This seems to be "pick on the Pike County Archives and History Society" week. First, let me point out the obvious -- I've been spending a lot of time on their site, and I'm very, very grateful it's there. Not just the Hendersons, but many families owe the Society an ongoing debt of gratitude for maintaining the work done by late Pike County historian, Morris Myers.
Although Morris was not a Henderson by blood, he invested quite a bit of effort in collecting information on the family. I consider his work on the Arkansas lines of Hendersons to be basically very sound.
However, since his passing, DNA testing has combined with new discoveries and research and some of his work has become outdated. In other words, proven incorrect.
The information I ran across tonight attached to our ancestor "James Isaac Henderson II" is a perfect example. I want to caution researchers of this line that this page on the Pike County Historical Society's website contains a number of critical errors, which, were Morris still with us, he would hastily correct. Unfortunately, his work is in archival status and these errors are out there for God and the world to read, apparently until the end of time.
So let's just run over the biggies.
Let's begin with James (Isaac) Henderson's 1700 birth date. Off by about 10 years. Based on the marriage record of his grandparents (William Henderson and Sarah Bishop m. Aug 1685 in Somerset Co MD), and the known birth dates of at least one (and possibly two) of his uncles, we can estimate his father, James (the Mariner), was born around 1690. We can also make an informed estimate of the date of birth of his son, Argalus Henderson, of about 1627-1630. Realistically, James (Isaac) was probably born no earlier than about 1708 and probably no later than about 1712, so let's go for the middle and say 1710.
Next, he wasn't born in Scotland. We now have sufficient DNA and circumstantial paper evidence to confidently state that the James Hendersons Jr. and Sr. of early Onslow County NC were descendants of the Henderson family of Virginia and Maryland's early Eastern Shore. These Hendersons had been in Virginia since at least 1661, and possibly up to about a decade prior. We cannot yet prove that the family came from Scotland, but I am investigating clues which could possibly point us towards Perthshire.
Morris states that "James Isaac Henderson II" was the son of "James Isaac Henderson I." We have no idea whether father and son had identical names. They were simply called James Henderson Sr. and James Henderson Jr. in Onslow County records when both were in residence in the county. James (Isaac) Henderson is never called "James Isaac" in any record (please read this article) and we should not state as fact that father and son both had the same middle name (though they might have).
Next, he writes that James (Isaac) married Mary Rhodes. We think he did, but we can't prove he did. There's a lot of circumstantial evidence there, but that may be as close as we ever get. We have no marriage record or other "proof positive" documentation, at least not as of this writing.
Moving on...James (Isaac) did not obtain 220 acres from Nathaniel Averitt. It was James (the Mariner) who did that, although the actual grant/deed was lost, probably in the 1752 hurricane that destroyed the courthouse (and may have also destroyed the will of the elder James). We know it was James (the Mariner) who bought the land from Averitt because a late 18th-century Onslow County record references the elder James having left the property he bought from Averitt by will to the younger James (Isaac). This, incidentally, is the single instance where the younger James is referred to as "Isaac."
Morris is correct that James (Isaac) does not mention Mary (his wife), James, Joseph, John or William in his will. He is incorrect in calling the men James (Isaac)'s sons.
Here is the list of "Children of James Isaac Henderson II and Mary Rhodes:" as shown on the PCHAS page. I have bolded the incorrect children in red:
Joseph Henderson
William Henderson d. before 1772
Lucy Henderson
Elizabeth "Betty" Henderson
Nancy "Nannie" Henderson
James Henderson d. before 1737
Bethany Henderson
Argaleus Hercules Henderson b. circa 1727, d. between September 6, 1804 and August, 1806
John Henderson b. circa 1741, d. 1825
Let's tackle Joseph first. Absolutely no idea where he got this. He told me that folks sent him pedigrees, which he often took on faith if they seemed reasonable. Perhaps Joseph came from one of those, but I have done quite a bit of work on the Hendersons of Onslow and Chatham Counties and so far, I have never seen the name Joseph associated with Argalus' generation of the Henderson family in either area.
Next is James. Notice the notation that James died before 1737. This is very likely confusion caused by the fact that James Sr. (the Mariner) returned to Somerset County MD in about 1737. That created the impression that of one of the two Jameses of Onslow had died. In actual fact, James Jr. (Isaac) continued on in the county until his death between August of 1776 and April of 1780, and we know that James Sr. (the Mariner) was still living in Somerset Co MD as late as 1750. I do not know whether Senior made his will in Somerset Co MD or Onslow Co NC, but I suspect Onslow. We know as I explained earlier that there was a will, and that will left Henderson's Landing on the New River (the former Averitt property) to James Jr. (Isaac), but will has ever been found. If my speculation that it was lost in the hurricane is correct, we can infer that James Sr. (the Mariner) probably died between 1750, when he was last "seen" alive in Somerset County MD, and September of 1752, at which time his will would have had to be on file at the courthouse if it were to be destroyed by the storm. So cross "James Henderson d. before 1737" off the list of children of James (Isaac) and Mary Henderson.
Richard (the Quaker) Henderson of Chatham Co NC also had a son named James, but he was about 30 years younger than Argalus Henderson, and too young to have been a child of James (Isaac) and Mary.
Next, let's address John Henderson. Notice that he died in 1825. This is without a doubt a reference to John (of the Misfortunes) Henderson who made his will in 1823 in Chatham County NC. The will was probated in 1825. I strongly suspect that this John Henderson was an immigrant from Scotland, and I just wrote an article explaining why.
Having dispatched with the John who died in 1825, however, I need to point out that there was another John Henderson contemporaneously in Chatham County with Argalus until about 1790. He too was one of the many sons of Richard (the Quaker) Henderson (originally of Hanover County VA) who moved to the Cane Creek area of Chatham County about 1751-1752. Some or all of Richard's family moved to the Bush River Meeting in Newberry Co SC in the late 1780's. According to lists of his children that I have found online, Richard did have a son named John and also a son named William, which probably also accounts for the next alleged "brother" of Argalus...
Moving on to William. As I just mentioned, it is most probable that the William Henderson we find in the records of Chatham County in the latter half of the 18th century was one of several sons of Richard (the Quaker) Henderson. Richard also had adult grandsons named William who could have showed up in the records during the late 18th century.
In 1768 a number of Hendersons, including a William, were among the signers of Regulator Advertisement No. 9. I believe that all the Henderson signers except for our Argalus belonged to the family of Richard (the Quaker). A William is listed on the 1790 Federal Census in Chatham Co (formerly Orange) with two females of unspecified ages, and a male under 16. That is very likely a grandson of Richard (the Quaker).
However, I am keeping a wary eye out for the name William Henderson because it may be of particular interest in our larger narrative. There was an adult William Henderson living in Craven County (north of Onslow) from 1738-1749, but he is too old to be a child of James (Isaac) and Mary. In 1751 a William Henderson made a single appearance in Onslow County to stand security for the will of Samuel Moore (note that a Lucretia Moor[e] witnessed James [Isaac]'s 1770 will), however, there is nothing to indicate any connection between that William and our James (Isaac) other than the common connection to the Moore surname, which was prolific in eastern NC in the 1700's.
One reason I am particularly interested in connections with William Hendersons is that James (the Mariner) was the son of William (the Sawyer) Henderson of Somerset Co MD, and had an older brother, William (the Cordwinder) Henderson Jr., who died young. William (the Cordwinder) Henderson may have had a namesake son, also William, who was closely associated with the Thomas McClammy family who moved to Onslow Co NC in the first half of the 18th century. James --probably James (Isaac), but possibly the Mariner -- was the administrator of the estate of Thomas McClammy in 1744. I have often wondered if the William Henderson in Craven County might not have been William Henderson III of Somerset Co MD, son of William (the Cordwinder) Henderson, associate of the McClammys, and possibly a first cousin to James (Isaac), but I have never found anything to convince me one way or the other.
So there you have it. That is the most correct list of the children of James (Isaac) Henderson and his wife, Mary, of Onslow Co NC that I can assemble based on known documentation. There is no evidence to suggest that any of the four men in red on the list above were brothers to Argalus, and there is evidence to suggest that they weren't.
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