Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 262 - 263 

HON. WILLIAM D. HENDERSON, an ex-member of the Illinois Legislature, and later quite an extensive grain-dealer, is now retired from the active labors of life and occupies a comfortable home in the town of Derby. His has been a long and busy career, with little time for idleness along the thoroughfare of life, where he has left his mark and may truly feel that he has not lived in vain. The object of respect by young and old, his familiar figure is greeted with affection and esteem, and in his declining years he is enjoying the reward of a well-ordered life and one in which he has exerted himself to do good to those around him.

      Our subject, a native of South Carolina, was born on the 21st of January, 1812, and is the son of Thomas and Ann (Dickey) Henderson, the former of Scotch ancestry and born in the city of Philadelphia, Pa., in 1785. Thomas Henderson was a farmer by occupation and removed from his native State to Illinois in May, 1835. He located in that section of country during its pioneer days, entering a tract of land near Oquawka. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and in payment for his services received a land warrant from which he took up eighty acres. He spent his last years in Illinois, dying at the homestead which he had built up, in 1854.

      In the meantime our subject had located in Warren County, Ill., a part of which was subsequently divided and named Henderson County in honor of our subject, and in which he officiated as Sheriff for a period of six years. He was also Postmaster at Oquawka, a town lying directly on the banks of the Mississippi, four years, and during the administration of President Taylor. Subsequently Mr. Henderson became Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Fourth District of Illinois, and from 1844 to 1848 represented the people of Henderson and Warren Counties in the State Legislature.

      Mr. Henderson served twelve years as a magistrate, four years each in the counties of Henderson, Mercer and Warren, and was appointed Assessor by President Lincoln and removed by Johnson. He is an ardent supporter of Republican principles, and in 1872 was Presidential Elector for the Tenth District of Illinois. In addition to his public duties he engaged in the milling business in Warren County for a period of eight years, and operated in the State of Iowa three years, buying and selling flaxseed. He came to Kansas in 1883, and purchased a quarter-section of land in Butler County. In 1883 he came to this county, and since being a resident of Derby has been largely engaged as a grain dealer.

      The marriage of Hon. W. D. Henderson and Miss Martha Watt was celebrated at the home of the bride, Jan. 5, 1832. This lady was a native of South Carolina and became the mother of six children. Their eldest, Elizabeth, was born in October, 1833, and is now with her father; Sarah was born in 1838, and married Samuel W. Thompson, who is now deceased; she lives in Dubuque, Iowa. William P., who was born in February, 1841, is connected with a journal in California; Margaret, who with her husband is a resident of Wichita, was born in September, 1843, and married John C. Ford, who was clerk for our subject while the latter was Assessor of Internal Revenue; Elvira, who was born in November, 1846, is the wife of Joseph K. Gowdy, an attorney-at-law in Pawnee City, Neb.; Charlotte was born in March, 1849, and is the wife of Rev. Charles H. Mitchell, of Keota, Iowa. Mrs. Martha Henderson departed this life at her home in September, 1849.

      Mr. Henderson, in 1851, contracted a second marriage, with Miss Ellen, daughter of Archibald McNiel, of New York State. Their eldest son, John, was born in 1853, and married Miss Lora Stewart, of Sumner County, Kan.; he was graduated from Monmouth College and subsequently became a teacher of recognized ability. He is now serving as local editor of the Sumner County Press. Rufus was born in 1855, and is in the insurance business at Derby; Frances, born in 1857, is the wife of A. P. Carter, a paymaster on the Chicago, Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad.

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