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HENDERSON Genealogy |
Good News - This Page is Under Heavy Reconstruction
Last updated 4-July-2001
This line of Henderson originated in Scotland. This is based on the information, the chain of which began in the 1871 Canadian Census of Perth County, Ontario. There we learned of the immigrant John Henderson and his family (Generation F). From there we looked to John and Margaret's marriage records and then to the cemetery records of Elma Township. In a single cemetery, Elma Centre Cemetery, we located a lot of Henderson's. They may all be related somehow, but we were able to find three generations that we could make connections with. From there, we located the “Old Scottish Parish Church Records” and found the only linkage back to Scotland. From that we located his parents and the both of the prior generation’s parents. We were also able to locate some (hopefully all?) of the children of the three families.
Our earliest known Henderson, based on documented facts and not speculation, is John Henderson born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland in 1814. However, we have not learned when or by what path he migrated to Canada. The family had six children. John, the eldest son is in our direct line. The old parish records indicate that John's father was Thomas b c 1776 and his father Alexander b c 1750.
The family line as we know it currently, and the generation reference, are indicated below.
Thomas Henderson was christened on 18-October-1776 in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Thomas was married to Janet CURRIE christened in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland 25-September-1774. They had several children. All children were born in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The christening dates for the ones we know about are:
This information was found in the Scottish Church Records CD-ROM at the FHC. Apparently this ties into work done by a researcher in Scotland. We will be attempting to contract that researcher to learn of the source materials and the references.
For this, the earliest Henderson in our line we have learned much but still have a very large quantity of unknown information, but the good news is that we now know several pieces of key data which are the points for continuing our research.
John Henderson Sr., b 1814 in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, d 15 June 1876 in Elma Township, Perth County, Ontario, Canada. John Sr. died only 90 days after his son Robert. The headstone indicates that it was erected John Jr., the son [a brother of Robert].
John was married to Jannett THOMPSON. We learned substantial information from her obit which appeared in the January 8, 1908 Brussels Post [Brussels, Ontario]. First, we learned that she was born in Scotland and married John in Galt, Ontario in 1841. We also were able to find that John and Jannett removed to St. Marys, Ontario around 1847 or 48. They had a three children [James, xx and xx] listed in the 1850 Census of St. Marys, Perth County. We did not do enough research to identify if they lived in the city or in the country.] John’s occupation is listed as “carpenter”.
The Henderson family is also listed in the 1860 Census of St. Marys with 6 children [xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx]. John’s occupation is now shown as “Farmer”. We did not investigate to locate where they lived, i.e., city or farm. Their son James’ name does not appear in the list of children in this Census and is presumed to have died during the 10-year interval, but we have not yet found the burial information.
The 1871 Census has them living on a farm in Concession 14 in Elma Township, Perth County. In the book “The Elmainac” John Sr. is listed as the “patent landowner” of 100 acres - Concession 14 Lot X. Three owners were named before the crown granted John Sr. the land “patent” for 2 pounds 8 shillings [grated title to the property by the crown] to him. I guess the previous tenants were the equivalent of squatters.
By the 1871 census John Jr., the eldest son, had married Margaret Boyle, a neighbor girl from two houses down the road. They live on a 100-acre farm next to the Boyle farm. They married when Margaret was 16. John was born the following year. [Discussion of John Jr. and Margaret in the next section.]
Concession 14 is about 10 miles north of St. Marys.
We also have the 1855 Assessment Roll for Mornington Township of Perth County which shows:
· Samuel Boyle - Concession 5 east half of lot2
· John Henderson – On concession 6 part of lot 10 and another Henderson also on Concession 6 part of lot 10. Note - Lots in Mornington Twp. Are 200 acres, not the usual 100 acres as in other townships so it is likely that each of these were 100 acres. (August, 2001 Perth County Profiles Vol. 19 No. 3 OGS)
These lots are about 5 miles north of St. Marys and are not the ones on which they finally settled.
The Boyle family lived just two farms to the east of the Henderson farm. The Boyle family consisted of :
· Samuel Boyle Sr.- Husband
· Mary Ann Boyle – Wife
· Margaret Boyle – Dau.
·
Several of the members of this family, including John and Jannett, are buried in the Elma Centre Cemetery, Perth County, Ontario. John and Jannett are in Row 12/14. In the same plot is their son Robert, who died at an early age.
Their children are:
We now have the beginnings of a fix on the time of both the HENDERSONs and THOMPSONs arrival in Canada – it must be after 1820 and before 1841.
In short, we have a lot of interesting research left to do.
We believe that John Jr. was born in Grey Twp, Huron Twp. and not St Marys. Perth Co. but it depends on how you read his birth certificate.
We learned of a new child, James, who was born in 1847, but died at an early age. We are not sure where his burial plot is located. Could be in St. Marys, Blanchard Twp. area of Perth Co. or in Grey or other township near to Seaforth, Huron Co. We are still working on this one.
From our limited information we do know that John was married at age 27 and was married in the town of Galt, Ontario. We still do not know when he immigrated to Canada. We did find a large group of John and his wife's children were all buried in a single cemetery in Elma Township, Perth County, Ontario, Canada. We also located a lot of other Henderson's in the same cemetery whom we could not place. Our research now indicates that there was another HENDERSON family living in the town of Atwood, about 10 miles away, who are also buried in the Elma Centre Cemetery. The other family was the family of the Reverend Henderson of Atwood, no relation to our line.
The earliest Henderson for whom we have any detailed knowledge at this time is John Henderson. John was married to Margaret Boyle.
We located the marriage record for John (Jr.) and Margaret Boyle. It reads - "Henderson, John, 23, Grey, Canada, married 26 June 1868, Margaret Boyle, 16, Elma (Twp), Perth Co., Canada, daughter of John Boyle." [1858-1869 Marriage Register of Ontario, Book 17 Page 51]. From this we learned two things (1) John was born or raised in Grey Township, Huron Co. and (2) he was marring a girl (literally) from Elma Twp. Perth County. So we tracked the 1871 Census in Elma Twp, Perth Co. and located the family of Boyle who were “missing” a 18 year old. Then we noticed that only a few houses away was a family of Henderson's - John, Margaret and a child John. Bingo - we are now sure these are two of the families we were looking for -- Margaret parents and brothers and sisters and Margaret herself in her new role as wife and mother.
According to the 1871 census of Ontario, Canada, John was born in Ontario c 1844, was of Scottish heritage, of the Wesleyan Methodist faith and was indicated to be a farmer. His wife, Margaret Boyle, was born in 1852 in Ontario, was of Irish heritage, and was also of the Wesleyan Methodist faith. The census indicates there was one child, John age 2. [1871 Census of Ontario District 30 (Perth Co.) Sub-district C (Elma Twp); Division 5 page 18 lines 3, 4 and 5]
We also searched the Birth records for Perth County and found a Margaret Alice Henderson born on 23-August-1875. This would be the sister of my grandfather John B. Henderson.
John and Margaret are buried in xxx cemetery in xxx, Ontario, Canada.
There were at least two children from this marriage. We are still researching the family line as they do not appear in the 1881 census of Ontario where we would expect the family to show up. The known children are:
We do not know the significance of the middle initial "B" at this time. It has been suggested that it may be "Boyle, Bradford or Black". John B. Henderson died in Detroit, Michigan at the home of his daughter Dorothy Yates on 4-May-1942 and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.
John B. Henderson married Hannah May Hall born in 1870 in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada. They had three children all of whom were born in or near Detroit, Michigan.
Their Ontario marriage registration # 005846, reads "John B. Henderson 27 years, lives in Detroit, Michigan, born Elma Twp., Perth Co. bookkeeper, son of John and Margaret (Boyle) Henderson, Presbyterian Married 27-Sep-1895 to Hannah May Hall 24 years, lives and was born in Harwich, daughter of Robert and Annie (Wiles) Hall. Whit. G.M. Dixon, Chicago and Mable Hall of Harwich; Methodist."
John and Hannah immigrated to the USA during 1895 on the Windsor Ferry. John filed his papers to indicate intention to become a US Citizen in October of 1896. He did receive his citizenship in 1899 from the Court in Detroit, Wayne Co. Michigan. No papers were found specifically for Hannah May although at that time she may have become a citizen by default. At a later date we will research this point specifically.
From the US census of 1920 we have learned that John, Hannah and the three children, Ernest (Ernie), Dorothy and Marion lived in a house at xxx Third Street in Detroit where he was reported to be a Chief Clerk at a Railway office. Ernie who was about 24 at that time was reported to be a Clerk at a Railway office. The census indicates that at the house there were three borders as well who were not related to the family. We also know of an address (confirmed by an address book) at xxx Clarendon, Detroit where the family lived during some part of the 1920-1935 period. It is not yet clear if they owned the house or not.
Both John B. and Hannah May died in Detroit and are buried in the Evergreen Cemetery near Schoolcraft and Grand River Ave. At the time of their death, they lived on Schoolcraft Road in an apartment above a drugstore. John's death certificate indicates that he worked as a salesman at the Michigan Tag Co. in Detroit.
We have some pictures of these John and Hannah taken in the early 1900s and also a family picture of John, Hannah, Ernie, Dorothy and Marion sometime between 1910 and 1915.
1. Ernest Warrington Henderson born 20-Nov-1896 Detroit, Michigan - died 27-July-1967 in Detroit. Ernie is buried at the White Chapel Cemetery in Bloomfield Hills which is near Detroit.
Family lived in Detroit. Father worked at railroad (Perrier Marquette Railroad at the Michigan Centeral Buliding and at the Fort Street Depot) as chief clerk and Ernie worked as a clerk per the 1920 census records. Later Ernie changed jobs.
Family moved to Plymouth (Marion was born there).
Ernie served in the US Army in the Signal Corps and was stationed at a base in Angola, Indiana. He also did some of his training at the home of the Army Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth, NJ. (From the letters / diary of June Little Hettrick).
Ernest (Ernie) married Mildred Christine Bradford Wickham on xx-March 24, 1930 at the Metropolitan Church, Detroit, Michigan. Mildred, born November 3, 1901 in Palmerston, Ontario, Canada. She was the daughter of John Matheson Wickham and Annie M. Scott. Ernie met Mildred in Detroit where she was working as a secretary. [At that time she was part of a large group of people who lived in Canada and commuted daily to Detroit for employment.] From the Polk's City Directory of Detroit we were able to learn the employeers of both Ernie and Mildred. Mildred died on March 8, 1950 on Lang Ave, Detroit. She is buried in the White Chapel Cemetery in Bloomfield Hills, MI.
Ernie and Mildred had two children. John (Jack) Ernest Henderson born Jan 4, 1935 and Bradford (Brad) William Henderson born July 28, 1941.
Ernie married a second time later in life (age about 65) to Gladys Prather, a widow of about the same age and who had also been unmarried for a long period. It turns out that Gladys was also a far distant cousin to our family. Not that it mattered since there was no likelihood of children. There marriage was more of companionship and income sharing. And they did have fun together – so it was a nice arrangement for both of them.
2. Dorothy Elizabeth Henderson born Nov. 14, 1905 in Detroit, Michigan. She died December 14, 1971 in Royal Oak, Michigan. Dorothy was married to Wellington Bruce Yates.
3. Marion Hall Henderson born April 19, 1907 in Plymouth, Michigan died December 14, 1971 in New Orleans, LA. She married Edward Russell (Russ) Dyer on November 07, 1933 in Angola, IN. Russ was born Aug. 21, 1902 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They had one daughter – Susan Hall Dyer born June 19, 1939.
After they were married, they lived in Detroit. There were two children from this marriage:
John Ernest Henderson, II born November, 1959. John Jr. also lives in the San Diego area. He married xxx and they had one child Scott John Henderson born xx-XXX-1985. John and his first wife were divorced xx. John subsequently married xx on xx. This marriage ended in divorce in 19XX. There were no children from this marriage. He was married a third time in December 1996 to XX Butler in San Diego which was later annulled in 1997.
Research Questions - all dates are approximate
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