Alexander Henderson (1738 - 1815)

Born 2 Mar 1738 in Blantyre Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Descendants

Died 22 Oct 1815 at age 77 in Prince William, Virginia, USA

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Biography

Alexander Henderson, colonial merchant, born in Glasgow, Scotland 1738 came to Colchester, VA in 1756. He moved to Dumfries in 1787, where his home still stands. Served as vestryman at Pohick Church, magistrate of Fairfax and Prince Willima Counties, member of the Virginia General Assembly, and Virginia Delegate to Mt. Vernon Conference in 1785 which led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. ^[1] Alexander matriculated at Glasgow University in 1748 ^[2]

"Alexander Henderson, the settler, was born in Scotland in 1689, a son of Rev. Richard Henderson, a noted clergyman of his time in Glasgow, Scotland. He came to Virginia in 1756, was an importing merchant and settled at Colchester and later at Dumfries. Before the revolutionary war he served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and was one of the five members of a committee appointed to determine the boundary line between Virginia and Maryland, his associates being: George Washington, George Mason (of Mason-Dixon Line fame), Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. The work of this commission is historically known as the "Compact of 1785." He was not only a political supporter of Washington, but a personal friend and associate. He later moved to Alexandria, Virginia, and he was a vestryman in Christ Church, where his name appears on a pew in that church. He married Sarah Moore, and three of his sons, John, Alexander and James, all came to what is now Wood County, then known as Harrison County, and helped to later set off and lay out Wood County." ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Historic sign at Dolphin Beach by the Montclair Bicentennial Committee, 1976; http://www.historicdumfries.com/henderson.html
2. ↑ Dobson, David. More Scottish Settlers, 1667-1827. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2005, p. 61
3. ↑ Callahan, James Morton. History of West Virginia, Old and New, Volume 3. Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1923, p. 179

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