Richard Henderson (1735 - 1785)

Born 20 Apr 1735 in Hanover County, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 30 Jan 1785 at age 49 in Granville County, North Carolina

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Biography

Richard Henderson was a Virginia colonist.

Col. Richard Henderson performed Patriotic Service in North Carolina in the American Revolution.

Richard Henderson is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A054801.

Birth: 20 Apr 1735, Hanover, Virginia, ^[1]

Death: 30 JAN 1785, near Hendersonville, now called Henderson, Granville County, now Vance County, NC, at home on Nutbush Creek^[2]

Residence

Residence:

Place: United States^[3]

Children

1. Leonard Henderson b.6-Oct-1772, Granville, NC, d.1833, Williamsboro NC; married to FRANCES FARRAR
2. Archibald Henderson married to SARAH ALEXANDER
3. Elizabeth Henderson married to WILLIAM LEE ALEXANDER

Richard Henderson (1734–1785) was an American pioneer and merchant who attempted to create a colony called Transylvania just as the American Revolutionary War was starting.

In 1775, Henderson gathered chiefs of the Cherokee Indians and negotiated the Treaty of Watauga at Sycamore Shoals at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee, during which time he purchased all the land lying between the Cumberland River, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Kentucky River, and situated south of the Ohio River. The land thus delineated encompassed an area half as large as the present state of Kentucky. In order to facilitate settlement, Henderson hired Daniel Boone, who had hunted extensively in Kentucky, to blaze the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into the Transylvania land purchase. To appease other prominent early explorers, Henderson held out other rewards. He offered Joseph Martin, founder of Martin's Station on Martin's Creek in present-day Rose Hill, Lee County, Virginia, a spot as an agent and entry taker for the company, in charge of keeping tabs on settlers moving westward; Henderson offered Martin's brother Bryce a tract of 500 acres (2.0 km2) adjacent to the Cumberland Gap.

Note

Henderson was born in Hanover County, Virginia. In 1762, he moved to Granville County, North Carolina, studied law, was admitted to the bar, practiced law, and in 1769 was appointed judge of the Superior Court. He was the presiding judge who condemned captured tax resistors to death during the War of the Regulation.[1] Viewed as a member of the gentry, he had been a target of Regulator violence.[1] He was a member of a Church of England parish in Williamsboro during this time.[1]

After the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the organization of the state government in North Carolina, he was re-elected judge, but was prevented from accepting that position by his participation in a scheme organized under the name of the Transylvania Land Company.

IN THE COMPANY OF WILDERNESS EXPLORERS

In 1772, surveyors placed the land officially within the domain of the Cherokee tribe, who required negotiation of a lease with the settlers. Tragedy struck as the lease was being celebrated, when a Cherokee warrior was murdered by a white man. Robertson's skillful diplomacy made peace with the irate Native Americans, who threatened to expel the settlers by force if necessary.

In 1775, a treaty was held between the Cherokee and a delegation of the Transylvania Company, headed by Richard Henderson. Under the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (or the Treaty of Watauga) the Transylvania Company purchased a vast amount of land from the Cherokees, including most of present-day Kentucky and part of Tennessee. The treaty was technically illegal since the purchase of land from Native Americans was reserved by the government (the British, the governments of Virginia and North Carolina, and, later, the United States, all forbade private purchase of land from Indians).

During the treaty, Dragging Canoe, son of the Cherokee chief Attacullaculla, made a speech condemning the sale of Cherokee land and broke from the general Cherokee tribal government to form the sub-tribe known as the Chickamauga. After Henderson's Transylvania Company had bought Kentucky (although other tribes claimed it, such as the Shawnee), Daniel Boone was hired to widen the Indian path over Cumberland Gap to facilitate migration. This road became known as the Wilderness Road.

THE TRANSYLVANIA PURCHASE AT SYCAMORE SHOALS

In 1775, Henderson gathered chiefs of the Cherokee Indians and negotiated the Treaty of Watauga at Sycamore Shoals at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee, during which time he purchased all the land lying between the Cumberland River, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Kentucky River, and situated south of the Ohio River. The land thus delineated encompassed an area half as large as the present state of Kentucky. In order to facilitate settlement, Henderson hired Daniel Boone, who had hunted extensively in Kentucky, to blaze the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into the Transylvania land purchase.

THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPACT

Henderson followed Boone to a site that came to be called Boonesborough, located on the southern bank of the Kentucky river, Henderson encouraged the few settlers there to hold a constitutional convention. In May of 1775, under the shade of a huge elm tree, a compact organizing a frame of government was drafted. The intended government entailed executive, legislative, and judicial branches. After concluding the Transylvania Compact, Henderson returned to North Carolina and on behalf of his fellow investors in the land scheme petitioned Congress seeking to make Transylvania America?s fourteenth colony. Despite those efforts, Congress was unwilling to act without the consent of Virginia and North Carolina, both of whom claimed jurisdiction over the region in question. In June 1776 the Virginia General Assembly prohibited the Transylvania Land Company from making demands on settlers in the region and in December 1778 declared the Transylvania claim void. [2]

Henderson and his partners instead received a grant of 12 square miles (31 km²), on the Ohio River below the mouth of Green River. In 1779, Judge Henderson was appointed one of six commissioners to run the line between Virginia and North Carolina into Powell's valley. He settled in North Carolina, where he practiced farming on a large scale. He served as a militia colonel in the Revolutionary War and was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly from Granville County. One of his sons was Leonard Henderson.

Edgecombe County North Carolina Court Minutes 1757-1784

On the information of the Honorable Richard HENDERSON, Esq. that a mulatto servant girl named MORGAN who was bound to John FORT was by him transferred and conveyed away out of this County to the County of Granville in order to sell her. It is therefore ordered that a summons issued to the said John FORT to appear at the next court to be held in this County and bring her the said MORGAN to the said Court in order that the said may be done therein as the Law and Justices require. (1758 - Ordered Lucy MORGAN, a mulatto girl be bound to Wm. LANE. Indentures ack'd.)

Revolutionary War Service

Service: NORTH CAROLINA

Rank(s): COLONEL, CIVIL SERVICE, PATRIOTIC SERVICE

Birth: 4-20-1735, HANOVER CO, VIRGINIA

Death: 1-30-1785, GRANVILLE CO, NORTH CAROLINA

Service Description:

1) MEM OF PROV CONGRESS, MEM OF GEN ASSEMBLY

2) JUDGE,SUPREME COURT, MIL;MEM BOARD OF WAR

Spouse: ELIZABETH KEELING, married 1763

Note: List of Fort Boonesborough Settlers^[4]

Note: Col Richard Henderson marker^[5]

Col. Richard Henderson is buried at Ashland-Richardson Family Estate Cemetery in Williamsboro, Vance County, North Carolina.^[6]

Will

"Richard Henderson of North Carolina, 18 September 1784^[7]

To my wife Elizabeth during her life the land and plantation whereon I now live with other plantations adjoining. Also all my household and kitchen furniture with my stock of every kind including all my plantation utensils, all the Negroes I am now in possession of and their increase. I am possessed of various tracts of land lying on the Western side of the Blude Ridge and jointly interested with the Transylvania Company, these land be disposed of by my Executors in following manner: The lands on the Eastern side of Cumberland Mountain except the land belonging to the Transylvania Company be sold and the profits educating my children. Any surplus be divided among my living children or their representatives. The lands on the Western waters or the branches of the River Ohio be sold at the discretion of my Executors or a majority of them and the profits be equally divided between my said wife Elizabeth and my children. At the death of my said wife, I give my son John the lands and plantations whereon I now live and the adjacent lands on condition he is in rite at at his mother's death and have living issue. Executors to sell and in South Carolina and money be disposed as directed by wife. My wife Elizabeth Executrix, John Williams, Leonard Henley Bullock, Robert Burton, Bromfield Ridley, Pleasant Henderson, and my two sons Richard and Archibald my Executors. Richd Henderson

Wit: Nathl Henderson, John Henderson, Fanny Henderson, Elizabeth Henderson, John Henderson, Reuben Searcy

Codicil 27 January 1785 Executors have full power to sell as much land as necessary to pay debts except my manor plantation and lands adjacent. To my daughter Faney Henderson all my lands on East side of Nutbush Creek & Anderson's Swamp except the flowable lands on said Creek and Swamp, including the land whereon John Vandyke lives and land whereon Nathaniel Henderson lives and where Reuben Searcy formerly lived. To my daughter Elizabeth Henderson all land southwardly and eastwardly at the line beginning at the West corner of Pleasant Henderson's land to the Northeast of Thomas Person's land. To my son John Henderson after the death of my wife, all remainder of land on Nutbush disregarding the clause concerning same in my will. If John precedes his mother in death or if he die in nonage or without issue, then the land be sold and money divided to my surviving children or their legal representatives. Wit: Elizabeth Henderson, Mary (X) Burke, P. Henderson Richd Henderson May Court 1788 Richd Henderson qualified as Executor

Sources

1. ↑ #S-2091927930
2. ↑ Source: #S-2091927930
3. ↑ Source: #S-2091927930 Note: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=sarmemberapps&h=601485&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt Note: Data: Text: Birth date: 20 Apr 1735 Birth place: Hanover, Virginia Death date: 30 Jan 1785 Death place: Granville, North Carolina Residence date: Residence place: United States APID: 1,2204::601485
4. ↑ List of Fort Boonesborough Settlers on Ancestry.com (A new source is needed. Link is broken.)
5. ↑ Col Richard Henderson marker
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #7033037 Col. Richard Henderson
7. ↑ Source: Timothy W. Rackley, GRANVILLE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA ORIGINAL WILLS, VOLUME 1, 1749-1810, Kernersville, NC: Published by author, 2002, p. 43), Will of RICHARD HENDERSON- Dated Sept. 18, 1784, Granville County Will Book 1, Pages 471-473

• MARRIAGES OF GRANVILLE COUNTY 1753-1868 (Ancestry.com), Note: RICHARD HENDERSON/ELIZABETH KEELING, 28 December 1763, Bondsmen: JOHN WILLIAMS, REUBEN SEARCY, Witness: John WILLIAMS.

• Treaty of Sycamore Shoals Page

• American Archives 1763-1789], By Peter Force

• Photo of Richard Henderson

• Your Dictionary Website.

• Wikipedia

• Source: S-2090666327 Repository: #R-2142417515 Title: Ancestry Family Trees, http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=sarmemberapps&h=601485&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt Note: Data: Text: Birth date: 20 Apr 1735 Birth place: Hanover, Virginia Death date: 30 Jan 1785 Death place: Granville, North Carolina Residence date: Residence place: United States APID: 1,2204::601485, https:www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/28002655/family

• Source: S-2090759716 Repository: #R-2142417515 Title: Family Data Collection - Individual Records Author: Edmund West, comp. Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Note: APID: 1,4725::0

• Source: S-2091927930 Repository: #R-2142417515 Title: U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data - Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Microfilm, 508 rolls Note: APID: 1,2204::0

• Source: S-2090759716 Repository: #R-2142417515 Title: Family Data Collection - Individual Records Author: Edmund West, comp. Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Note: APID: 1,4725::0

• This person was created through the import of indygrandma.ged on 02 January 2011.

• This person was created through the import of jan302011.ged on 31 January 2011. The following data was included in the gedcom.

• WikiTree profile Henderson-2030 created through the import of Henderson Family Tree (9 Sep 11).ged on Sep 9, 2011 by George Henderson.