, 1759 at Lancaster, Mass., Amy Harvey, had one son Pliny, and several daughters; lived at Chesterfield, N.H.
When Roxana Snow married Stephen Ayres in 1795 and left her father's house in Chesterfield to take the then long journey on horseback to her new home in Herkimer county, N.Y., her mother mourned for her as for one going to the ends of the earth. Several of the descendants of Warren Snow reside at Brattleboro, Vermont, which is just across the Connecticut river form the old town of Chesterfield.
The new home in Herkimer county was very modest, but Stephen Ayres was a man of force, a land surveyor and had plenty of work at fair pay for those times, $2.50 per day was large money then, and he soon became the owner of a fine farm in Fairfield, which is now (1910) owned by a great-grandson, Charles R. LaRue, Esq., attorney-at-law, of New York City.
Stephen Ayres became the trusted adviser of all his neighbors, the arbitrator of all differences; he surveyed their lands, drew their deeds and mortgages, made their wills, and settled their estates. He held many important town and county offices, and was member of the assembly from Herkimer county in 1836. He died in 1850 and his widow in 1852; they are buried in Salisbury.

Nathaniel S. Henderson and his wife lived for a time after their marriage at Prospect, Oneida county, but removed to a farm in Norway, Herkimer county, in 1840. He was a prosperous farmer, and active and influential Democrat, and was often the candidate of his party for public office; he served his town several terms as supervisor, ran for the assembly several times, leading a forlorn hope, as his party was then in the minority; was a delegate to many conventions, county and state, was on the war committee of his town during the civil war, remved to Himrods, Yates county, in 1867, and died there March 13, 1869. His widow died at Herkimer, Feb. 11, 1888.
Nathaniel S. and Angeline Henderson were the parents of five sons; two died in infancy and one, Daniel C., died when fourteen months old.

Hiram Timothy, son of Nathaniel S. Henderson, was born May 6, 1844, was educated in the district school, at Fairfield Academy and Poughkeepsie Business College, and taught several terms. He married Mary Smith, of Norway, June 11, 1867; he removed with his father to Yates county, where he became a vineyardist. He is a man of extensive reading and wide information. His wife died in 1892, leaving two children:
Mary Leora, born March 2, 1872.
Harvey Nathaniel, born Nov . 14, 1878.
Mary Leora married Dr. Charles M. Van Dyke, of Himrods, June 17, 1896. Dr. Van Dyke is one of the leading physicians of Yates county. They have three children: Charlena, born July 13, 1898; Mary Elizabeth, born June 28, 1900; Charles Malcolm, born July 18, 1907.
Hiram T. Henderson married (second) Ellen M. Folts, at Ilion, June 7, 1899, and they still reside at Himrods, N.Y.

Harvey N., son of Hiram T. Henderson, was educated at Penn Yan, Cazenovia Academy, and Syracuse University. During senior year at the University he was captain of the baseball and football teams; was admitted to the bar in 1903 and entered upon the practice of law in Syracuse, where he has remained. He was married to Marion Reynolds, April 28, 1909.

John Dryden, son of Nathaniel S. Henderson, was educated at the district school are prepared for college at Fairfield Academy, where he graduated with the valedictory in 1865. He joined the sophomore class at Hamilton College in Sept., 1865, and was graduated in July, 1868. He took "Head Prize," which is given for the best oration on some subject connected with the life and career of Alexander Hamilton, the subject that year being "Alexander Hamilton as Political Prophet." He also took the first mathematical prize in junior year and a Phi Beta Kappa key. He was a D.K.E. while in college, and has never lost interest in his college or college fraternity, having been for many years president of the incorporated Tau Chapter of Hamilton College.
After graduation he came to Herkimer in Dec., 1868, and studied law in the office of Samuel and Judge Robert Earl, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1869. He opened an office for himself in Herkimer in 1870, but on account of ill health spent the year 1871 in the vineyards at Himrods and returned to Herkimer in March, 1872, where he has since remained. He had a literary taste and has written considerable, both of prose and poetry; he was the poet at the Philorhetorian reunion at Fairfield in 1884 and also 1894; was the poet at the Norway Centennial Celebration in 1887 and the Herkimer Village Centennial in Aug., 1908. He has published one book, "The Village Charter," which went through several editions; was the orator on the field at Antietam at the unveiling of the monument to the Thirty-fourth Regiment New York State Volunteers, Sept. 17, 1902; delivered an address before the Johnstown Historical Society in 1904, and has written several valuable papers and addresses for the Herkimer County Historical Society, which have been published in the transactions of the society.
Mr. Henderson has always taken an active interest in politics, and has many times been a candidate of the Democratic party for office, but being in a district largely Republican has generally been unsuccessful. He was president of Herkimer village in 1876, and again in 1883, was candidate for district attorney of Herkimer county in 1899 and served with distinction in that body, had a place on the committee on education and of the bill compelling public school houses to be equipped with fire escapes, and took a leading part in many of the discussions of the session. He was defeated by a small majority in 1890, and in 1891, he ran for state senator against Hon. John E. Smith in the Otsego-Madison and Herkimer district and was defeated; in 1893 was a candidate on the Democratic state ticket for delegate to the constitutional convention, and in 1894 ran against Hon. James S. Sherman for congress in the Oneida-Herkimer district, and in 1901 ran for county judge of Herkimer county against Hon. Irving R. Devendorf.
Mr. Henderson was made a Mason during his senior year in college, and has taken thirty-two degrees. He was a member of Lodge No. 423 at Herkimer. He was senior warden and treasurer of Christ (Episcopal) Church, Herkimer, and has been a member of the vestry nearly forty years. He frequently represented his parish in the diocesan convention, was one of the committee on canons, and a provisional delegate to the general convention of the church.
He served as trustee of the Herkimer Emergency Hospital for several years and also as trustee of the Ilion Hospital. Has been trustee of the Herkimer Free Library and chairman of the book committee, and treasurer of the Herkimer County Historical Society since the organization of those bodies; has practice law in the state and United States courts, and has been executor of many estates.
John D. Henderson married Frances L, daughter of David and Sarah (Tillinghast) DuBois, at Norway, Aug. 20, 1874. Mrs. Henderson was born Dec. 22, 1847, being a direct descendant of Louis DuBois, the Walloon, who settled at New Paltz, Ulster county, N.Y.; the line being Louis, born 1626; Jacob, born 1661; Barnet, born 1693, of Pittsgrove, New Jersey; David, a solider of the revolution in N.J. militia; Jacob, born Dec. 7, 1763, marriage Mary Moore, and came to Norway, Herkimer county, about 1799, died Jan. 2, 1844; David, born June 11, 1797, married Sarah Tillinghast, Dec. 30, 1829; was warden of Grace church, Norway, served his town as justice of the peace, postmaster and supervisor, and died July 2, 1880.
Mrs. Henderson's mother, Sarah Tillinghast, was a descendant of Elder Pardon Tillinghast and Lydia Tabor, and their son, Phillip, born Oct., 1668, married Martha Holmes, 1682, died May 14, 1732; their son John, born April 14, 1696, died Dec. 4, 1775; his son Pardon; his son, Stutely, who married Hannah Hopkins; and their son Pardon, born Feb. 3, 1771, married Anna Crandall, and died at Norway, Aug. 1854; their daughter Sarah (Mrs. DuBois) was born in 1806, died in 1884. Her daughter, Mrs. Henderson, inherits from her mother a willingness to work for others, and a desire to serve the afflicted in all walks of life; she has always been active in charitable and church matters, is deeply interested in The Old Ladies' Home at Mohawk, is a member of the Progressive (Ladies) Club of Herkimer, and the General Nicholas Herkimer Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and her house is famour for hospitality and good cheer.
Their children are:
Edward DuBois, born Nov. 27, 1877, died Feb., 1878.
Nellie Frances, born Sept. 29, 1879.
John DuBois, born April 11, 1887.

Nellie Frances Henderson prepared for college at Herkimer, and was graduated from Smith College, Massachusetts, in 1902; she has devoted much attention to china painting, and her work as an artist takes high rank. She married Dewey J. Carter, of New York, Sept. 19, 1908; Mr. Carter was born at Greene, Chenango county, N.Y., in January, 1880, where he prepared for college, and after teaching in the district schools entered Hamilton College in 1900. He was a D.K.E., graduating with distinction in 1904 and immediately became a reporter on the New York Sun; he continued at journalism a little over a year, and then entered the Brooklyn office of the Mortgage Title Company, where he still has a responsible position. Mr. and Mrs. Carter reside in Brooklyn, N.Y.

John DuBois Henderson attended the public school in his native town, where he was prepared for college, and in 1904 entered Hamilton College, graduating with honor in 1908. In college Mr. Henderson became much interested in athletics and was the manager of the college track team. He is a member of the D.K.E. fraternity and was highly esteemed by his college mates. After his graduation he entered the Horrock's Desk Manufacturing Company, of Herkimer, remaining for a short time, but having a leaning to the profession of law, he in 1909 entred the Albany Law School, where he remained until upon the death of his father, Hon. John Dryden Henderson, May 31, 1910, he was called to succeed him in the general insurance business established in 1873.
Mr. Henderson is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Herkimer Lodge, No. 423, Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the Little Falls Country Club, the Masonic Club of Herkimer, a member of the Protestant Episcopal church of Herkimer, and the Church Club. He still continues his law studies.

Hugh Henderson, third son of Daniel C. Henderson, married Helen Johnson in 1838; lived for a time at Newport, New York, where he took an active interest in all public questions and although not a lawyer had quite a practice in justices court; removed to Wilmington, Illinois in 1849, served as deputy sheriff of Will county, supervisor of Wilmington township, mayor of Wilmington, member of the constitutional convention, and was engaged in mercantile business until his death in 1894. His daughter, Helen, is the wife of Dr. Watson H. Curtis, and resides at Wilmington. His daughter Mary, married Charles Bushnell Carnsey, of Joliet, in 1867. Mr. Garnsey practiced law at Joliet for many years, was county judge of Will county from 1884 iuntil 1890, and was circuit judge from 1903 until his death in 1905. They have two sons: John Henderson Garnsey, born 1868, and Charles B. Garnsey, born 1872. John H. Garnsey is a leading lawyer of Joliet, Illinois, and Charles B. Garnsey is a machinist of the same city. John H. Garnsey married, 1897, Cornelia Louise, daughter of Truman Arnold and Hannah E. (Caton) Mason, granddaughter of Captain Arnold Mason, of New Hartford, Oneida county, N.Y., and they have one child, Charles Truman, born 1898.
Charles B. Garnsey married, 1899, Sibyl Mary Sims, daughter of George H. and Anna (Clark) Van Pelt, of Chicago, and they have two children, Charles B., born 1901 and Georgia, born 1904.

Mary Ann, daughter of Daniel C. Henderson, married Henry Tillinghast of Norway, who was a member of assembly from Herkimer county in 1865, and died in 1869; after her husband's death she remoed to Detroit, and died ther in 1890, leaving two daughters, Sarah, wife of Rev. Wilbur R. Tillinghast, of Detroit, and Angeline e. Foster, of Palmer, Nebraska; Sarah died in 1899; Angeline E. is living with her son, David E. Foster, at Palmer, Nebraska. [this was pub. in 1910].

Juliet, daughter of Charles C. Henderson, married Charles K. Johnson and remoevd to Friendship, Allegany county, where she died about 1896, leaving three children, Daniel H., Mary and Julia.

Sarah, daughter of Daniel C. Henderson, married James W. Bragg and lived at Norway, N.Y., where she died about 1865, leaving two children: Helen and Horace, who still live in Norway, Herkimer county, New York.

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