Henderson Family
Andrew Jimerson Henderson (1824-1887) &
Elizabeth Hill (1827-1896)
--First at Liberty Chapel
submitted by Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, Hampton, GA, direct descendent--All rights reserved
The Hendersons of Henry and Fayette Counties are a branch of the early Henderson family of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where they were settled by the 1760’s. Present evidence suggests that they were most likely Ulster Scots Presbyterians who followed the usual course of Ulster migration through the port of Philadelphia and along the Great Wagon Road southward into the Valley of Virginia and ultimately to North Carolina, near the present city of Charlotte. (Nothing is found to link this line with the the Henderson family of New Kent and Hanover Counties, Virginia, and Granville County, North Carolina. The writer descends from both families and has made studies of both. The Tidewater Virginia Henderson’s are accepted as having been English and Anglican and no record is found to show that any of them settled in Mecklenburg County in the 18th Century.)
The Henry and Fayette County Hendersons came from Mecklenburg County to Georgia in 1810, settling first in Jasper County, and in 1826-7 they continued to Henry County in the vicinity of the present town of Hampton. The move of this family branch into then Fayette County (now the Panhandle District of Clayton) was made in 1844, and to the countryside below Fayetteville in 1856. The Hendersons were Baptists in Jasper and Henry Counties, but the Fayette County branch became Methodists on their marriage into the family of Elisha Hill of old Liberty Chapel M. E. Church.
The family descends from Robert Henderson, who was born by or before 1750 and died in 1788 in Mecklenburg County, N.C. The Daughters of the American Revolution list him as an American Patiot and thus as a qualifying ancestor for membership in that society. His will (Mecklenburg Co., NC., Will Book D, p. 13, will dated 5 Oct. 1788), names his wife Isabel and children: William Henderson, Richard Henderson, John Henderson, James Henderson, Hannah Henderson, referred to other daughters without naming them, and to an unborn child unnamed. Executors were his nephew William Henderson, Jr., and his cousin John Sharp.
Richard and Isabel (Jamison) Henderson
Richard Henderson, son of Robert and Isabel Henderson, was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1777, and died in Henry County, GA., in 1868. He was known familiarly as Dick Henderson and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren who knew him personally called him “Grandpa Dickey” Henderson. (Reference letter from Fannie Henderson Brown, Fayetteville, GA., to Sallie Hightower Hawkins, Macon, Ga., dated 19 Jan. 1931, a copy of which is in the writer’s possession.) Richard Henderson was married twice, first in February 1798 to Isabel Jamison. (Reference Mecklenburg Co., N.C., Marriage Bonds, bond dated 8 Feb. 1798, posted by Andrew Jamison with Isaac Alexander as witness, as given in William Montgomery Clemens, comp. and ed., North and South Carolina Marriage Records, From the Earliest Colonial Days to the Civil War [New York: E. P. Dutton Co., 1927], p. 125)
Almost all of her descendants who were named for Isabel Jamison bore the name “Isabella” (or sometimes “Belle”) and it is probable that Isabella was her correct name, although she was known familiarly as Belle Henderson. She was a daughter of Robert Jamison of Mecklenburg County. Andrew Jamison was likely her brother. She was born in Mecklenburg County c. 1784 and died in Henry County, Ga., between 1840 and 1847. Her’s was surely the first burial in the old Henderson-Moore Graveyard north of Hampton. (She was listed with her husband in the 1840 Henry County Census, but she was desceased by 1847 when he married his second wife Rebecca Porter [see below]).
Some family records show the Jamison name as “Jim(m)erson.” This was an alteration of the Scottish name, which in standard form was Jamieson and Jameson. By 1790 the name appeared in Mecklenburg County sometimes as “Jim(m)erson” (1790 Census, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.), although the marriage bond referenced above gives it as “Jamison.” The writer prefers the more standard form of “Jamison” because it is nearer to the Scottish name and to correct pronunciation, but for the purposes of this manuscript he will acquiesce to local North Carolina and Georgia usage and give the name as the various individuals appear to have used it. (See “Jamieson, Jameson” in George F. Black, Ph.D., The Surnames of Scotland, Their Origin, Meaning, and History [New York: The New York Public Library, 1946], p. 382. The name means “son of James.” For commentary on the Henderson name in Scotland, see “Henderson” in the same work, p. 353. “Henderson,” originally “Henryson,” means “son of Henry” in both its Scottish and English origins. Hendersons who became Ulster Scots were almost certainly from the Lowlands, as were almost all the Ulster Scots families of the 17th and 18th Centuries, and therefore they were largely of Anglo-Saxon and Norman extraction, with the usual smaller percentage of Celtic ancestry found in residents of the Border and Lowland shires. See James G. Leyburn, The Scotch-Irish, A Social History [Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1962]).
Richard Henderson married second, 22 April 1847 (Henry Co. Marriage Book 1837-1851, p. 370), Rebecca (Becky) Porter, born in Ireland, 2 April 1799, died in Clayton County, Ga., in 1890. She is buried in Mr. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery northeast of Jonesboro along with members of the Robert C. Porter family formerly of Fayette County, who were her relatives. She is listed, age 70, in the 1870 Fayette County Census, living as a widow in the household of Robert C. Porter, who was age 68 and a native of Virginia. (With her was the family of Tom and Margaret Henderson, black servants believed to be former slaves of the Henderson family.) Robert C. Porter was likely Rebecca’s brother and the record would suggest that their parents came from Ireland to Virginia between 1799 and 1802, and later to Georgia. (Hugh Porter of Fayette County is shown in the 1860 Census as age 63 and born in England. He was likely a kinsman, and perhaps a second brother of Rebecca Porter. Archibald A. Porter of Griffin may also have been related to this family.) No children were born of Rebecca Porter’s marriage to Richard Henderson.
Richard Henderson lived in Mecklenburg County, N.C., until 1810, when he moved his family to Jasper County, Ga. (Some of the Hendersons in early Jasper County may have been his relatives; other Hendersons living in Jasper County at that time came from the Carolinas, but were of a different family line. Several of the Jasper County Hendersons trace from the Granville Hendersons of North Carolina.) Richard Henderson apparently lived in the neighborhood of present Bethel Grove Baptist Church northwest of Monticello in Jasper County, near Monticello in Jasper County, near the Moores, with whom the Hendersons twice intermarried. The Moores moved to Henry County on its first settlement in 1822 and the Hendersons followed in 1826 and 1827.
In Henry County Richard Henderson first settled southeast of the present town of Hampton on the waters of Towaliga Creek. His immediate neighbors, from whom he purchased land, were Jesse and Lucy Webb (Barnett) Johnson who became the great-grandparents of U. S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson. In 1834 Richard Henderson sold this original homestead, containing some 300 acres of land, and began to assemble a property of some 1.000 acres northwest of Hampton on the waters of Bear Creek. In the following years he sold most of this property to his sons Andrew and Robert, and to his sons-in-law James W. Edwards, Isaiah Hand and Hiram Moore, and to his grand-daughter’s husband Thomas J. Edwards. In 1850 Richard Henderson had remaining a property of 400 acres northwest of Hampton.
In 1853 the Hendersons moved to a 413-acre Spalding County plantation known as the Holliday place, located north of Griffin and extending from McIntosh Road along present State Hwy. 3 northward to and above the present buildings of the old Highland Cotton Mills. Richard Henderson had purchased this land from Henry Burroughs Holliday, father of the later noted Western character John Henry (Doc) Holliday, and brother of Dr. John Stiles Holliday of Fayetteville. By 1859, when he sold this Spalding County place, Richard Henderson was living back in the Hampton area in the Mt. Pleasant M. E. Church community a short distance west of the town on a property of some 218 acres. This land now belongs to the Atlanta Motor Speedway and lies just north of the speedway. The Henderson house at this place was a Greek-Revival center-hall cottage that stood until about 1972. It was the Hendersons’ retirement residence, their household in 1860 consisting only of the aged Richard and Rebecca Henderson and their thirteen slaves (1860 Henry Co. Census). Richard Henderson died there in 1868 and was buried beside his first wife in the Henderson-Moore Graveyard north of Hampton, where their graves are marked with field stones in the same row in which their son Andrew Henderson and his wife Clarinda are buried. (See Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, “Henderson-Moore Graveyard,” in Ancestors Unlimited Edition [June. 1987], Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 58-65, and “Addenda to Henderson-Moore Graveyard” in the same periodical [Sep. 1987] Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 104-105.)
According to the custom of his day among families of sufficient means, Richard Henderson made deeds in which he conveyed gifts of slaves to his daughters. On 1 November 1845 he deeded “for the natural Love and affection which I have and bear toward my daughter Elizabeth Moore wife of Hiram Moore,” Fleming Turner as trustee, a girl names Eliza, about ten years of age (Henry County Deed Book L, p. 103). On the same date he deeded for “my daughter Sarah Edwards wife of James W Edwards,” Andrew Henderson as trustee, a boy named Martin, about three years old (Henry County Deed Book L, p. 88). On 25 May 1846 he deeded for “my daughter Hannah Hand wife of Isaiah Hand,” Edwin W. Ponder as trustee, a boy named Vinson, about six years old (Henry County Deed Book L, p. 118). He made an additional deed on 2 October 1846 for “my son Arthur J Henderson’s Daughter Mary Ann Brooks wife of Aaron Brooks of Talapoosa [sic] County Alabama,” Andrew Henderson as trustee, a girl named Jane, about nine or ten years old (Henry County Deed Book L, p. 135).
Richard Henderson made his will while living in Spalding County and added a codicil to it after he moved back into the Mt. Pleasant Church community west of Hampton. (Reference Henry County Will Book A, p. 392, will dated 17 Apr. 1858, codicil dated 21 Mar. 1861, probated 9 Nov. 1868, R. A. Henderson Executor.) Named in the will were his wife Rebecca, his children Robert Henderson, Andrew Henderson, Betsy Moore, Hannah Hand and Sally Edwards, and his grand-daughter Mary Ann Brooks, noted above. Originally named as executors of the estate were his sons Robert and Andrew, but in the codicil he changed this and named his friend and immediate neighbor Major John M. Ponder as executor. The codicil further specified that five slaves left to his wife Rebecca were to be sold on her death in family units so that they would not be separated. (Martin, his wife Clark and their daughter Elizabeth formed one family group; Caroline and her daughter Martha formed the other.) By the time of Richard Henderson’s death in 1868 his home had been overrun by the Union army in its 1864 invasion of Georgia, his slaves had been freed by the U. S. Government, his friend Major Ponder had died, and thus Richard’s grandson Richard A. Henderson, son of Andrew, qualified as executor. Following is a more complete account of the children of Richard and Isabel (Jamison) Henderson, all of whom were born in Mecklenburg County, N.C.:
1. Robert Jimmerson Henderson, see below
2. Arthur J. Henderson (c. 1800-c. 1827), m.c. 1823, Kiziah Hand, daughter of Joseph (d. 24 Aug. 1835) and Kiziah Hand of Guilford Co., N.C., Pendleton Co., S.C., and Jasper and Henry Cos., Ga. His full name was probably Arthur James Henderson as he had a nephew given that name. He settled with the Hands adjacent to his own land on Towaliga Creek northeast of present Hampton on present Ga. Hwy. 20. In 1826 he became the first of the Hendersons to purchase land in Henry County. His property there, more than 170 years later, is the home of the writer, who is a great-great-grandson of Arthur Henderson’s sister Betsy (Henderson) Moore. Richard Henderson, as administrator of the estate of Arthur J. Henderson, dec’d., sold this Towaliga Creek land to John Jackson in 1834. Arthur Henderson was the father of one child, Mary Ann Henderson (b.c. 1824), who was brought up by her mother and stepfather John Edge (who had m. Kiziah Hand Henderson in Henry Co., 11 Nov. 1832) and went with them to Tallapoosa Co., Ala., where she afterwards married Aaron Brooks (b.c. 1826), of the Brooks family who had lived east of Sunnyside in present Spalding County. As Mary Ann and Aaron Brooks had a son named Hillery Brooks [1850 Census, Tallapoosa Co., Ala.], it is presumed that Aaron was related to Hillery Brooks of Henry and Fayette Counties, for whom the town of Brooks was named. Kiziah (Hand) Henderson Edge was a sister of John C. Hand and of Isaiah Hand, below, John C. Hand was a Justice of the Peace in Henry County, 1822-1842, and served in the lower house of the Georgia legislature in 1839. He was one of several children of Joseph and Kiziah Hand who moved to Tallapoosa Co., Ala. in the 1840s, their aged mother, widow of Joseph Hand, going with them. Several younger members of the Hand family later moved back and forth between Tallapoosa and Henry Counties and married into families in Henry and Fayette Counties (see later).
3. Elizabeth (Betsy) Henderson (1802-1878), m. Jasper Co., Ga., 18 Oct. 1821, Hiram Moore (1800-1870), son of John Moore, Senr. (c. 1775-1839), and his wife Margaret Ross (c. 1775-post 1830). Hiram Moore was a brother of Sarah Moore who married Robert Jimmerson Henderson (see later). Soon after their marriage the Hiram Moores moved to Henry Co., settling on the waters of Towaliga Creek northeast of Hampton on present State Hwy 20 extending south to present Rocky Creek Road. This first Henry County homestead was sold in 1849 and the family moved to the place that came to be called Moore’s Spring north of present Hampton on State Hwy. 3 and the present Southern Railroad. Hiram Moore purchased this land from his father-in-law Richard Henderson and it included what became the Henderson-Moore Graveyard, which is located just off present Amah Lee Road west of Hwy. 3 and the Southern Railroad. The Moore house at this place was a landmark to Confederate and Union forces during the War Between the States and fighting took place on the property during the beginning of Sherman’s March to the Sea, 16 November 1864. Hiram and Elizabeth (Henderson) Moore were the parents and grandparents of the Moore family of Hampton. A grand-daughter was Della Lee Moore (1872-1955) who married John Gideon Minter (1866-1922) and lived in Inman. Her sister Beulah Elizabeth Moore (1862-1933) m. Milton B. Starr (1856-1910), son of Hilliard M. Starr, a wealthy antebellum planter of Fayette/Clayton County, and became the mother and grandmother of the Starrs who lived in Fayetteville. Starr’s Mill in Fayette County was named for Hilliard Starr, a one-time owner. See Minter family in this work, and “Moore” in Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, editor, First Families of Henry County, Georgia [Alpharetta, Ga.: W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1993], pp. 486-496.
4. William Andrew Henderson (2 Aug. 1804-3 May 1863), known as Andrew Henderson, m. in Jasper Co., Ga., 19 Oct. 1824, Clarinda (Clara) Smith (1 Sep. 1803-29 Nov. 1882), a native of South Carolina. In Henry County they evidently first settled southwest of present Hampton, then northwest on Bear Creek at present Lake Amah Lee, and finally several miles northwest of Hampton on present Lovejoy-Woolsey Road near its intersection with present U. S. Hwy. 19-41. Andrew Henderson was a Justice of the Peace in Henry County by 1839 and he represented the county in the lower house of the state legislature in 1859-1860. He was an early member of the Pine Grove Masonic Lodge No. 177 in Bear Creek Station (Hampton). A son was Arthur James Henderson (1846-1917), who became the head of the Henderson family of Hampton, where he was founder of the Henderson Manufacturing Co. in the late-1890’s and principal founder of the Hampton Cotton Mills in 1900. He owned extensive timber and lumber-mill interests in south Georgia and Florida and was a leading Hampton merchant and businessman. Other sons and grandsons of Andrew Henderson included leading businessmen in Atlanta and its environs. (See “Henderson” in Moore, First Families, previously cited, pp. 346-357. See also “Arthur James Henderson” in William J. Northen, Men of Mark In Georgia [Atlanta: A. B. Caldwell, Publisher, 1910], Vol. 5, pp. 149-151.)
5. Hannah Henderson (b. 1808), m. Jasper Co., Ga., 22 Jan. 1824, Isaiah Hand (b.c. 1800), a son of Joseph and Kiziah Hand and brother of Kiziah Hand who married Hannah’s brother Arthur J. Henderson, above. Isaiah Hand was a Justice of the Peace in Henry County in 1833-1842. His first homestead was adjacent to his father Joseph Hand and brother-in-law Arthur J. Henderson on present State Hwy. 20 northeast of Hampton. He afterwards lived adjacent to his father-in-law Richard Henderson northwest of Hampton until about 1846, when he moved to near Newsite, Tallapoosa Co., Ala., where his mother, his brother John C. Hand and other siblings had gone some three years earlier. Two sons, Arthur Jimmerson Hand and James Henderson Hand, later returned to Henry County and married and lived there for some years, but ultimately went back to Alabama. (Arthur Jimmerson Hand m. in Henry Co., 1 Oct. 1845, Susan M. Brooks, dau. of Hillery and Nancy (Anderson) Brooks. (See Sandra E. Grist Woods, “Hillery Brooks” in Moore, First Families, pp. 83-86.) James Henderson Hand m. in Henry Co., 28 May 1856, Susan E. Ponder, dau. of Major John M. and Sarah (Whitsell) Edwards Ponder. They lived some years northwest of Hampton, but later returned to Ala. and died at Wadley. Arthur J. Hand m. in Fayette Co., 25 Oct. 1866, Minta A. Bailey. [Another Hand family, with no established connection to this Hand line, has lived in the Hampton area during the past century.])
6. Sarah (Sally) Henderson (2 Dec. 1809-26 Sep. 1899), m. first, c. 1828, William Crawford (d.c. 1836), son of George and Delilah Crawford of Monroe Co., Ga., and second in Henry Co., 26 Jul. 1838, James Whitsell Edwards (10 Sep. 1815-12 Nov. 1888), son of Littlebury B. and Sarah (Whitsell) Edwards of Oglethorpe and Henry Cos., Ga. By her first husband, Sarah Henderson was the mother of Martha Jane Crawford (1829-1886) who m. Thomas J. Edwards (1820-1899), a wealthy planter near Hampton and a younger brother of James W. Edwards; and Susan A. Crawford (1835-1885) who m. first Simeon C. Hightower (1824-1857) and second Dr. W. Bartley Couch (1834-1888). (See Hightower history in this work.) The Edwards children of Sarah (Henderson) Crawford Edwards lived northwest of Hampton in the Mt. Pleasant Church community and in Senoia, Coweta Co. A son was William Berry Edwards (1839-1913) of Senoia who m. Sarah Jane Couch (1839-1898, sister of Dr. Bartley Couch), and their son was Dr. James Thomas Edwards (1858-1924) of Fayetteville. Dr. J. T. Edwards married three times: first, Mittie Gilbert of Fayette Co.; second, Mary Frances McCollum; and third, Lucy Cunningham. (See Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, “Edwards” in The History of Clayton County, Georgia, 1821-1983 [Roswell, Ga.: W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1983], pp. 222-226, and same author, “Edwards of Hampton District” and “Couch” in First Families, pp. 203-207 and 157-161 respectively. See also Moore, “Edwards Graveyard (Edwards-Little-Ponder-Hand-Turnipseed-Stanfield)” in Ancestors Unlimited Edition [Jonesboro, Ga.: Sep. 1987], Vol. 9, No. 3.)
Robert Jimmerson Henderson and
(1) Sarah (Moore) Henderson and (2) Mary Ann (Dunn) Bottoms Henderson
Robert Jimmerson Henderson (his grave stone gives his middle name as Jimmerson), oldest child of Richard and Isabel (Jamison) Henderson, was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C., 22 December 1798, and died in present Clayton County, Ga., 17 November 1880. In 1810 he moved with his parents to Jasper Co., Ga., and married there, 3 January 1822, Sarah Moore (1805-19 Dec. 1850), daughter of John Moore, Senr. (c. 1775-1839), and his wife Margaret Ross (c. 1775-post 1830). (Reference Jasper Co., Ga., Marriage Book 2, 1821-1835, p. 21. The marriage was performed by Samuel Weems, a Justice of the Peace who in 1824 moved to Henry County and settled near the Moores. The Weems family became large-scale planters in Henry County and through the McKeys they became connected with the Hollidays of Spalding and Fayette Counties.) In Jasper County the Moores and the Jacksons, with whom they were previously twice intermarried in Richmond County, lived near present Bethel Grove Baptist Church northwest of Monticello on and near present Ga. Hwy. 212. The Hendersons and Weems lived in the same vicinity and they and the Moores became neighbors again on their removal to the waters of Towaliga Creek east of present Hampton in Henry County.
Sarah Moore was a sister of Hiram Moore who had married Robert J. Henderson’s sister Elizabeth, making the children of these marriages double first cousins. (Samuel Weems performed both marriages.) The Moores were an old family of Philadelphia Quakers who had arrived in America (from England) by 1684 when they received land grants in William Penn’s colony. They moved to Orange County, N.C., in 1756, and to Wrightsboro Township, St. Paul Parish, Ga., in 1767/8. (St. Paul Parish became Richmond County in 1777 and in 1790 Wrightsboro Township was cut off into Columbia County. Later it was divided again into present McDuffie County. The Moore properties lay north of present Thompson, Ga., and near Little River, now Clark Hill Resevoir.)
The patriarch of the Georgia Moores was Richard Moore (1697/8-1788), son of John Moore (d. 1719) and grandson of the immigrant James Moore (d. 1704) of Philadelphia. Richard Moore came to the Georgia colony with his grown children and their families. His six sons were Georgia soldiers in the Revolutionary War. One of them, John Moore (1735-1811), was the father of the John Moore (c. 1775-1839) who was Sarah (Moore) Henderson’s father. Known in Henry County later in his life as John Moore, Senr., to distinguish from his son who was known simply as John Moore (1807-1869), Sarah’s father left Wrightsboro Township as a young man and lived successively in Greene, Putnam, Jasper and Henry Counties. He married Margaret Ross in Green County about 1799. She was a daughter of Adam Ross, Esq. (ante 1739-1813) of Greene County, who had moved south about 1785 from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Ross family is the source of the Ross name which subsequently appeared among the Moores and Hendersons in Henry and Fayette Counties. (For a more detailed account of the early Moore history see Marjorie Dickey Parsons, Lines and Lifestyles: Dickey, Moore, Parsons, And Some Related Families [Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 1986]. See also “Moore” in First Families, pp. 486-496.)
The children of John and Margaret (Ross) Moore, all of whom lived after 1822 in Henry County, were: (1) Hiram Moore (1800-1870), who married Elizabeth Henderson (see earlier); (2) James Moore, who married 24 Mar. 1831, Mary Kimbell, daughter of Benjamin Kimbell of Henry Co. and moved away in 1849-50; (3) Sarah Moore (1805-1850), who married Robert J. Henderson of this sketch; (4) John Moore (1807-1869), who married 19 Nov. 1829, Sarah Brown, sister of Col. Andrew McBride Brown of McDonough; (5) Mary Moore (c. 1809-post 1880), who married 25 Jul. 1833, John Gazaway Duffey, son of Revolutionary War veteran John Duffey of Henry Co., and moved about 1850 to Tallapoosa Co., Ala.; (6) Nancy Moore (c. 1810-post 1833), who evidently died young; (7) Ross Moore (1811-1832), unmarried; and (8) Elizabeth (Betsy) Moore (1815-1898), who married in middle age, after 1860, a Mr. House (who d. by 1880). These siblings are named as Ross Moore’s heirs when he died in Henry County, under age, intestate and unmarried. (See Henry Co., Ga., Deed Book F, p. 434, deed dated 29 Nov. 1833, Ross Moore’s Heirs to William Fears. Robert J. Henderson and John G. Duffey signed for their wives Sarah Moore and Mary Moore, respectively, and John Moore, Senr., signed for his minor daughter Elizabeth. Ross Moore’s heirs did not include his parents, as would have normally been the case under Georgia’s law of intestate succession, because his property in 1832-3 represented a legacy left him by his grandfather Adam Ross in 1813, in which it was stipulated that if Ross Moore died under age, his heirs for the bequest were to be his brothers and sisters. [Reference Will of Adam Ross, Greene Co., Ga., Will Book E, 1806-1816, pp. 121-123, will dated 6 Nov. 1811, probated 16 Sep. 1813.])
Robert and Sarah (Moore) Henderson moved with his family to Henry County in 1827. Her parents and siblings had made the move some five years before. Early the following year Robert purchased land lot 199, 6th District, 202-1/2 acres, from Sarah’s brother and father, Ross and John Moore, several miles north of present Hampton on present State Hwy. 3 (Henry Co. Deed Book A, p. 566, deed dated 18 Feb. 1828). The Hendersons lived at this place until 1835, when they bought land on Bear Creek at present Lake Amah Lee. In 1844 they moved to a plantation in then Fayette County, after 1858 Clayton County, which land Robert J. Henderson had purchased from James Murphy (Fayette Co. Deed Book E, pp. 255-156). Robert Henderson continued to own land in Henry County, as revealed by his sale in 1860 of 118 acres in Land Lots 226 and 223, 6th Dist., on present Lovejoy-Woolsey Road. (Henry Co. Deed Book P, pp. 143-144, Robert J. Henderson of then Clayton County, Ga., to Michael J. Sharp of Richland Dist., S.C.)
Robert Henderson’s Fayette County property of 405 acres was in land lots 14, 19 and 20 of the 5th District on both sides of Flint River and on present Panhandle Road below Glass’es Bridge and Mill (later known as North’s Bridge and Mill) and a short distance north of the Elisha Hill homeplace. This Henderson land fell into Clayton County when it was created in 1858. R. J. Henderson was a prosperous farmer and in 1860 he had eleven slaves on his property. The plantation in later years was operated by his youngest son Wesley Dunn Henderson (see below). The old Henderson house in land lot 19, on or just off Panhandle Road, was remembered by the writer’s grandmother (Ida Couch Moore, 1876-1973) as a two-story dwelling in what is now called the plantation plain style of architecture.
About 1852, following Sarah Moore’s death in 1850, Robert J. Henderson married his second wife, Mary Ann (Dunn) Bottoms (3 May 1820-10 Feb. 1900), a young widow presumed to be related to Dunn families in Fayette County. (The Bottoms family came to Fayette County in 1853 when James Bottoms acquired lands formerly settled by the Waldrops and Simpsons northeast of Fayetteville where the Bottoms Graveyard, originally a Waldrop graveyard, is loacted. Mary Ann [Dunn] Bottoms apparently did not live in the county until her marriage to Robert J. Henderson; the marriage is not recorded in Fayette County.)
When Robert J. Henderson died, this item appeared in the Jonesboro News, issue of 25 November 1880: “Uncle Bobbie Henderson of this county, aged 81 years, died last week. The deceased was a good citizen, a kind friend, a conscientious Christian, and a faithful member of Mt. Ebal Church. He was the father of Mrs. Archer of our town.” (Reference Jonesboro News for 1880-1881, microfilm files, Clayton County Public Library, Jonesboro. A copy is located in the Ga. State Archives in Atlanta.) Robert J. Henderson and both his wives are buried in the old graveyard on the farm of Elisha Hill off Panhandle Road in Clayton County. Hill’s Bridge Road, on which old Liberty Chapel stood, formerly crossed Flint River east of Inman and passed by the Elisha Hill property. (The Hill Graveyard was recorded by the writer on 25 Sep. 1965. See also “Hill Family Cemetery” in Ancestors Unlimited, Inc., All Known Cemeteries of Clayton County, Georgia, 1979, ppl. 66-67; revised ed. 1986, p. 76.)
The will of Robert J. Henderson, dated 20 October 1873 and probated after his death in 1880, is recorded in the office of the Probate Judge of Clayton County in Jonesboro, Ga., Will Book A, pages 53-54. (The will was poorly copied into the record book, is very difficult to read and the recorded version contains obvious errors, including errors in the names of several heirs. Ross Marion Henderson appears as Francis M. Henderson even though his signature on a receipt attached to the will shows him correctly as R. M. Henderson. Mary Frances Archer appears as Frances M. Archer, and a bequest refers to four grandchildren when only three are named. Robert J. Henderson had two grandsons named Robert, which may have caused this error in the transcribing since one of the Roberts was ommitted from the will. Robert Hillery Henderson, the unintentionally-ommitted grandson, was a son of Thomas Henderson; Robert Still[Stell] Henderson, named in the will, was a son of Robert Still[Stell] Henderson, Sr.) It is unknown whether these errors were made in drawing up the original will, or by the clerk who copied the will into the county record book, but the almost-unreadable penmanship of the latter suggests that the errors were made in the copying.
Robert Jimmerson Henderson and his first wife Sarah Moore had the following children:
1. John William Henderson (23 Sep. 1822-25 May 1887), known as William Henderson, m. first in Henry Co., 23 Jul. 1846, Nancy Ann Jones (22 Sep. 1826-29 Dec. 1856), and second, in Henry Co., 5 Jan. 1858, Eliza Allan Atkinson (b.c. 1837). J. W. Henderson’s obituary in the Henry County Weekly, issue of 24 Jun. 1887, erroneously stated that he was born in N.C. and moved to Henry Co. at the age of twelve years. In reality he was born in Jasper Co., Ga., and moved to Henry Co. the first time when he was five years of age, and later moved back into the county as a young man when he settled below Stockbridge in the northern section of the county. There he was a farmer and had a mill on the waters of Little Cotton Indian Creek. Henderson’s Mill was a landmark to the Confederate and Union armies during the fighting around Atlanta in the summer and fall of 1864. The obituary referenced above stated that he joined the Baptist church in 1855 and was thereafter a strong member of that denomination. J. W. Henderson served in the Confederate War in Co. I, 2nd Regt., Ga. State Troops. (Reference Rhoda Apperson Bowen comp., Frieda Reid Turner ed., Georgia Confederate Soldier Obituaries, Henry, Newton and Rockdale Counties, 1879-1943 [Alpharetta, Ga.: W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1992], pp. 72-73 and 200). He and his family are buried in old Concord M.E. Church Cemetery north of the present town of Stockbridge. (See “Henderson” in Moore, First Families, pp. 355-57.) Children by the first marriage: (1) Robert Jones Henderson (b. 29 Jan. 1847), m. 22 Nov. 1866, Frances Dean. (2) John M. Henderson (b. 29 Mar. 1849), m. 16 Dec. 1873, Sarah R. Howell. (3) Sarah E. Henderson (b. 2 Jan. 1851), m. 11 Dec. 1873, Thomas S. Grant. (4) George William Henderson (b. 3 Apr. 1853), m. 27 Sep. 1876, Sarah A. Patillo. (5) Thomas S. Henderson (b. 2 Dec. 1855), m. 22 Oct. 1882, F. D. Dean. Children born to the second marriage were: (1) Calvin A. Henderson (23 Oct. 1858-28 Mar. 1863). (2) Sanford Still(Stell) Henderson (15 Jan. 1863-30 Oct. 1931), m. 30 Nov. 1884, Frances R. Pickett (18 May 1867-21 Mar. 1948), and lived in Hampton, Ga. (3) Martha E. Henderson (21 Sep. 1865-16 May 1928), m. 24 Aug. 1885, Dr. Richard House Hightower, Jr. (10 Jan. 1865-15 Jul. 1915), son of Dr. Richard House Hightower, Sr., grandson of Raleigh Hightower, all of Henry Co., and great-grandson of William Hightower of Fayette. (See Hightower in this work.) (4) James R. Henderson (29 Jan. 1867-10 Apr. 1897), m. 28 Dec. 1890, Emma Reed, and lived in Sandy Springs, Ga. (5) Charles Burkett Henderson (1 Mar. 1871-31 Dec. 1943), m. 14 Apr. 1898, Laura Jane Edith Wilson (30 Mar. 1876-26 Dec. 1963), and lived in Doraville, Ga. (6) Walter Lee Henderson (28 Mar. 1873-23 Dec. 1904), m. 24 Sep. 1892, Sonora M. Burdett and lived in Sandy Springs, Ga.
2. Andrew Jamison Henderson, see below.
3. Ross Marion Henderson (16 Oct. 1827-11 Jun. 1910), m. Fayette Co., 30 Oct. 1851, Jane Elizabeth Jones (18 Aug. 1831-23 Dec. 1917), dau. of Seaborn and Elizabeth (Strickland) Jones of Fayette Co. R. M. Henderson served in the Confederate army in the “Fayette Planters,” Co. C, 53rd Ga. Regt., Army of Northern Virginia. His record in Lillian Henderson’s Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, Vol. V, p. 558, states that he was overcome by heat on a forced march near Petersburg, Va., 4 July 1864, and was discharged because of disability in August 1864. His home was in Fayetteville, where later in his life he was known as Capt. Marion Henderson. Children: (1) Seaborn Thomas (Seab) Henderson (b. 3 Sep. 1852), m. 28 Apr. 1872, Frances Elizabeth Story (b.c. 1853) and lived in Jonesboro, where he was a merchant. (2) Sarah Catherine (Kate) Henderson (30 Dec. 1854-1892), m. 23 Dec. 1883, as his first wife, Andrew Jackson McBride, Jr. (1858-1928), son of Col. Andrew Jackson and Malinda (Carroll) McBride of Fayette Co. They had two children: Eula McBride (22 Apr. 1885-15 Oct. 1964) m. 7 Jun. 1911, Benjamin Gardner Hightower (1 Aug. 1885-26 Jan. 1957), son of John Gardner and Ann Blanda (Kendall) Hightower and a descendant of the Upson County Hightower family who were distant cousins of the Fayette County Hightowers (see elsewhere in this work); and Andrew Ross McBride (1889-1923), unmarried. (3) Georgia Ann Henderson (9 Oct. 1857-6 Nov. 1885), m. as his first wife, 22 Mar. 1877, Elisha Benjamin Fleming Welden (18 Aug. 1846-25 Feb. 1923), son of Burwell and Elizabeth (Martha Ann) McCutchen Welden of Henry and Spalding Cos., and lived in Spalding Co. (4) Narcissa Cordelia (Delia) Henderson (25 Jan. 1859-1887), m. 25 Nov. 1883, as his second wife, John Wesley Kitchens (5 Oct. 1848-9 Mar. 1916), for some years Postmaster and in 1890 mayor of Fayetteville. (5) Amret Jane Henderson (b. 14 Aug. 1864), d. infancy. (4) Mary Isabella (Belle) Henderson (9 Sep. 1867-28 Apr. 1891), m. in 1888, as his third wife, John Wesley Kitchens, whose second wife was her sister Delia, above. (5) Nora Athlene Henderson (18 May 1872-18 Dec. 1828), m. 13 Feb. 1890, Fleming Jones Garrison (4 Jan. 1867-13 Feb. 1945). (6) Lowell Estelle Henderson (21 Jan. 1876-19 Jan. 1955), unmarried. (See Lanny Cauthen, “Henderson,” in Carolyn C. Cary, ed., The History of Fayette County [Fayette County Historical Society, Inc., 1977], pp. 79-80.)
4. Thomas J. Henderson (c. 1830-2 Dec. 1862), m. Henry Co., 14 Sep. 1854, Martha Ann (Sally) Brooks (20 Oct. 1836-15 Nov. 1879), daughter of Hillery and Nancy (Anderson) Brooks, then of Henry Co., and later of Fayette Co., where Brooks Station, now the town of Brooks, was named for them. (See Sandra E. Grist Woods, “Hillery Brooks,” in Moore, First Families, pp. 83-86). Thomas Henderson served with his brother Marion Henderson in the “Fayette Planters,” Co. C, 53rd Ga. Regt., Army of Northern Virginia. Henderson’s Roster, Vol. V, p. 558, states that he died at Fredericksburg, Va. Children: (1) Francis M. (Frank) Henderson (5 Oct. 1855-20 Jan. 1929), m. 21 Nov. 1880, Sarah G. Mitcham (9 Apr. 1861-24 Mar. 1936), dau. of Wilson Watley and Catherine (Fears) Mitcham of Fayette And Henry Cos. Catherine Fears was a dau. of the Rev. William Sadler and Mary (Kleckly) Whitsell Fears of near Hampton, Henry Co. (2) Robert Hillary Henderson (1 Dec. 1857-post 1895), m. 24 Dec. 1889, Nancy Lee Gable (1868-1941), dau. of Dr. Noah Wesley and Sarah Arena (Wilson) Gable of Coweta and Fayette Cos., and had children: Mabel Henderson (b. 2 Oct. 1890), Tommy Lee Henderson (b. 17 Jul. 1892), Sarah Martha Henderson (b. 17 Mar. 1894), and an infant son (b.&d. 1 Apr. 1896). R. H. Henderson was a leading merchant of Brooks in Fayette Co. His biography appears in Lucian Lamar Knight, Memoirs of Georgia (Atlanta: Southern Historical Association, 1895), Vol. 1, p. 655. (3) Thomas Henderson (d. by 1873), died in youth. (4) Nancy Dora Henderson, m. 8 Aug. 1886, William H. (Buck) Mitcham (b.c. 1863), brother of Sarah Mitcham, above, and son of Wilson W. and Catherine (Fears) Mitcham.
5. James R. Henderson (b.c. 1830, died by 1865), unmarried. He died in Confederate service. (Reference letter, Fannie Henderson Brown, Fayetteville, Ga., to Sallie Hightower Hawkins, Macon, Ga., dated 19 Jan. 1931: “I forgot to tell you that we had four uncles in the Confederate army and Uncle Marion was the only one that came back. Uncle Still was killed. Uncle Tom and Uncle Jimmie died in the War.”)
6. Robert Still(Stell) Henderson (1837-1863), m. in Henry Co., 2 Aug. 1860, Georgia Ann Atkinson (b.c. 1842), who in 1860 was living in the family of his brother William Henderson at Stockbridge. She was undoubtedly a sister of William Henderson’s second wife Eliza Allan Atkinson (see above). R. S. Henderson served in the Confederate army in the “Clayton Dragoons,” C. F, 2nd Ga. Cavalry, and was killed in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn., which was fought 1-2 Jan. 1863. One son: (1) Robert Still(Stell) Henderson, Jr. (28 Dec. 1862-14 Nov. 1910), m. Henry Co., 28 Aug. 1884, Leila Sanders (d. Nov. 1915) of Stockbridge. Still Henderson was brought up in the family of his uncle Marion Henderson at Fayetteville and afterwards lived in Stockbridge and is buried in Concord M.E. Church Cemetery there. (The Stell name was sometimes pronounced as “Still” and thus was sometimes spelled that way. The namesake of men bearing the Stell name in the Henderson family was undoubtedly the Rev. Robert M. Stell or the Rev. John D. Stell, both early Baptist ministers in the Fayette County area.)
7. Sarah Henderson (b.c. 1838), m. 19 Nov. 1856, Thomas Lince Lord (b.c. 1837). Lince and Sarah Lord lived in Clayton Co. in 1860 and 1870. He served as a private and 4th sgt. in the Confederate army in the “Fayette Planters,” Co. C, 53rd Ga. Regt., Army of Northern Virginia. (See reference to him in John W. Lynch, The Dorman-Marshbourne Letters [Senoia, Ga.: Down South Publishing Company, 1995], p. 99.) One son: (1) John W. Lord (b.c. 1858).
8. George W. Henderson (b.c. 1842), listed as age eight in the 1850 Fayette Co. Census. No further record; died young.
9. Isabella Henderson (b.c. 1843), listed as age seven in the 1850 Fayette Co. Census. No further record; died young.
Robert Jimmerson Henderson and his second wife Mary Ann (Dunn) Bottoms had the following children:
1. Mary Frances Henderson (13 Aug. 1853-18 Apr. 1918), m. Clayton Co., 5 Jan. 1871, Winfield Scott Archer (6 May 1850-7 Nov. 1916) son of William E. and Nancy E. (Hodges) Archer of Fayette Co. They lived some years in Jonesboro, where Scott Archer was sheriff of Clayton County, 1879-1887. Children: (1) William Robert Archer (24 Nov. 1871-4 Dec. 1877). (2) Walter Scott Archer (28 Apr. 1874-15 Aug. 1918). (3) Minnie Belle Archer b. 1878/9, m. as his second wife, Mr. Belford of Savannah, Ga. (4) Mary Archer (31 Aug. 1882-19 Dec. 1968), taught school many years in Jonesboro, m. late in life, James Thomas Barnette (10 May 1874-8 Nov. 1945). (5) Calvin Lee Archer (6 May 1889-20 Apr. 1913). (6) Other children?
2. Nancy Rebecca Henderson (23 Feb. 1856-3 Jan. 1930), m. Clayton Co., 17 Oct. 1872, Lewis Cass Archer (14 Jun. 1852-31 Dec. 1909), brother of Winfield Scott Archer, above. L. C. Archer lived in the Panhandle District of Clayton Co. and later at Jonesboro, and still later at Selina (Riverdale). Children: (1) Minnie Cora Archer (18 Nov. 1873-27 Jan. 1874). (2) Edward Jimmerson Archer (29 Dec. 1874-15 Dec. 1959), m. Dealie Bell Roberts (27 May 1880-9 May 1910). (3) Mary Malysia Archer (15 Dec. 1876-16 Dec. 1948), m. Oscar Alsey Harris (14 Sep. 1865-30 Jun. 1913) and lived in Jonesboro. (4) Infant (b.&d. 3 May 1879). (5) Nancy Elizabeth Archer (2 Jun. 1880-30 Jan. 1945). (6) Ethel Maie Archer (8 Mar. 1882-20 Jun. 1948), m. Grover Cleveland Chambers. (7) James Ernest Archer (27 Jan. 1884-3 Jan. 1932). (8) Fannie Bell Archer (15 Apr. 1886-2 Jun. 1971). (9) Eula Leigh Archer (27 Feb. 1888-31 Jan. 1978). (10) Henry Grady Archer (31 Dec. 1889-15 Jun. 1965), m. (name unavailable). (11) Jessie Lewis Archer (24 Jan. 1892-21 Oct. 1965). (12) Nellie Gray Archer (17 May 1894-20 Jul. 1978). (13) Mattie Bird Archer (15 Mar. 1896-29 Dec. 1960). (14) Ida Naomi Archer (27 Oct. 1898-13 Jul. 1979). (See Jasper L. [Jack] Bray, “Lewis Cass Archer,” and Maude Harris Lunsford and Nannie Harris, “Children and Descendants of Builford Harris,” in The History of Clayton County, Georgia as previously referenced [1983], pp. 113-114 and 274-275 respectively.)
3. Wesley Dunn Henderson (4 May 1858-24 Jun. 1910), m. 23 Feb. 1881, Mary Ellen Clower (5 Dec. 1860-15 Apr. 1925), dau. of Joseph Gray and Ellen P. (Turnipseed) Clower of near Hampton, Henry Co. Joseph Gray Clower was a son of Simon and Martha (Gray) Clower and grandson of Joseph and Elizabeth (Williams) Gray, making him a nephew of Ambrose Williams Gray of Inman (see elsewhere in this work). (See Clower, Gray and Turnipseed families in Moore, ed., First Families, 1993.) Wesley Henderson began farming at his father’s old homeplace in the Panhandle District of Clayton Co. and he became a wealthy planter in the area. In 1886 he became a member of Liberty Chapel M.E. Church. After several years he moved to Hampton where he had business interests and there he built a large house in the Neo-Classic Revival style. Located on Oak Street at the west limits of the town (a new subdivision now densely covers the site), it was a white frame house featuring two large two-story columns on a formal front portico. The house was accidently burned in the 1930’s. W. D. Henderson was an original stockholder in the Bank of Hampton in 1902. His son Robert E. Henderson, also had business interests in the town in partnership with Dr. Robert Johnson Arnold in the business firm of Henderson & Arnold. Wesley and Ella Henderson and several members of their family are buried in Berea Cemetery in Hampton. Children: (1) Robert E. Henderson (b. 5 Mar. 1883), unmd., lived in Hampton and Atlanta. (2) Thomas Hendrix Henderson (8 Feb. 1885-1 Jun. 1959), m. Dorothy Jane Jones, lived near Lovejoy, Ga., and had children: Thomas Alvin Henderson m. Lucille Nelms, Helen Henderson m. Edward Festa, Robert Ellis Henderson m. Martha Ellen Conkle, and Emily Jane Henderson m. John Daniel Price. (3) Joseph W. Henderson (b. 3 Dec. 1887), m. Annie Earle Turner of Hampton. (She was his second cousin once removed by her descent from Hiram and Elizabeth [Henderson] Moore [see earlier], who were her great-grandparents.) They lived in Atlanta and had one child, W. D. Henderson, who lives in Atlanta. (4) Martha Frances Henderson (b. 1 Jan. 1889), died young, unmd. (5) Emma Cleo Henderson (b. 30 May 1891) m. 16 Aug. 1925, James R. Minter (d. 1 Jan. 1937), son of Richard Henry and Margaret (Walker) Minter (see Minter in this work), bur. Westview Cem., Atlanta. No issue. (6) Mary Ellen Henderson (b. 8 May 1893) m. Walter Willard Welden (b. 9 Jul. 1894), son of Dr. Elijah Burrell and Mary Frances (Harp) Welden of Inman. Child: Mary Jane Welden (b. 30 Jan. 1930) m. the Rev. William Granberry and had dau. Anne Granberry. (7) Kate Jane (Katie) Henderson (1 Oct. 1895-14 Sep. 1959), m. 20 Jan. 1916, Julian Lloyd Peebles (26 Jun. 1885-2 Sep. 1961), son of Zachary Taylor and Elizabeth S. (Murphy) Peebles of Henry Co. No issue. (See Moore, “Peebles,” in First Families, pp. 545-553.) (8) James Arthur Henderson (23 Aug. 1901-11 May 1926), unmd. (9) Marion William Henderson (b. 27 Apr. 1904), m. first, Mary Johnson, second, Lorena Burkhead. No issue by either marriage.
Andrew Jimerson and Elizabeth (Hill) Henderson
Andrew Jimerson Henderson (13 Jul. 1824-Jul. 1887), son of Robert Jimmerson and Sarah (Moore) Henderson and grandson of Richard and Isabel (Jamison) Henderson, married in Fayette County, 7 May 1844, Elizabeth Hill (16 Feb. 1827-Feb. 1896), daughter of Elisha Hill who is well known in the early annals of Liberty Chapel M. E. Church. The Hill homeplace was on the east side of Flint River, its lands lying along Hill’s Bridge Road and including Hill’s Bridge over the Flint. (The bridge no longer exists, but the old road trace east of the river is still extant. The road connected present State Hwy. 92 on the west with Panhandle Road on the east, in the immediate vicinity of the original Liberty Chapel of 1832.) The Robert J. Henderson homeplace, where Andrew J. Henderson was brought up, stood approximately a mile above the intersection of Hill’s Bridge Road (called Inman Road in Clayton County) and Panhandle Road.
Andrew and Elizabeth (Hill) Henderson first had a farm adjacent to that of his father Robert J. Henderson, but in 1856 they moved to a farm of some 252 acres several miles south of Fayetteville in land lots 27 and 26, 5th Dist. By 1860 he had eleven slaves on the place. He prospered with his farm and by 1858 he had opened a retail business in Fayetteville. The writer has no record nor tradition that Andrew Henderson performed military service in the Confederate War, but his four brothers were in service and three died in the war. In later years the family moved into Fayetteville, where their home became the scene of a tragic event 5 January 1892 when much of the town was destroyed by a cyclone. The Savannah Morning News of 7 January 1892 gave a long account of the storm and included the following item. (A Memoir written many years after by Willie Kate Travis [see later] differs in numerous details from this newspaper version of events.)
A Happy Home Wrecked
At the home of Mrs. A. J. Henderson a happy family was gathered about the hearthstone. Mrs. Henderson, Mrs. Travis, her daughter, Will Travis and his two children formed the happy group. The building shook a little. Mr. Travis stepped to the door to see what it all meant. Just as he stepped upon the porch the cyclone came down upon the house. The roof of the house was first taken off, and strange to relate, the floor of the house wrenched away and the inmates and its contents were left within the walls of the house upon the bare ground. Mrs. Henderson was badly hurt. Mrs. Travis and the children were seriously injured. Mr. Travis was not found until 9 o-clock. His mangled remains were picked up in an old field 100 yards from the residence. While standing in the open door he had been taken up by the suction of the electric funnel. Mr. Travis was about 32 years of age and a highly respected citizen of Fayetteville.
Andrew and Elizabeth (Hill) Henderson were long-time members of old Liberty Chapel at Inman. They were parents of the following children, all of whom were brought up in the church.
1. Sarah Griffin Henderson (16 Apr. 1847-5 Nov. 1883), m.c. 1871, as his first wife, Jefferson Bellah Hightower (19 Nov. 1847-31 Dec. 1923), son of James Calhoun and Manervia Ann (Armstrong) Hightower of Inman. J. B. Hightower was a farmer at Inman and had a grist mill and sawmill in the area. He later went more exclusively into the lumber business and eventually moved to Macon, although throughout the lifetime of Sally Henderson, his home was at Inman. Children: (1) John Wesley Hightower, m. Mary Leila Burch. A daughter was Sallie Elvira Hightower who m. E. Clay Hawkins of Macon and began to collect material on the history of the Henderson, Hightower, Burch, Huling and allied families in 1930. The writer corresponded extensively with Mrs. Hawkins in 1965 and for several years afterward, and found her family collections most helpful in preparing this work. (2) Vera Albertus Hightower, m. Richard Ellison Carlisle of Culloden, Ga. (3) Annie Elizabeth Hightower, m. Milton Alexander Crawford and lived in Yatesville, Ga. (4) George Henry Hightower, unmd. (5) James Andrew Hightower, m. Willie Storey. Jefferson B. Hightower had additional children by his two later wives. (See Hightower in this work for a more complete account of all these children and their families.)
2. Martha Ann Henderson (b.c. 1849), m. William Nolan. Their children as listed by Fannie Henderson Brown in 1931: (1) Marvin Nolan m. Wilberth Spratlin. (2) Alma Nolan m. Theo Ritchard. (3) Lena Nolan m. Thom Shreves. No Issue. (4) Maude Nolan m. Paul Gilbert. No Issue. (5) Andrew Nolan.
3. Frances Elizabeth (Fanny) Henderson (18 May 1852-1943), m. 3 Apr. 1879, as his second wife, John Wesley Brown (1840-1888), who served in the Confederate army and was later sheriff of Fayette Co. Wesley Brown had two children by his first wife Georgia Rowe. Children born to Fanny Henderson: (1) George Gardner Brown m. Julia Peavy. No issue. (2) Luther Talmadge Brown, served almost two years in France in World War I and m. late in his life, Nell McFall. No issue. It was said of Sheriff Wesley Brown that he never carried a firearm, but he always got his man and tied him to the back of a wagon, thus leading his prisoner to the Fayette County Jail.
4. William N. Henderson (b.c. 1855), m. Clayton Co., 17 Jul. 1892, Piety (Pertie) A. Chancey.
5. James Andrew Henderson (14 Oct. 1857-9 Apr. 1920), m. 23 Nov. 1882, Mary Adeline (Addie) Davis (21 Aug. 1866-10Sep. 1922), given in the marriage record as Ida Davis. He was town marshall of Fayetteville in 1890. He and his family lived successively in Fayetteville, Cartersville and Atlanta. Children as listed by Fannie Henderson Brown in 1931, with details added by descendant James H. Murphy of Helena, Ala., and Marilyn (MacQueen) Santiago of Port Angeles, Wash., 1998: (1) Leila Henderson (31 Jul. 1883-24 Dec. 1962) m. Lew Kilpatrick, lived in Atlanta. (2) Bessie Henderson (18 Dec. 1885-12 Jan. 1976), m. 17 Jun. 1916, George Avery Crowe. (3) Malvern Rembert Henderson (18 Jan. 1888-9 Aug. 1899). (4) Bertha Henderson (15 Dec. 1889-Nov. 1967), m. 12 Jan. 1909, A. E. Hicks, lived Etowah, McMinn Co., Tenn. (5) Maye Irene (Maye) Henderson (9 Feb. 1892-17 Jan. 1970), m. 16 Jan. 1917, William Valentine Murphy, lived in Atlanta. (6) Samuel Bartlet Henderson (4 Nov. 1894-23 Dec. 1963). (7) James Roy Henderson (15 Nov. 1896-30 Nov. 1955) m. Jan. 1926, Louise Player. (8) Sarah Lee Henderson (2 Apr. 1899-29 Jun. 1988) m. 12 Dec. 1917, W. W. Anderson, divorced. She lived in Atlanta. (9) Mary Loraine Henderson (12 Jul. 1901-24 Jan. 1972) m. 19 Feb. 1925, Warren Deryl Pate. (10) Ruth Elaine Henderson (24 Jul. 1903-28 Aug. 1905). (11) Edwin Henderson (2 Nov. 1905-6 Nov. 1905). (12) William Bryant Henderson (23 Oct. 1907-30 Sep. 1976) m. 26 May 1928-9, Edith Burnell Parker.
6. Mary Ella Henderson (b.c. 1861), known as Ella Henderson, m. 16 Mar. 1887, Samuel Blake Chapman, known as Blake Chapman, and lived in northeast Atlanta. Their home lay in the path of the Atlanta fire of 1917 and was destroyed. (See recollections of Willie Kate Travis referenced below.)
7. Susan Alice Henderson (10 Mar. 1864-22 Jun. 1907), m. 16 Dec. 1888, William Harbord Travis (23 Jan. 1861-5 Jan. 1892), son of Marlin Towns and Winnie (Sessions) Travis of Fayette Co. When Susan Alice (Henderson) Travis died in 1907, her children were taken into the Atlanta home of her sister and brother-in-law, the Blake Chapmans. Children: (1) Rembert Pierce Travis (c. 1890-1950) m. Alma Hubbard of Atlanta. He was personnel director for the Southern Railway System and in World War II he served on the National Railway Adjustment Board in Chicago. His permanent home was in Atlanta. (2) Willie Kate Travis (b. 5 Jan. 1892), m. in Atlanta, Oct. 1919, Robert M. Reiser (d. Apr. 1964) and lived first in Superior, Wisconsin, and from 1923 in Madison, Wis., where R. M. Reiser was Deputy Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin. Willie Kate (Travis) Reiser was born in Fayetteville on the day of the cyclone of 1892 and was educated at Brenau College and at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She followed her graduation with a group tour of Europe and was in Austria when that country declared war on Serbia, 28 July 1914. This was the beginning of World War I. Mrs. Reiser’s memoir includes her party’s hurried return trip to New York aboard the S. S. Carpathia, which had figured in the Titanic tragedy of 1912. (See “Willie Kate Travis, A Biography,” in The History of Fayette County, 1977, pp. 164-168. Mrs. Reiser’s recollections, written for the Fayette County history book, give a more accurate account of the Cyclone of 1892 than that quoted above from the Savannah Morning News. Children: (1) Robert M. Reiser, Jr. (2) William Travis Reiser. (3) Mary Eleanor Reiser (d. 1927, age 4-1/2 years).
8. Nancy Emma Henderson (b.c., 1866), m. J. W. Rice. Children listed by Fanny Henderson Brown: (1) Elizabeth Rice m. Mr. Gutwein. (2) Blake Rice, m. Maude Pringly.
[Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, Towaliga Farm, P. O. Box 145, Hampton, Georgia 30228. Summer 1997/1 December 1997. Revised 6-14-98 and 10-14-98.]
Henderson Addenda
Will of Robert Henderson, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
5 October 1788
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Will Book D, Page 13:
In the name of God Amen, I, Robert Henderson, of the state of North Carolina, and county of Mecklinburg, being in a sick and low condition, but sound in mind and memory, Blessed be God for it, and calling to mind the uncertainty of life and the mortality of my body, and that it was appointed for all once to die do make this my last will and testament, in manner and form following viz---
First, I recommend my soul to God who gave it to me and my body to the earth from whence it was taken. Nothing doubting but that I shall receive it again at the general resurection through the mighty power of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and also I do order myself a deasent interrment at the direction of my Executors herein after named.
Item - I do will and bequeath unto my well beloved wife Isabel Henderson, her mare and saddle, and her and the children is to have the plantation, tools, and all the household furniture, the two work horses, some cows, hogs, and sheep, and is to live together and work the plantation during her widowhood, but if she is married again, I do allow all the personal estate to be sold, and her to get the one third and the other two thirds to be equally divided amongst my daughters, allowing Hannah the value of the mare now willed to her less than any of the rest.
Item - I do will and bequeath unto my well beloved daughter Hannah, the bay, three years old filly and a new saddle to be made for her.
Item - I will and bequeath unto my well beloved son Wm. Henderson the soral mares colt and the new saddle and rifle gun and to my son Richard the smooth bore gun.
Item - I do will and bequeath unto my two sons Wm. and Richd. Henderson if they are obedient to their mother and do their duties to her and the rest of the children, that plantation which I purchased from Thomas McClure to be equally divided betwixt them when they come of age but till then it is to be rented to the best advantage and the rent to be put to the use of schooling and clothing my childring and Wm. is to pay 15 and Richard 10 pounds in money which is to be equally divided amongst my daughters.
Item - I do will and bequeath unto my two sons John and James Henderson the plantation which I now live on to be equally divided betwixt them when they come of age but till then it is to be put to the use of raseing, schooling, and clothing my childring and my beloved wife Isebel is to have her living of it during her widowhood and if she never marries during life and my lands on bevour dam joining David Dixon to be sold and the money to be equally divided amongst my daughters and by these presents I do impower my executors or either of them to make a deed of seal for the same as for my child yet unborn I do will and bequeath if a boy what land can be purchased on the western waters with my indents and if no land can be got for them he must have an equal part with my daughters and if a daughter she is to have an equal part with the rest and that land, if any, to be sold and equally divided amongst my daughters. I do allow the two years old filley to be kept along with the two horses for the use of the family and the sorel mare and her three years old filley to be sold and what cow cattle can possibly be spared -
And lastly I do nominate and appoint my well Beloved nephew William Henderson junier and my beloved cousin John Sharpio to be my execturs of this my last will and testament. in witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and affixed my seal this October 5th 1788 signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of
his
Robt R Henderson
mark
George Elliott, Just.
John Elliott
John Henderson
Will of Richard Henderson, Henry County, Georgia
17 April 1858, Codicil 21 March 1861
Henry County, Georgia, Will Book A, Pages 392-393:
State of Georgia, Spalding County, I Richard Henderson of said state and county do hereby make & declare this my last will & testament, & hereby revoke all others which I have heretofore made. I hereby constitute and appoint my sons Robert Henderson and Andrew Henderson and the survivors of the, executor & executors of this my last will & testament. After payment of my just debts I dispose of my Estate as follows.
Item 1st. I give to my beloved wife Rebecca Henderson, one horse and three cows to be chosen by herself, two beds and a sufficient quantity of bed clothing, such as she may select for both beds forever.
Item 2nd. I give bequeath & devise to my wife, Rebecca Henderson, for & during her natural life, or so long as she may remain unmarried, my plantation known as my Holliday place, and this I expressly give her in lieu of dower.
Item 3rd. I give & bequeath to my beloved wife Rebecca Henderson, for and during her natural life, or while she may remain unmarried, my negro man Martin, about forty years of age, his wife Clark, about forty years of age & their child Elizabeth about three years of age, and also Caroline a woman about forty years of age, and her child Martha between four & five years of age. Provided my wife shall accept of my Holliday plantation in lieu of her dower, but should she prefer and elect to take her dower, then the negroes bequeathed to her in this item shall go to be distrubuted among my children equally as is herein after provided as to other property, all my children to share alike.
Item 4th. Having already advanced [my] Grand-daughter Mary Ann Brooks, I now give her fifteen Dollars.
Item 5th. The residue of my property, both real & personal, wherever and whatever it may be, including the land and negroes given to my beloved wife, during her natural life, or while she may remain unmarried, after her estate therin is over I give, bequeath & devise to my children, Robert Henderson, Andrew Henderson, Betsey Moore, Hanna Hand, and Sally Edwards to be equally divided between them forever. In Witness whereof, I the said Richard Henderson, to this my last will and testament, contained on this and the two preceeding pages of this sheet of paper, set my hand and seal on this third and last page, this 17th day of April, 1858.
his
Richard X Henderson (LS)
mark
The foregoing Will, signed, sealed, published & declared by the said Henderson as his last will & Testament in the presence of us, who in his presence and at his request, and in each others presence, have hereunto set our names as witnesses, this 17th day of April, 1858.
A. Gray
Garry Grice
Wm. H. Vaughan
Andrew R. Moore
Codicil to the will of Richard Henderson
Henry County, Georgia, Will Book A, Page 392:
State of Georgia, Henry County, Whereas I, Richard Henderson, on the 17th day of April, in the year of our Lord Eighteen Hundred and fifty eight, sign, seal, publish and declare my last will & Testament in presence of A. Gray, Garry Grice, Wm. H. Vaughan & Andrew R. Moore, who signed the will and testament as witnesses, and whereas I am desirous of altering & changing a bequest and devise in said will, I therefore make and publish this codicil to said will.
Item 1st. I revoke and annul the first clause of said will, so far as relates to the appointing of my sons Rober Henderson & Andrew Henderson as my executors of this my last will & Testament. And in lieu of them I hereby consitute and appoint my friend John M. Ponder as my executor of this my last will and testament of which this codicil is apart.
Item 2nd. I revoke and annul the second Item of said will, so far as relates to lot of land knows as the Holliday place, in said Item, and in lieu thereof I give bequeath and devise to my wife Rebecca Henderson, for and during her natural life, one third part of my land whereon I now live, including the building, and this I expressly give her in lieu of dower.
3rd Item. I revoke and annul [the] third item of said will, so far as relates to the bequeathing to my beloved wife, Rebecca Henderson, for & during her natural life, or while she remains unmarried, In lieu thereof I give & bequeath to my beloved wife Rebecca Henderson, during her natural life, my negro man Martin, about forty-two years of age, his wife Clark about forty-two years of age, their child Elizabeth about five years of age, and also Caroline, a woman about forty-two years of age, & her child Martha, between five and six years of age. And after the death of Rebecca Henderson, I desire that the above negroes be sold as following viz; Martin, Clark & Elizabeth be sold in one lot together, and Caroline & Martha be sold in one lot. This the twenty first day of March 1861.
his
Richard X Henderson (LS)
mark
Signed, sealed, published and declared by Richard Henderson, as the codicil of his last will and Testament of the seventeenth of April eighteen hundred and fifty eight, in the presence of us the subscribers, who subscribed our names hereto in the presence of said Testamony, at his special instance and request, and of each other, this 21st day of March 1861.
A. G. Couch
Wm. R. Owen
Thos. A. Adams
Thomas G. Barnett, JP
The above will and codicil to the same proved in form of law, by the oath of Garry Grice proving the Will, and the oath of Thos. A. Adams proving the Codicil, they being two of the subscribing witnesses to the said will & codicil respectively; on the 9th day of November 1868 and R. A. Henderson qualified as executor of said will & codicil and the same was ordered and admitted to record.
Geo. W. Nolan, Ordinary
Will of Robert J Henderson, Clayton County, Georgia
20 October 1873
Clayton County, Georgia, Will Book A, Pages 53-54:
Georgia, Clayton County, I Robert J. Henderson of said county being advanced in years but of sound memory and discression, desiring to avoid all dissatisfaction among my legal heirs after my death and to make distribution of all of my Estate both real and personalty before my death, in the presents of these witnesses do make this my last Will and Testament.
Item 1st. I resigned my body to its mother earth and my soul to God who gave it.
Item 2nd. I desire that at my death my body shall be decently buried in a christian like manner.
Item 3rd. I will and devise that after my death my death [repeated] all of my just debts if any there be shall be paid out of my entire estate.
Item 4th. I will and devise that my four [sic.] Grand children To wit: Francis M. Henderson Nancy Dora Henderson Children of my Son Thomas J. Henderson and Robt. S. Henderson child of my son Robt. S. Henderson have out of my entire estate each the sum of one hundred dollars. [This bequest should have included grandsons Thomas and Robert Henderson, also sons of Thomas J. Henderson.]
Item 5th. I will and devise that the residue of my estate real and personalty after my death be given to my beloved wife Mary Ann Henderson and my youngest son Wesley Dunn Henderson; [they] shall continue to reside together for the use and benefit of my said wife and last named son during the life or widowhood of my said wife and at her death or intermarriage of my said wife to go to and be the sole property of my said son Wesley Dunn Henderson. The real estate herein last alluded [to] consists of a portion of land lot No. nineteen in the 5th District of said Clayton County being the Homestead on which I now reside being one half of said lot and also all of Lot No. twenty lying East of Flint River.
Item 6. Having heretofore giving [sic.] to my six other children To wit. John W. Henderson Andrew J. Henderson Francis M. Henderson [sic.] Sarah Lord children of my first wife and Frances M. Archer [sic.] and Nancy R. Archer their distributive shear each of my worldly effects, as shown by receipts in my possession to that effect, I will and direct that the contract so made with them remains and be carried out as so stated and contemplated.
Item 7. I will and desire that my esteem friend Edward [or Edmond] E. Fortson shall [be] and I hereby appoint him my executor to carry out this my last will and testament.
In testimony whereof and to confirm this my said Will I have hereunto set my hand and seal in presents of the following witnesses on this the 20th day of October in the year of our Lord 1873
Robert J. Henderson
Test.
J. A. McConnell
T. T. Tucker
M. P. Byington
Received of Robert J. Henderson my father four hundred dollars as a full distributive potion of his estate real and personal Oct 29th 1873
Nancy R. Archer (LS)
Received of Robert J. Henderson my father four hundred dollars as my full destributive shear of his estate real and personal Oct. 20th
Mary R. Archer (LS)
Georgia, Clayton Counthy, Received of my father Robert J. Henderson of said estate [eic.] and County One hundred dollars in full of my distributive potion of the estate of Robert J. Henderson. Given under my hand and Seal this day of 1st day January 1870.
J. W. Henderson (LS)
A. J. Henderson (L)
R. M. Henderson (LS)
Sarah Lord (LS)
Will of Andrew J. Henderson, Fayette County, Georgia
16 April 1886
Fayette County, Georgia, Will Book A, Pages 518-520:
Georgia, Fayette County
In the name of God - Amen - I Andrew J. Henderson of Said State and County; being of advanced age, and feeble condition but of sound and disposing mind and memory; knowing that I must Shortly depart this life, deem it right and proper, both as respects my family and myself, that I should make a disposition of the property with which a kind Providence has blessed me. I do therefore, make this my last will and Textament, hereby revoking and annulling all others, by me theretofore made.
First. I desire and direct that my body be buried in a decent and Christian Like manner, Suitable to my circumstances and condition in life. My Soul, I trust, shall return to rest with God who gave it, as I hope for Salvation through the merits and atonements of the blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Secondly. I desire and direct that all my just debts be paid without delay by my Executrix hereinafter named and appointed
Thirdly. I give bequeath and devise to my beloved wife Elizabeth Henderson all of my property, both real and personal, Notes and accounts and other evidence of debt for and during her natural life only. This bequest is made to my wife in lieu of her whole dower.
Fourthly. It is my will that the Executrix hereinafter appointed shall not as required by law make annual returns to the Court of Ordinary, but shall make returns at such times as she may think proper. I further desire and direct, that if my said wife sees fit and proper to sell or Exchange a piece of property for the use and benefit of herself and my children, that she do so, without being accountable to any body for the same, or make return of the same.
Fifthly. At the death of my said wife, I give and bequeath to my Children, to be equally divided between them, all of my estate both real and personal, that may be on hand at the demise of my wife, and that if any of my said Children die without issues, I desire that said deceased Child’s share of my estate be equally divided between the Surviving Children. The issue of my deceased daughter Sarah Hightower, to have the share of my estate that she would have entitled to the same as if she was in life. The beneficiaries of my estate are, to wit. The heirs of Sarah Hightower deceased (wife of J. B. Hightower), Martha A. Nolan (wife of W. T. Nolan), Frances E. Brown (wife of J. W. Brown), William N. Henderson, James A. Henderson, Mary E. Henderson, Susan A. Henderson, and Nancy E. Henderson.
Sixthly. I hereby Constitute and appoint my wife Elizabeth Henderson my Executrix of this my last will and Testament. This April the 16th 1886.
his
Andrew J. X Henderson
mark
Signed, declared and published by Andrew J. Henderson as his last will and Testament in the presence of us the subscribers, who subscribed our names hereto in the presence of said Testator at his instance and request and of each other, he signing in our presence and we signing in his presence. This April 16 1886.
L. B. Griggs
D. M. Franklin
R. M. Henderson
Georgia, Fayette County
I, R. M. Henderson, do swear that I as well as L. B. Griggs, and D. M. Franklin saw the within named Andrew J. Henderson sign and publish the within paper as his last will and testament; that I subscribed the same as a witness thereto, at the special instance and request of the said Andrew J. Henderson and in his presence, as did also L. B. Griggs and D. M. Franklin, that the said Andrew J. Henderson signed the same freely and voluntarily, and was, at the time of such signing, of sound and disposing mind and memory.
R. M. Henderson
Sworn to and Subscribed before me This 3rd day of October 1887
D. M. Franklin Ordinary
Recorded October 4th, 1887
D. M. Franklin Ordinary
