The Henderson family history I share with you is based on a book passed to me from Kay Henderson Rasmussen, daughter of Hobert Henderson. The book (as I recall) is titled “The History of Mercy Shreve” and was authored by a nephew of Edwin Henderson. I saved the pages relating to the “lines” leading from Edwin and Eliza Henderson to each of us, but I cannot locate the “digitized book” at this time. …….. James, and his wife, Mary White Henderson, along with William W. and Eliza Whitehurst Williams are listed, in this effort, as the “1st gen”, due to the fact he, James, is the first Henderson to marry into the line descending from Mercy Shreve. I have no other history of our Henderson line beyond this book and what I remember hearing from Hobert Henderson and his daughter, Kay……… Sorry that I cannot recall the author by name. At one point the book was available online. I will look for the same on my old “back-up” drives.

October 8, 22024, end day 1, “Good Night”

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It is remarkable what a good night’s rest does for the mind, especially an old(er) mind, such as mine. Thanks be to God!

A clear mind enabled me to realize that I made at least one mistake in the earlier Post #3. In both the header and footer on page 3-1 “Eliza Henderson” should be “Eliza Thorpe”. The same mistake applies to the header on page 3-2. Feel free to correct the same, if you wish., and ‘wa-lah’, I located the digitized file of the book! ……….. The book is titled “The Generations and History of The Descendants of Mercy Shreve and Thomas White”, and the author is Luther Prentice Allen, grandson of James (the pioneer) and Mary White Henderson. He, being the author, presents himself as #318 on page 61.

Luther P Allen begins our “Henderson family” history relative to the descendants of Mercy Shreve and Thomas White on page 53 and 54 .. …. For this effort James and Mary (White) Henderson are the first (1st) generation.

George Allen, founder, Greenfield Illinois.

Presentation of the second (2nd) generation relative to this effort – Edwin Lee Henderson (b. 1815 – d. 4/30/1889), married Eliza Jane Williams …..Cir 1840???

“Our lines” descend from three of the nine (9) children born to Edwin & Eliza Henderson. 1 – Lydia Ann, m. Ben Thorpe, 2 – Mary Frances, m. John Andrew Stickel, and Arthur Edwin, m. Effie Young.

The documents are presented, individually, in .pdf format. I have no idea how to present .pdf files as a scrollable file; therefore, you must open and close each page as presented. Sorry about that – feel free to reorganize the presentation if you wish. Excerpts of the book relative to this effort follow which show the branches each family descends from.

The cover gives the date this collection of data was finalized. Some family members are not included due to the date of publication. Kay Henderson made margin notes pointing to the fact her father, ,b. 1899, is “too young for inclusion”.

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Following is the Preface and Table of Contents pages, pp-lll – pp-vlll 

          Credit is due to those who made this document available. From a previous publication we quote: “An original of this publication was graciously offered for copying by Helen (Foster) Swiney, the daughter of Esther (Henderson) and DeanFoster. Anita Carol (Henderson) White are credited for the copies of that original and the copy provided for this endeavor was made by Kay (Henderson) Rasmussen. Carol and Kay are first cousins to Helen (Foster) Swiney, their father and mother being Hobert F (b.1900) and Anita (Metcalf) Henderson. Hobert Henderson is not listed with his siblings herein, being born after the book was finalized. Thanks, Helen”.

Using the details relative to “our line” in this book we can place ourselves on the appropriate branch of the Henderson line and the “generation” we represent. We begin with the Swiney family. ……. Helen Foster, b. 1932 m. Jess Swiney , b.1923. ……………. This relates to site “F” on prior posts.

Esther, born 1893, had two brothers, Frank, the oldest, born 1889, & Hobert, born 1899 (too young to be mentioned in the book).

Will return later, God permitting, with the lines from Mary Frances & Lydia Ann. In closing this post, I think you might find interesting the following account of “James, the pioneer – his entrance to Greene County, Illinois”. This is published in the 2015 book, Pioneers and Settlers of Greene Co., a book compiled with short family records put together by the Greene County Historical Society.

Trusting you “Enjoy” this, as I have!