Our Hypothetical Henderson Tree - a Work in Progress

It's time to update our hypothetical Henderson family tree as we continue our research connecting descendants of Argalus "Hercules" Henderson of Chatham Co NC to his father, James "Isaac" in Onslow Co NC, and prior to that, to the older line of Somerset Co MD Hendersons. This tree is based on research conducted jointly by Laura Henderson of Virginia and Robin Henderson of Indiana, both descendants of Argalus "Hercules" Henderson of Chatham Co NC.

This hypothetical tree is a work in progress and there are still many questions, as we have not been (and may never be) able to establish an iron-clad paper trail connecting James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow Co NC to the Hendersons of early Somerset Co MD. Having said that, DNA testing has proven what we had long suspected: that James "Isaac's" descendants are genetic matches to the Hendersons of Somerset Co MD. We speculate that he came to Onslow Co NC along with (or even ahead of) a number of other Somerset Co MD families who had connections to the Hendersons of Maryland's Eastern Shore (Houstons, Bishops, McClammys, and Newbolds, just to name a few).

This tree has been pieced together using a combination of DNA test results and an extensive, detailed (and ongoing) study of records from Accomack and Northampton Co's, VA, Somerset Co MD, and Onslow Co NC. We keep our working notes online (publicly viewable), and continue to log, comment and source records as we find them.

View notes for Eastern Shore Hendersons | View notes for Onslow County NC Hendersons

This tree represents what we currently believe to be true based on the evidence we have found so far. This tree is subject to change as additional information is discovered. The chart is followed by notes and explanations for each generation. **Note: the first line should read "Ancestor b bef 1600"

Click on the chart to enlarge.

R1b-U106-S23346
This designation represents our "deep ancestry." Our line's SNP value is S23346, a signature currently believed to have originated in the Lower Rhine River region (present-day Netherlands) at least 2,000 years ago. A native Dutch tester who shares our SNP can trace his family back to an area near Molenaarsgraaf, where there is an archaeological dig dating back several millennia. (Unfortunately there are not yet any viable DNA tests from the site.) There was a prosperous trading route connecting the Lower Rhine and the area of Perth in Scotland, which could explain why our ancestors emigrated to Scotland from mainland Europe. At this point, we have absolutely no idea when that move occurred. It could have been very recent (at any point bef ca 1600) or it could have occurred more than a millennia ago.

1 - Jhone Hendersone of Perth b ca 1610?
Robin and I are speculating that (1.1) Gilbert "of Accomack VA" Henderson and (1.2) James "of Somerset MD"  Henderson were brothers. They are both found in the parish register of Northampton Co VA baptizing firstborn children in 1661. Both men named their eldest sons "John," which, if they were following the traditional naming convention of the time, would indicate that both men had a father named "John Henderson" -- possibly the same father. There is a single record in 1664 for a contemporary of the two men, (1.3) "Robert Hinderson, mariner" who sued a next-door neighbor of James Henderson for debt. We therefore do not discount the possibility that this Robert may have had a family connection with Gilbert and/or James. Since we have no further records of this Robert, we also cannot with absolute certainty discount the remote possibility that our line from Onslow (or a mysterious matching line from early Kent Co DE) may be attributable to him. We have no idea where he settled, or how many children he had. No DNA testers have come forward who identify Robert or Gilbert as ancestors.

Based on the records we have found, we estimate that James and Gilbert were born around 1630. I looked through old commissariat records to see where the highest frequency of the more distinctive name (Gilbert) occurred and found a significant preference for that name in the 16th and 17th century among Hendersons in and around Perth. I found records for a Gilbert baptized on 28 Dec 1630 to a Johne Hendersone of Perth, a James baptized on 5 Oct 1632 to a Johne Hendersone of Perth, and a Robert baptized 23 Sep 1634 to a Johne Hendersone of Perth. There is no way to be sure that all three of these men were born to the same "Johne Hendersone" since there was more than one John Henderson living in Perth at the time, but these three records did seem to fit our theory very neatly (which probably means we're wrong...). I have included all three men as brothers, sons of a "Johne Hendersone of Perth" in our hypothetical tree. Whether there was any relationship between Gilbert, James and Robert is at this point only speculation, however, there are copious records from the Eastern Shore which do help us trace Gilbert and James's descendants with a higher degree of certainty, and there is circumstantial evidence of a family connection.

(1.1) Gilbert married Mary Major had only two known children: Bridget b 1661 (no further info); and (1.1.2) John b 1666. Both children were born in Northampton Co VA, probably in the area that later became Accomack County. (1.1) Gilbert appears to have died sometime between 1664-1677 with no additional known issue.  His grandchildren (via only known son 1.1.2 John) were (1.1.2.1) Gilbert the Younger m Mary Green; (1.1.2.2) Robert m Elizabeth Unknown and had only one son that we've identified, Daniel; and (1.1.2.3) John Jr. m Comfort, widow of Argoll West, only one known son, George. With the exception of (1.1.2.2) Robert, (1.1) Gilbert's descendants tended to stay south of the Maryland boundary line in Accomack and Northampton Counties, and they are therefore usually easy to distinguish from the line of (1.2) James "of Somerset MD", whose descendants tended to stay in Maryland and Delaware (before our specific line moved to NC).

(1.1) Gilbert's grandson (1.1.2.2) Robert is of interest because he sold his land in Accomack Co VA and moved north to Somerset Co MD. Although he only had one known son, Daniel, tax lists of the mid-18th century show other Hendersons coming and going in his household. These Hendersons appear to be connected with our James "the Mariner" Henderson of Onslow Co NC. This is circumstantial evidence of some kind of familial connection between descendants of the original immigrants, Gilbert "of Accomack VA" and James "of Somerset MD".

1.2 - James "of Somerset MD" Henderson b ca 1632
(1.2) James "of Somerset MD" may have immigrated to America with (1.1) Gilbert, but we have no proof or immigration records for either man. Robin Henderson thinks the two men may have been part of a small contingent of surviving Scottish prisoners of war who had originally been bound for forced labor in the West Indies. The prisoners were diverted instead to Virginia. At around the time we suspect the two men arrived (ca 1652), there is a story of the Royalist city of Perth making a half-hearted show of sending out about 100 able-bodied men to "defend" the city from the advance of Cromwell's far superior forces during the English Civil War. Most of the men were promptly killed and/or captured, but no one at the archives in Perth was able to enlighten me about their specific fates. During a 2016 research trip to Perth, I found myself entirely unable to read the 16th and 17th century records in the archives due to a combination of them having been written in Old Scots dialect and an antiquated script called "Secretary's Hand." (Apparently the retiring archivist was the only one capable of deciphering the books, and he was not able to help due to training a replacement in management duties.) Just as discouragingly, the archivists seemed impressed that we had been able to trace the family back into the mid-1600's in Virginia -- they told me that most native Scots who come to the archives can't trace their lines prior to about 1700 unless they were from landed families. Maybe if I can find translator, I'll have another go at the records in the future.

But...back to James, our immigrant...

(1.2) James married Mary Unknown and their first son, (1.2.1) John, was baptized at Hungars Parish in Northampton Co VA on 5 May 1661 and eventually married Elizabeth Barnaby. (1.2) James and Mary had two additional children before 1668: (1.2.2) William "the Sawyer" Henderson Sr. who married Sarah Bishop; and (1.2.3) Jane or Jeane, who married John Williams Jr.

At some point, probably in 1668, Mary died, possibly of a smallpox epidemic or a remarkably destructive hurricane, both of which events afflicted the Eastern Shore that year. (1.2) James then married a woman named Alice (possibly the Alice Stewkley who was listed as one of his headrights when he moved to Maryland), and had a fourth child, (1.2.4) James Jr.

The lineage of eldest son (1.2.1) John tended to stay on the Eastern Shore and is well researched. We have been able to rule him out as an ancestor of (1.2.2.3) James "the Mariner" Henderson who moved to Onslow Co NC bef 1738. (1.2.1) John did have a grandson, Barnaby, who moved to Onslow Co NC in the 1760's. All of the Hendersons who are still living in Onslow Co NC today appear to trace back to Barnaby (with the exception of a family of Hendersons who descend from a man named Jonas Solomon who moved to Onslow from New Jersey and assumed the name "Thomas Henderson" -- just to make this a bit harder for us).

Little is known of the descendants of youngest son (1.2.4) James Henderson Jr. who married Esther Unknown. He died intestate and had a son, (1.2.4.1) Francis, who was designated "heir at law." This does not mean that there were no other children (I suspect a daughter, [1.2.4.2] Elizabeth who may have been the wife of Thomas Lambden), but there could have been more children. Therefore, we cannot at this point conclusively rule (1.2.4) James Jr. out as the father of (1.2.2.3) James "the Mariner" Henderson of Onslow Co NC and/or (1.2.2.4) Charles "the Mariner" Henderson, however, circumstantial evidence points more strongly towards James Sr. and Mary's middle son (1.2.2) William "the Sawyer" Henderson Sr. as the father of these two mariners.

1.2.2 - William "the Sawyer" Henderson b bef 1668 m Sarah Bishop
(1.2.2) William "the Sawyer" Henderson was the middle son of (1.2) James "of Somerset MD" Henderson and his first wife, Mary Unknown. William "the Sawyer" was born between 1662 and 1668 and he married Sarah Bishop (probably the d/o Lt. Henry Bishop and second wife Ann, widow of William Bowen) on 10 Aug 1685 in Somerset Co MD. Their eldest son, (1.2.2.1) William "the Cordwinder" Henderson Jr. was baptized on 9 Jan 1686. The younger William (Cordwinder) died bef 20 Jan 1708/09, apparently without issue.

There was a (1.2.2.2) Bishop Henderson born ca 1687 whom we also attribute to this couple for obvious reasons. Little is known of him and we believe he died, probably in Somerset/Worcester Co MD, after 1739. There was a Bishop "the Younger" Henderson b bef 1767 d bef Aug 1802, who was the father of Lemuel Henderson b ca 1784 in Worcester Co MD. The younger Bishop and son Lemuel may also be from this line. Nothing further is known of Bishop Henderson's family.

There were two additional Henderson males, James and Charles, contemporary with William "the Cordwinder" Henderson Jr. and Bishop "the Elder" Henderson. Both James and Charles appear to have been mariners, as early-to-mid 18th century tax rolls frequently identify them living with other mariners in the households of prosperous seafaring merchants of Somerset County. Therefore we have called these two men (1.2.2.3) James "the Mariner" Henderson and (1.2.2.4) Charles "the Mariner" Henderson. We estimate that James was b ca 1690-1700 and Charles bef 1702.

I am less certain attributing Charles's parentage to William and Sarah Bishop Henderson than I am about James. I am certain Charles "the Mariner" didn't belong to (1.2.1) John and Elizabeth Barnaby Henderson (who already had a Charles), although Charles "the Mariner" could have belonged to (1.2.4) James Jr. and Esther Henderson.  Almost nothing is known of Charles "the Mariner" or his family, although I suspect that he may be responsible for the Hendersons who are found in Delaware in subsequent generations, especially in and around Sussex and Kent counties. This remains to be proven or disproven.

1.2.2.3 -  James "the Mariner" Henderson of Somerset Co MD and Onslow Co NC
The primary reason we attribute (1.2.2.3) James "the Mariner" and (1.2.2.4) Charles "the Mariner" to (1.2.2) William "the Sawyer" Henderson and Sarah Bishop has to do with connections between James "the Mariner" and the Bishop family. The Bishops were known to be seafaring merchants and there are records for branches of this family in Somerset Co MD,  Sussex Co DE and Onslow Co NC. A lineage of Bishops with connections to the McClammy family of Somerset Co MD settled in early Onslow Co NC and there are numerous records in both Somerset Co MD and Onslow Co NC connecting the Bishop and McClammy families to James "the Mariner" Henderson of Somerset Co MD and Onslow Co NC. (You can just trust me on this or you can spend hours poring over the two chronology documents and notes I linked out to at the beginning of this document.) Robin tells me that I'm a dab hand at spotting and remembering the obscure connections between people and families as we do this research, and I can only tell you that there is a thick web of personal entanglements between our James "the Mariner" and the Bishops and McClammys of both areas.

Now we arrive at a particularly sticky wicket. It is remotely possible that (1.2.2.3) James "the Mariner" Henderson (Sr.) of Somerset Co MD and Onslow Co NC and his "son" (1.2.2.3.1) James "Isaac" Henderson (Jr.) of Onslow Co NC may be one and the same. It's something we haven't yet been able to work out. We thought they were two different men, but new records have thrown some doubt on that.

We originally believed that (1.2.2.3) James "the Mariner" had traveled back and forth between MD and NC on timber-buying expeditions for his father, (1.2.2) William "the Sawyer," probably bringing (1.2.2.3.1) James "Isaac" Henderson along with him. At this point I'm going to dispense withe numbering and start calling them William "the Sawyer," James "the Mariner" (Sr.) and James "Isaac" (Jr.)

We thought it was James "the Mariner" (Sr.) who purchased 320a of land from Nathaniel Averitt in Onslow Co NC in 1738. We thought he called that purchase "Henderson's Landing" (same name as his grandfather, James "of Somerset Co MD," gave his original property on the Pocomoke River in Somerset County). We thought that James "the Mariner" (Sr.) died sometime after 1750, probably in Somerset Co MD and willed Henderson's Landing in Onslow to his "son" James "Isaac" (Jr.), who (we know) made a will in 1770 leaving the Onslow property to his daughter Lucy Henderson, later Lucy Loyd (who was a sister to Argalus of Chatham Co NC). We know that in 1792, Lucy Loyd and her brother Argalus Henderson "of Onslow and Chatham Counties" sold that same piece of property to James Foy.

Wording in recently discovered abstracts throws that sequence of events into doubt. The upshot is that the man who bought property from Nathaniel Averitt in 1738 was the same man we know as James "Isaac" Henderson (Jr.), the father of Lucy Henderson Loyd, Argalus Henderson, Betty Henderson Jenkins, Bethany Henderson Nixon, and Nanny Henderson. This leaves us wondering about the exact identities and relationships of the two James Hendersons who were in Onslow contemporaneously during the 1730's and 1740's, distinguished from each other by "Sr." and "Jr." I can hypothesize 4-5 different scenarios, so I am not going to go into them here, and am instead going to devote my energy to attempting to prove or disprove each theory and try to arrive at a the most likely conclusion.

In the mean time, and until such time as we have clarity on this, I believe we should proceed under the existing assumption that James "the Mariner" (Sr.) was in fact the father of James "Isaac" (Jr.) -- while bearing in mind that we must go where the evidence leads, and we may eventually need to merge the two men into one in our records. 

Correcting the List of Children of James (Isaac) and Mary Henderson of Onslow Co NC

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.

Art Thou Our John Henderson of 1823 Chatham County? No Indeed, Thou Art Not.

This evening I ran across a surprising will for a John Henderson in the records of Chatham County NC. I had seen this will years ago, so the will in and of itself wasn't surprising, but what did surprise me was the website's claim that the will was written by the brother of our Argalus (Hercules) Henderson.

Wait, what? What brother!?

A transcription of the will was posted by the Pike County Archives and History Society, who continue to host An Arkansas Connection, the work of the late Morris Myers.(*1) Morris's website contains a great deal of information on the line of Abner Newton Henderson, a grandson of Argalus (Hercules) Henderson and a prominent citizen of Pike County.

The authors of the post offer no explanation of why they concluded the will belonged to a brother of Argalus (Hercules) Henderson, saying only that it had been transcribed from a document obtained from the North Carolina State Archives. They did include a footnote containing the caveat that there could be errors on their site, so I'm going to chalk the identification of this will up to precisely such an error.

Here is the text of the will:

State of North Carolina } and County of Chatham

I John Henderson of the State and County aforementioned, being in perfect Health and sound Mind, Calling to Remembrance, the Mortality of human Nature, and that it is Appointed by the Wise Disposer of all things, for all Men once to Die, do make and publish this my last Will, and Testament, Although my Property has been much Curtailed by Misfortunes, and the many Delapedations (sic) that has been made on it, I have devided (sic) what remains into Ten parts to Viz I give and bequeath, to my Deceased Daughter, Sarah Donaldson's Children two Tenths of all My Property, real, and Personal, wheresoever to be found, And my Three unmarried Daughters Charlotte, Jane, and Margaret Aytone, Two Tenths each, Always excepting out of the above division, James Bonman, who was, left by my Son's will to me, Charlotte, Jane, and Margaret, And as I have received Credit with Mr. McMollan On James Bonman's Acct for more than my part of his Value would Amount to, consequently, James Bonman Properly belongs to my Daughters, Charlotte, Jane, and Margaret Aytone. I also Bequeath to my Daughter Mary's Children, one Tenth part of all I possess, And the other tenth, to my Daughter Joannahs Children, And do hereby appoint my Two Grand Sons, Robert, and James Donaldson my Sole Executtors (sic), to this my last Will and Testament, Hereby revoking all prior wills Heretofore by me made, in Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my Name, and Affixed My Seal This 29th December in the year of our Lord Eighteen Hundred & Twenty three.

Signed John Henderson (seal)
Witness: Wm. Broadfoot, Wiley B. Straugham

Proved May Session 1825
This last will and testament of John Henderson was exhibited in open court and proved by the oath of Wiley B Straughan one of the subscribing witnesses thereto and was ordered to be recorded and was recorded in Book B Lager 9 - The executors(?) within Named were duly qualified -- (signed) Tho. Raglan Stele

Now, I did have this John Henderson family in my database at one time, based solely on the relationships detailed in the will, but they were marked as unidentified/unplaced.

I feel very confident that this John Henderson who died in Chatham County bet 1823-1825 was not a relative of Argalus (at least not a close one, and by "close" I mean within a minimum of a couple of centuries). He seems too young to be a brother (Argalus was b ca 1727), and we can account for and exclude the son and grandsons of Argalus (Hercules) named John.(*2)

There were members of the Granville County Hendersons(*3) in and out of old Orange and Chatham Counties, but none of the names mentioned in the will really seem to fit with them either, although I will admit I know comparatively little about their family, so I can't rule them out.

Interestingly, a Margaret Aytone was born in Fife in 1735 to William and Catherine Aytone. The use of such a distinctive name made me wonder if this John Henderson was an unrelated Henderson immigrant who had connections with the Aytone family of Scotland.  Further investigation of this theory at FamilySearch.org revealed the 1783 baptism of a Margaret Aytone Henderson to a John and Cera (Sarah) Paris Henderson of St. Cuthbert's Edinburgh. This couple also baptized daughter Johanna in 1785 in Dunfermline, Fife. These dates and names seem a reasonable fit with people mentioned in the 1823 Chatham County NC will, but I could not find conclusive baptismal records for Sarah, Charlotte, Jane, Mary etc.(*4)

So let us go back to the will. The story didn't end in 1825...

In the Fall 1830 term of Chatham County Court, Robert Donaldson,(*5) by this time a resident of New York, sued the Devisees of his grandfather, the late John Henderson:

Robert Donaldson vs. The Devisees of the late John Henderson
Bill to subject the real estate of Testator to the payment of debt due the complainant

In this case, it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the  defendants, JAMES DONALDSON, ISABELLA DONALDSON, JO ANNA DONALDSON, ELIZA BROADFOOT, wife of WILLIAM BROADFOOT, JOHN McMILLAN, and MARGARET WEST, wife of FREDERICK WEST, are not residents of this State. It is therefore ordered by the Court that publication be made for three months in the North Carolina Journal notifying the said non-residents to be and appear at our next Court 
of Equity for the County of Chatham on the third Monday in March. Then and there to plead, answer or demur to this petition filed. Otherwise, judgment will be taken pro confesso and the matter heard ex parte as to them. -- THOS. THOMPSON, C. & M. E.

So there you go. This John Henderson's family didn't even live in North Carolina. At least not by 1830. So where did they come from?

A John Henderson Broadfoot was born near Fayetteville in1823 to a William Broadfoot (b 1783 Scotland), so if I was going to make a WAG, I'd say his mother was probably the Eliza Broadfoot mentioned in the 1830 record (although no mention of her was made in the 1823 will). We know from this article that Robert Donaldson was also a "native" of Fayetteville, but there were also Hendersons and Broadfoots (Broadfeet?) in Venango County PA in the early 1820's (John Henderson and David Henderson, constables, William Broadfoot, overseer). I really don't know where this John Henderson family came from prior to having been in Fayetteville for a time, but my money would be on Scotland, either Edinburgh or Fife.

Henderson's mention of his property having "been much Curtailed by Misfortunes, and...many Delapidations" is intriguing. I'm sure if I kept digging, I could track this family down, but it's getting late and I've been sidetracked from the other genealogical fish I was attempting to fry tonight.

Since it seems pretty clear to me that this family is unrelated to our Chatham County group, I'm gonna put a fork in 'em, cause as far as I'm concerned, the idea that this John Henderson was a brother to Argalus is done...to a crisp. However, researchers of the Chatham County NC Hendersons should be aware that there was a second adult John Henderson in the county in the early 1800's. It may be difficult to conclusively distinguish his records from those of John, son of Argalus. Be on the lookout for clues that point towards the man we'll call "John (of the Misfortunes) Henderson" and if you find any records that clearly reference him or his family, let's add them to the comments below this blog article so that other Chatham County researchers are aware of the two and don't get tangled up in them.


*1 Morris did a tremendous amount of work on the Henderson family, although he was only related through an 1831 Alford marriage. Since his death we have made many new and important discoveries, but I consider his work on the Abner Newton Henderson family of Arkansas very reliable. The PCHS also hosts a complete transcription Morris made of my aunt Thelma Henderson Schoolfield's typewritten notes about the Hendersons of Chatham County (from her courthouse research done from the 1940's to the 1980's). Please read his comments to me in 2003 about the sources and reliability of his work. 

*2 Son: John Henderson (b 1767 d ca 1838) married Frances LNU and had James, Sarah, Elizabeth, Mary, John Jr. Thomas, Pleasant, Dicey, Eliza and Martha. Grandsons: A) John H. Henderson (b ca 1794 s/o Ezekiel and Elizabeth Brashier Henderson) m Sarah Brashier, d Greenville SC; B) John Henderson (b 1802 s/o Isaac and Anaritta LNU Henderson) m Candace and/or Mary "Polly" Brewer, d Todd Co KY aft 1870; C) John Henderson (b bef 1790 NC presumed s/o Hezekiah Henderson) m Mary Susan Spurlin d 1819 Todd Co KY; D) John Henderson Jr. (b 1800 Orange Co NC s/o John and Frances LNU Henderson m Unknown, d ca 1849 Floyd Co GA.

*3 As far as I know, the Granville County Hendersons are not related to the Hendersons of Chatham and Onslow Counties, or the Hendersons of the Eastern Shore. I believe they may have ties to the Tidewater Virginia Hendersons, who were contemporaries of our early Eastern Shore Hendersons. I am hoping that we will eventually get some DNA testers from their line added to the Clan Henderson DNA project to settle the matter.

*4 John only mentions one (deceased) son, who apparently had no heirs. I feel pretty sure that this Henderson family daughtered out with his son's death, and therefore there is little or no hope of finding a living male Henderson descendant to DNA test.

*5 Robert and his brother James were appointed executors of John's will. Both were sons of Sarah Henderson Donaldson, who predeceased her father. Robert Donaldson was born in Fayetteville, NC, but he moved to New York where he worked as a banker and became a patron of the arts. His mother, Sarah Henderson Donaldson, is listed in the Arkansas Connection records as person #6000 Sarah T. Henderson, a daughter of John Henderson (son of Argalus). Morris did mention that he did not think Sarah T. Henderson fit logically as a daughter of this John. I believe that as a result of this cursory investigation, we can safely assume that this Henderson family was of recent Scottish origin and probably unrelated to the rest of the Chatham County Henderson. Sarah Henderson Donaldson can be removed from any databases where she might have been entered on account of her appearance on Morris's site.

Kennedy DNA Matches Keep Rolling In, But Still No Magic Bullet

Y-DNA matches continue to trickle in for our three male Kennedy testers but we still don't have the magic bullet that will crack the mystery of of where our David Kennedy came from, whether in Ireland or America.

Our line of Kennedys belong to Haplogroup DF21, a large haplogroup very common to Irish males. Even at 67 markers, we have numerous non-surname matches, so it is difficult at this point to focus in on any single match as a lead. At this point, we have no other high marker level matches with anyone named Kennedy.

We've had a couple of false alarms as other Kennedys (a surprisingly common surname) have reached out inquire whether we might be DNA matches to their male lines (so far we aren't), and our autosomal DNA testing has identified a potential lead among a group of Canadys from coastal NC, but that possible connection will need to be thoroughly researched before any conclusions can be drawn.

Although we have not yet done SNP testing on any of our male testers, I feel reasonably certain we will refine into the L1337 sublcade of DF21, and possibly even into one of the A93X subclades of L1337 (with X currently represented by 3, 4 and 5). So far, testers within this group trace their lineages back to western Ireland, which should come as no surprise to us.

Our next step may be an upgrade to define our terminal SNP and see if we do in fact fall into one of these predicted subclades. As more testers match us, and identify their families' points of origin in Ireland, we may be able to focus in on a single area that could provide clues to our own.

Pinpoints show known testers of subclade A935.

Were our Henderson Ancestors Among the Jacobite Convicts Who Arrived Aboard the Friendship in 1716?

The short answer to that is, "No."

If you want the long answer, including an explanation of how this story ever got started in the first place, read on.

It has recently come to my attention that there are still some researchers of our Onslow County NC Henderson family line who have not had the opportunity to correct a piece of misinformation that began circulating on Electric Scotland about a decade ago.

In a biographical sketch of Chatham County NC Henderson progenitor Argalus (Hercules) Henderson, son of James (Isaac) Henderson Jr. of Onslow County NC and grandson of Mariner James Henderson Sr. of Somerset County MD, it was stated that:

"James Isaac Henderson Sr. and his son James Isaac Henderson Jr. [could be traced] from their arrival from Scotland on the convict ship called S. S.Friendship in 1716 and their indentured servitude at Annapolis, Maryland until their freedom about 1732 when they arrived in Orange County, North Carolina and started a new life. Despite the hardships of losing land and holdings in Scotland by English and sold into slavery in the Colonies, James Sr. and Son endeavored to persevere in continuing the Henderson name here in U. S. and as a result there are many hundreds of thousands of direct descendants of James Isaac Henderson Sr. here in U. S..."

First, I realize I'm getting off on a tangent here, but I'd like to point out that we have no evidence that there was ever a "James 'Isaac' Henderson Senior." We don't know what Senior's full name was. At this point, every record I have ever encountered that mentioned either man, whether in Maryland or North Carolina -- and I have encountered many -- either called them simply "James Henderson," "James Henderson Senior" or "James Henderson Junior," with one exception. On one occasion in one North Carolina record, James Henderson Junior is called "Isaac Henderson."  Not "James 'Isaac' Henderson" -- just "Isaac Henderson." I have written an entire blog article to clarify the use of the name "James 'Isaac' Henderson" -- which I normally use just to distinguish the younger Henderson from the elder when I'm writing about either. (I normally distinguish Senior as "Mariner James Henderson," -- because that's what he was.) If you are among those who have the name "James Isaac Henderson Senior" in your database, please read the blog article and make the necessary corrections to your data.

And not to pick nits, but "many hundreds of thousands of descendants?" Well, I guess it's technically possible, but...that's a lot of descendants. To be fair, Genghis Khan has about 16 million living descendants. Of course he also had about a hundred wives and lived in the 1100's so they've had more time to multiply. I won't argue that there aren't a lot of us Eastern Shore Henderson descendants. There are. Just sayin'...

And one more thing. Neither James Henderson arrived in Orange County NC in 1732. Neither James ever lived in Orange County. Onslow County NC was formed in 1732 and Mariner James Henderson Senior was apparently already there at its formation and appears in the very earliest records. His grandson, Argalus, would move inland to Orange County later in the 18th century.

But I digress.

So back to the topic of the article -- the assertion that our Henderson ancestors of Orange/Chatham and Onslow Counties, NC, arrived as convicts aboard the Friendship. This is something that I've actually addressed online before, but I hope that by devoting a blog article to it, it will be picked up in Google searches and more widely read so that folks can correct their information.

There was in fact a Jacobite convict named Robert Henderson who arrived among a cargo of eighty "Rebells Transported in the Shipp the Friendship" in August of 1716. These Jacobites had been taken prisoner at Preston in Lancashire during the rising of 1715-1716 and loaded aboard the Friendship in Belfast for transportation to Annapolis (a colonial port with a thriving trade in convict indentures). The unfortunate Robert -- the only Henderson aboard -- was sold to Edward Penn, a wealthy planter of Anne Arundel County.

There was also a James Hendry aboard (sometimes transcribed as Hendrick). But there was no "James Isaac Henderson" (nor a "James Henderson" of any variety) aboard that ship.

So why did anyone ever think there was?

A careful reading of the transcribed (not original) records on ImmigrantShips.net quickly reveals that the name "James Henderson" is given as the purchaser of the bonds of prisoners David Steward and Henry Lumsdale or Lumsden (the latter of whose descendants think he may have been taken to Virginia). Although there was a separate entry for each purchase, I have no more reason to believe that there were two James Hendersons buying prisoners that day than I have to believe that there were four Daniel Sherwoods, three Aaron Rawlings's, or five William Bladens (see transcript).

So is it safe to assume that there was probably just a single James Henderson buying indentures on that August day? Probably not. The Henderson buying convict bonds in Annapolis was more likely to have been Jacob Henderson, but until I can examine the primary source document, I can't be sure.

John Thomas Scharf's History of Maryland: 1600-1675 records the buyer of Steward and Lumsdale's indentures as Jacob Henderson, not James (page 387).* Sometimes the names James and Jacob were used interchangeably, so without the original list to examine, I cannot be sure. Even were it written "James," we cannot rule out the possibility that the purchaser was actually Jacob. (In the way that supporters of King James were called Jacobites.) I have checked Ancestry.com to see if the the original records are among their scanned documents, but could not find them.

However, if the purchaser was actually Jacob Henderson, as I suspect,** then mystery solved, because we know very well who Jacob Henderson of early 18th-century Annapolis was. He was an Irishman and an Anglican rector, first in Delaware, and later in the Annapolis area. In 1713 he married the wealthy widow of Henry Ridgely, instantly elevating himself to the landowning class in Anne Arundel County. He was a contemporary and social equal of a number of other men buying bonds in Annapolis that day, including Benjamin Tasker (who would become mayor of Annapolis and a proprietary governor), William Bladen (attorney general), Mordecai Moore (a physician), and prosperous planters Aaron Rawlings and Daniel Sherwood.

But if a James Henderson (and not Jacob) was the actual purchaser of Steward and Lumsdales bonds -- and I seriously doubt it -- then could he have had any connection to our Hendersons of the Eastern Shore?

Hard to even speculate, and I hate to do so since I'm relatively certain the records are referring to Jacob. However...

James Henderson Sr., our line's direct ancestor and the progenitor of the Eastern Shore Hendersons (across the bay) was long dead by 1716. I get the impression his youngest son, James Jr. of Somerset County, was usually skint, and probably didn't have the funds -- or need -- for indentured men. (But that's just speculation on my part.) It might have been Old James's grandson, James Henderson of Pitt's Creek Hundred, son of John Sr.

Or not.

Maybe it was our line's Mariner James Henderson Sr., the first to move to Onslow County NC from Maryland. But he was probably youngish to have the funds to lay out for two indentured men in 1716 (about 20-25 years old), and he made his living as a mariner, so he's not likely to have needed laborers, although it's conceivable he might have been at the sale acting on behalf of the owner of the whatever ship he was sailing for at the time...or perhaps for his sawyer father, William Henderson. I can't rule him out, but he just doesn't seem a likely candidate to me.

So if this record has any connections to our Hendersons of the Eastern Shore -- and again, I doubt it -- then it would have to have been one of those three living adult Jameses. I don't recognize any of the other purchasers as men of Somerset County, so it doesn't appear to me that a contingent of monied Somerset Countians had sailed across the bay for a spot of shopping in the labor markets.

If Henry Lumsdale was taken back to Virginia by his purchaser, I would tend to suspect that any purchasing James Henderson might belong to the Virginia Tidewater Hendersons (another very old line, but one whose research has many gaps due to courthouse destruction during two wars).

So we are left with some ambiguity about the identity of the Henderson buying convict bonds in Annapolis in 1716. But what we are not left with is any doubt whatsoever that the James Hendersons (Junior and Senior) who were living in Onslow County NC in the 1730's were not Jacobite convicts transported to Annapolis aboard the Friendship in 1716.

We have enough evidence (including Y-DNA) at this point to confidently state that Mariner James Henderson Senior who moved to early coastal NC was from the Henderson family of Maryland and Virginia's Eastern Shore. We are reasonably confident he was the son of William "the Sawyer" Henderson and his wife, Sarah Bishop (probably a daughter of Lt. Henry Bishop's second marriage to Ann, the widow Bowen). Recent autosomal DNA matches in our family line have supported the Bishop connection.

William "the Sawyer" Henderson was the second son of immigrant James Henderson Sr., who is first found in Northampton County VA records in 1661along with suspected kinsman Gilbert Henderson. Although we cannot yet connect this Henderson family back to Scotland (any online tree claiming to do so should be considered suspect unless they provide iron-clad documentation), we know that by 1716 this Henderson family had been in the New World for over half a century.

*Carl Boyer's Ship passenger lists: the South, 1538-1825, Volume 3 also lists the buyer as Jacob Henderson.
** So far, Jacob Henderson is the only Henderson I have found in the Annapolis area during the first two decades of the 18th century.

Ongoing DNA Testing of Kennedy Family Volunteers Reveals Millennia-old Irish Origins

As funding and opportunity present themselves, we are continuing to upgrade our Kennedy family volunteers' DNA tests in an effort to pin down the origins of our common ancestor, David Kennedy of Russell County, VA (b ? - d 1800).

Late last year, we ran an R1b-M343 Backbone test to begin narrowing down our line's haplogroup to see if our ancient origins might shed any light on our more recent ones.

The backbone test identifies a tester's haplogroup by analyzing the SNPs ("snips"), Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in our DNA. SNPs are  the unique mutations on the Y-chromosome that have happened over thousands of years. They are passed down from father to son, so the larger the percentage of the population who shares a mutation, the longer ago it happened. Conversely, the smaller the percentage of the population who who shares a mutation, the more recently it happened (and therefore the less time it's had to be passed down). By looking to see whether a group of testers has a specific mutation known to be older or newer, it is possible to group them more accurately within a historical or genealogical timeframe.

If you think of humanity as an inverted tree, it began to fork from a common trunk very far back in time. From those early forks came distinctly shaped smaller limbs, and from those limbs came still smaller unique branches and finally the twigs which are nearest the top of our human tree (or the bottom, in genealogical charting terms). Most western Europeans come from the very early R-M207 fork of the tree close to the trunk. R-M207 is estimated to have arisen during the Upper Paleolithic era sometime between 19,000-34,000 years ago. As time went by, mutations caused new branches to begin growing off of the main R-M207 fork, all the way up (or down) to the little twigs that have come into existence only a few thousand or even hundred years ago.

Our backbone test yielded a haplogroup designation for our Kennedy family of DF21. There is disagreement about precisely when the DF21 Haplogroup branched off the tree, although a recent archaeological discovery and subsequent testing indicates it probably originated close to 4,600-4,700 years ago.

At the present, there isn't a lot of information to share about our ancient DF21 ancestor. The overview on the  DF21 and Subclades Project on Family Tree DNA is heavy on genetic minutiae like individual marker values and specific mutations, and light on implications and conclusions about our origins or ethnicity. There are several websites dedicated to subclades (the smaller limbs and twigs that have grown from DF21), but I don't believe any would apply specifically to our line of Kennedys, since they focus on parallel branches and individual family groups.

One development of some interest is the aforementioned news in December from Dublin that a team of geneticists and archaeologists had recently completed sequencing the genomes of four ancient inhabitants of Ireland. One of those samples came from a skeleton called Rathlin Man 1 who shared our DF21 ancestor.

Rathlin Man 1 was discovered in a Bronze Age cist on Rathlin Island off the coast of County Antrim in present-day Northern Ireland. Rathlin Island is the northernmost point in Ireland and only 11 miles from Scotland's Mull of Kintyre. This man's bones were carbon-dated to 2025-1885 BC, and he carried a few unique mutations which would have taken 600-700 years to develop, so his discovery allows us to make an educated guess that our common DF21 ancestor likely lived 4,600-4,700 years ago.

While this is interesting, without significant additional contextual history for this man and his surrounding Bronze Age neighbors, it is hard for us to draw any useful cultural conclusions other than confirmation that our DF21 relatives can be found in northeastern Ireland as early as 2025 BC (which isn't to say they were confined to that area, or even confined to Ireland). An article in The Guardian provides fascinating details about what was learned from the genomic sequencing performed on the Rathlin men and a 5,000 year old farmer woman found near Belfast.

Although we have not yet attempted to narrow down our Kennedy lines's haplogroup any further, I strongly suspect that should we do so, we would get a downstream result of L1337. We share unique mutations in our STR (Short Tandem Repeat) values with other Y-67 testers who have been identified as L1336 and L1337. These two designations are smaller "family branches" off of the limb S5488, which grows straight off of DF21. The website PetersPioneers.com does a nice job of providing understandable information and diagrams about all of this if you'd like to learn more.

Based on our assumption that our Kennedys will be L1337's, I had a look at the current public results chart for the DF21 Haplogroup project to see where other L1336 and L1337 testers come from. If you look at the chart you will see the L1336/1337 testers about halfway down in Groups J1a, J1b J1c and J1d. I predict we will fall within J1c, but can't confirm that without testing. Bear in mind that we don't know when we shared a common ancestor with the other testers represented in Groups J1a-J1d, but it was probably much more recently than 4,700 years ago. Realistically, it may have been as recently as a few hundred to a thousand years ago. I wish I could be more precise, and as more testing is done, we may become so, but for now, it's an unknown.

Many testers do not provide information regarding their most distant known ancestor, but some do. Using what was available, I began mapping the known points of origin of genetically similar L1336 and L1337 testers on a Google Map. A number of the men who provided data can only trace their ancestors into Ireland as far back as the 18th or 19th centuries, so while the places they identify are typically reliable, there is plenty of opportunity for their ancestors to have spread out across Ireland from any ancient single point of origin over the intervening millennia. Ireland is small, and ancient people were surprisingly mobile.

My hope, is that as time goes by and we acquire more close genetic matches from our STR and SNP testing efforts, we will see a distinct cluster of matches emerging on the map. That may give us some sense of where we should be looking for our David Kennedy's roots in Ireland. One thing that I can say with a degree of certainty is that many of the names that share distinctive SNP values with our Kennedys are considered Irish in origin. I think it's safe to say that our Kennedys are likely of recent Irish origin (vs Scots, English or Scandinavian). And speaking as a genealogist, "recent" is a relative term (Ha-haha! I crack myself up -- a "relative" term? "Genealogy?")

Although we do have L1336/37's as far away as Wales on our map, the highest frequency of matches so far comes from County Clare, between Galway Bay and Limerick. This sample, however, is far too small to allow us to draw any conclusions. While this area is the historical seat of the O'Kennedy family, if we had been part of that family group, I would have expected at least a few Y-DNA matches with others of the Kennedy surname (of which we currently have none).

So that's the current state of things.

To summarize, SNP testing has confirmed that we fall into the DF21 Haplogroup, which probably originated 4,600-4,700 years ago and has recently been proven to have been in northeastern Ireland by at least 1885BC. Further testing would likely result in a designation of L1337 for our Kennedys, and based on a very small sample of known origins of other L1336 & L1337 testers, there appear to be several whose recent origins are in County Clare between Galway and Limerick.

To view the full-sized, interactive map and key, click here.

ISO Rodney Coyne or Alan Rowntree Regarding Henderson Family Near Coupar Angus

I recently came across an archived query from 1998 on the now-defunct Rootsweb Message Boards that interested me greatly. Unsurprisingly, since seventeen years have passed, my email to the original poster bounced.

The original message can be viewed here, but I am pasting in the content in case anyone recognizes Mr. Coyne of South Africa, the Henderson family in Scotland about whom he writes, or Mr. Rowntree, the single respondent to his query (whose email was also unavailable).

On 23 January 1998, Mr. Rodney Coyne of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa wrote:

My wife is a Henderson - her family have lived for generations on the farm Balbrogie near the village of Coupar Angus - she still has cousins living there. An aunt has most of the family history, but says that there is a gap between Andrew and his son Alexander ca,1600 and William Henderson who married Margaret Payot ca.1700. The family were involved in the `Gowrie Plot' but I have no details of this at present. Towns associated with the family are Cargill, Bendochy, and Collace. Farms connected with the family are Lawton (spelled`Latoun' ca 1600) and Balbrogie. If anyone would like to exchange information on this branch of the Hendersons could they please contact me .

On 3 March 2010, Mr. Alan Rowntree responded:

I believe your William Henderson was the son of John Henderson in Nether Balmyll (Balmyle) and Balbrogie. John died in 1676. John was the son of James Henderson (or Petrie)who died in 1637 and married Isobell Blair. John Henderson had a brother (another) William who died in 1658. (That is my descent) I cannot go back further than James/Isobell.

If you know the poster, the respondent, or have any information about this Henderson family described living near Coupar Angus, please email me directly.

Seeking Researchers of the Newbold Family of Somerset Co MD, Sussex Co DE, Onslow Co NC or the Caribbean

I just posted this query to the Newbold Family message board on Ancestry.com. In order to give it the widest possible audience and chance of a response, I am duplicating it here on my blog.

I am researching the Henderson family of Somerset County MD and as part of that, am trying to clarify their connections with the 17th-century Newbold family.

Comfort, the daughter of John Henderson, is believed to have married Francis Newbold, s/o Thomas and Jane Newbold, as early as ca 1715. I have gathered from other posts on Ancestry and online that Thomas Newbold may have been a "Merchant of London" originally from Derbyshire or Leicestershire, who emigrated to Accomack County VA ca 1674. Many online sources give his wife's name as "Jane Layfield." I don't know what proof there is of her surname, but the Layfields were in proximity at the time, and were also connected to the Hendersons.

According to online genealogies, Thomas Newbold and Jane Layfield had at least two sons, John and Francis, both said to have been mariners. There is apparently a strong seafaring tradition in the family, and the children of both of these brothers were known to have traded along the eastern seaboard and into the Caribbean. This fact, combined with the Henderson's strong connections with Onslow County NC, makes me think that the Newbolds of Onslow County NC and possibly also of the Caribbean, may trace back to these two brothers?

The Francis Newbold I am working on is found living in the Somerset Co MD household of John Henderson in 1725 (although he is found as the head of his own household in Somerset until at least 1740, after which Somerset County split and tax lists from the new county, Worcester, are not available). Wife Comfort Henderson Newbold is mentioned in John Henderson's 1743 Worcester County MD will, so we know that she was still living as late as 1743, which would mean that some or all of Francis's children belonged to *Comfort Henderson Newbold,* not to the "Mary" he was married to at the time he wrote his 1777 Sussex Co DE will (again, assuming that the Francis Newbold who d in 1777 Sussex Co DE was the same as the one in earlier Somerset Co MD). Most online genealogies I have seen so far attribute all of Francis's children (possibly an incomplete list based on those living at the time of his will) solely to Mary.

It is possible that researchers are mixing two Francis Newbolds, but it seems unlikely, unless perhaps he had a same-name, same-generation cousin in the same county at the same time (always a possibility, as any researcher knows). I believe it more likely, however, that researchers are simply unaware of Francis's first wife, and assume Mary was his only wife. If I am wrong, I hope someone will please contact me and help me sort this out. Additionally, I would like to correspond with descendants of this couple who might also be interested in the Henderson side of the family.

If any interested descendants or researchers would care to work with me on this line to help me clarify the Newbolds, or to learn more about the 17th-century Hendersons of the Eastern Shore, please contact me at info.itsallrelative@gmail.com

The Truth About Thomas - Burying the Myth of "Thomas Henderson of Jamestown"

In my newly-appointed capacity of co-admin for Group R-B3 within the Clan Henderson DNA Project, I've been intending to create a repository of documents which may become useful to testers within that group in the future. It occurred to me that one document in particular, an article which has been printed and reprinted in Clan Henderson newsletter An Canach, should be shared with a wider audience in hopes that it will begin to help researchers correct misinformation which has been perpetuated for decades.

This article concerns the persistent myth of a Thomas Henderson who supposedly emigrated from Dumfries and arrived in Jamestown in April of 1607 (or shortly thereafter). This mythical ancestor comes complete with connections to the Fordell family line (a good example of which can be seen in the work of Lucy Henderson Horton), but that's the case with many early genealogies and loosely-documented Henderson histories both in print and online.

Now. Pay attention to this part. No documentation in support of the existence of a Thomas Henderson of Dumfries or his presence in Jamestown in 1607, or of any actual documented descendants, has ever been found. Ever. In spite of the utter and complete lack of evidence, this pernicious Henderson "founding father" has even penetrated the sacrosanct records of the DAR. It's time to bury this one so that serious researchers who have been led to believe that they descend from Thomas Henderson of Jamestown can begin searching for their actual ancestors. As long as Henderson researchers are distracted by Thomas, their real ancestors -- the ones who sacrificed and braved the wilds of the New World so that we could play on Ancestry.com today -- will never receive the recognition and acknowledgement they deserve.

To help people past the erroneous Thomas, James Henderson III (dec'd) wrote The True Thomas Henderson, an article which was originally published in An Canach in 1990, and was reprinted in 1999 and 2003. The article mentions Thomas's supposed son or grandson, Richard, who married Mary, the daughter of an Ensign Washer,* and delves into clues about an actual Thomas Henderson upon whom the mythical Thomas may have been based.

I am providing links to two versions of the article: a truncated version with editorial comments and an expanded version with full details. I recommend interested parties read both to gain the fullest understanding of the origins of the myth of Thomas Henderson. These articles are posted with permission from Russ Henderson, former editor of An Canach.

Note: In the expanded version of the article the author mentions a "proven lineage" from Gilbert Henderson of Virginia's early Eastern Shore and implies that Gilbert was connected with the early Tidewater Virginia Hendersons. Recent DNA test results indicate that Gilbert Henderson was probably unrelated to the Hendersons of the Tidewater area. The DNA signature of a tester whom we believe may trace back to Gilbert Henderson of Accomack Co VA is a nearly identical match to the DNA results of numerous descendants of James Henderson of early Somerset Co MD. Based on this, we believe that Gilbert and James, who were contemporaries in 1660's Accomack & Northampton Counties, VA, may have been brothers or cousins.

*Ensign is a military designation, not a first name.

Photos and Video from Visits to the New River (Onslow Co NC) and the Pocomoke River (Somerset Co MD)

I have just uploaded a number of photos and videos of interest to the Hendersons of Somerset County, MD and Onslow County, NC.

Last month during a trip to Onslow County, Tom and I visited Sneads Ferry so that I could finally see the New River property where mariner ancestor James Henderson Sr. settled in the early 18th century. Henderson's original deed from Nathaniel Averitt was lost in the 1752 hurricane that destroyed the county courthouse, but we know that he was a neighbor to Edmond Ennett (who operated Ennett's Ferry, now known as Sneads Ferry). I believe Everett's Creek was the dividing line between the Henderson and Ennett properties. The mouth of creek can be seen in this video, and James Henderson's property is to the right (north) side. The property is now part of Camp Lejeune and access to the area is restricted due to blasting.

I took a number of photos of the New River, and also of Stump Sound, where the property of the allied Nixon family was located.

Just this past week I met with fellow-researcher Robin Henderson at the Nabb Research Center in Somerset County, Maryland. After the library closed we drove down to the ruins of Coventry Parish in Rehobeth, Maryland. Across the street is Old Rehoboth Church, the oldest Presbyterian Church in America. Both churches are located just a few hundred yards from banks of the Pocomoke River. This river, which flows through the Great Cypress Swamp, has the distinction of being the deepest river for its width in the world. The eerily still, black water served to act as a mirror in my photos and video.

Across the river is the Hickory Point Natural Area. As best we can tell from original plats and land grant records, James Henderson Senior (the original immigrant bef 1661 and progenitor of our line) probably owned property somewhere along the river in the Hickory Point Natural Area, and therefore his land is likely within range of the camera as we pan past the area. His son, John Henderson Sr., operated a ferry across the river, which likely landed near the docks where we are filming, as it would have been convenient to the church and village.

• View video of Pocomoke River, Somerset Co MD
• View video of Coventry Parish ruins, Rehoboth, Somerset Co MD
• View video of New River and Sneads Ferry Bridge, Onslow Co NC
• View Video of New River looking southeast, Onslow Co NC
• View all photos of Coventry Parish ruins, Pocomoke River, and New River

New DNA Testing and Research Answers Questions Surrounding Old Kennedy Family Traditions

This article was originally made available to descendants of David Kennedy and Elizabeth Conway Kennedy of Russell County, Virginia, in August of 2015. These important new discoveries change our understanding of many longstanding family traditions, so I am making our findings available on the public blog so that current and future researchers of this couple and their children will not waste time pursuing the now-disproven relationships which are recorded in older works of family history.

Back in January, a Brooks cousin made me aware of several Kennedy relations on Facebook, with whom I promptly connected since I was about to renew my efforts to push the Kennedy branch of my family tree a bit further back in time. My great-great-grandmother, Ibbie Kennedy Brooks, never knew her father, Wiley F. Kennedy, since he died several months prior to her birth. However, she must have had some degree of contact with his family, as fanciful tales of the Kennedys and of a great “inheritance” in Ireland were passed down from her to my grandmother, and from my grandmother to me. A bit of preliminary research in my teens led me to consider these stories highly unlikely, but until recently I had not had the time to pursue the facts of the matter. What little I knew included nothing to indicate any particular wealth or status of the family in Ireland (in fact, quite the opposite), but what did intrigue me was the great tragedy that had befallen the Kennedy family in the spring of 1800, when David Kennedy and his wife, Elizabeth Conway Kennedy, both met sudden and unexpected ends. The couple left two small orphans, one of  whom, John Kennedy, was to become the progenitor of the large family of Kennedys of Russell and Wise Counties in Virginia.

Newly-discovered Kennedy cousin Laura Smith kindly took the time to bring me up to speed on the current state of our Kennedy family’s research efforts. I had recently stumbled across an online copy of The Name and Family of Kennedy and Powers, Wade P. Kennedy’s booklet of family history. Wade P. Kennedy, born 1868, is a descendant of Pleasant H. Kennedy. When I questioned Laura about sources and details to support Wade P. Kennedy’s stories, she advised me to approach the anecdotes with a degree of caution, and explained that some of them were as yet unverified. She added that cousin Curtis Wade Kennedy (1938-ca 2010) had dedicated years of his life to attempting to locate documentation which would conclusively prove Wade P. Kennedy’s assertions that our line descended from the family of Captain Joseph Kennedy of Augusta County, Virginia -- but his most earnest and concerted efforts had failed to produce such proof. Ginger (Rose) Senter, also a newly discovered Kennedy cousin, concurred with Laura’s assessment of Wade P. Kennedy’s work as well as that of Curtis Wade Kennedy.

It occurred to me that this is the very sort of conundrum that lends itself to a DNA testing solution. A simple comparison of testers from the Augusta County Kennedy line(s) and our own line would instantly settle the question once and for all. Laura set about locating volunteers from our family to test, and I contacted James “Jim” E. Kennedy, the Kennedy Surname Project administrator for Family Tree DNA to see if the project currently included any testers who could prove a lineage back to the Augusta County Kennedys. As luck would have it, Jim himself descends from that group, so half the battle was already fought. He informed me that there is a strong cluster of matching testers who had documented paper trails back to that same family, so all that remained was to secure our testers for comparison.

Laura located two volunteers from the line of Pleasant H. Kennedy (1831-1916), and a third from the line of John Fletcher Kennedy (1846-1929). After a not-unusual delay of approximately 10-12 weeks we began to see results that clearly explained why Curtis Wade Kennedy had not been successful in finding documentation to support a connection to the Augusta County Kennedy family. Simply put, we are not related to them.

I realize that this is not the outcome that a number of family members (including myself) had hoped for, although it was probably a result not entirely unexpected by some. It would have been so much easier to learn that we did indeed descend from that distinguished and well-documented group, and consequently double our efforts to find the “proof” that must be there. It is both inconvenient and unsettling to realize that a decades-old and dearly-held family tradition must be discarded as we face the fact that we must look elsewhere for our David Kennedy’s origins. However, now that we know with certainty that we should stop pursuing research of the Augusta County group, we are freed up to begin pursuing the correct group -- if only we knew what group that was!

The second disappointment dealt to our testing effort was that while our three testers are a perfect match to each other (thereby establishing a strong genetic signature for our line for future comparison purposes), we did not match any of the large number of other Kennedys who are currently participating in the surname project. I have been surprised by just how common the Kennedy surname was in early America, and as a result there are quite a few descendants of these early, unrelated men in the project who do not match us (or anyone else). This proliferation of very early Kennedys makes our own research task even more challenging.

Jim Kennedy informed me that many testers are not serious about genealogy and quite a few tested solely in the hope of gaining bragging rights to a relationship with the President John F. Kennedy family. When they didn’t match that family (and almost none did), they quickly lost interest and failed to submit their own lineage details for the benefit of the overall project. This situation makes it difficult to compare our test results to other testers in order to eliminate false leads. For example, if our paper research identifies a potential Kennedy lead in Pennsylvania, we could (in theory) check the current database of DNA testers to see if any testers claim to be descended from the target in Pennsylvania, and we could then potentially eliminate the lead if the DNA results did not match us. However, the large number of testers who have failed to provide information about their ancestry somewhat frustrates this method.

So the bottom line result of the testing as it currently stands is that 1) we do not match the Augusta County, VA Kennedy family from whom we traditionally believed that we descended, and 2) we do not currently match any other Kennedys who are participating in the official Kennedy surname project. The thing to bear in mind, however, is that new testers are continually being added, and just because we do not have any matches today does not mean that we won’t have a match tomorrow, or next week, or next month or even next year. I once waited six years for a single match to a man I tested from Kentucky, but when the match came, it provided all the information we had hoped it would. The moral of this story is do not lose hope. The match will come. One fine day, it will come.

In the mean time, we are pursuing additional leads and an upgrade called the SNP Backbone Test. That test will help us more precisely narrow down our haplogroup and will shed some light on the deep ancestry and origins of our Kennedy lineage. In other words, our Kennedy family’s “ancient history.” While the results are unlikely to be of immediate value in helping us connect our David Kennedy of Russell County to his roots in Ireland (or less likely, Scotland), it may be an important first step in that effort. One other Kennedy tester (unrelated to us) was able to use such testing to pinpoint his exact haplogroup signature (called the “SNP”), which he then cleverly used to identify matching surname clusters in a single county in Ireland. By narrowing down his search geographically he was able to pick up his ancestor’s trail in the correct Irish county and trace back several generations. I am hoping to eventually achieve similar results for our family.

So that, my friends and relations, is the current state of affairs. I would like to make clear that these results should in no way diminish the sincere and dedicated efforts made by Wade P. Kennedy (or more recently by Curtis Wade Kennedy) to trace our family’s lineage. The astonishing volume of original courthouse documentation and obscure (often out-of-print) historical writings which have recently become available online has given us an advantage that neither man enjoyed when they attempted to piece together a history for our family from precious few reliable clues. Had either one of them had access to DNA testing or to the sheer volume of readily-available documentation (including many first-hand sources and original documents) that is available to us now, I have no doubt that either or both would have reached precisely the same conclusions at which we have arrived.

Having said this, I do need to address one additional error which springs from Wade P. Kennedy’s booklet: the tradition of our connection to Captain David Kennedy and Lt. John Smith of the Augusta County militia.

Once again owing to the volume of reliable primary and secondary source information that has recently been made available online, I was able to identify the Captain David Kennedy in question and follow him through the decades of the mid-to-late 18th century. That David Kennedy, a 5’7” merchant born in 1731 in Argyll, Scotland, enlisted in Robert Stewart’s Troop of Light Horse in November 1754. He served as a Captain and Quartermaster in the British Army and can frequently be found in records of Stewart’s unit during the French and Indian War. After the war, and likely on the strength of their military acquaintance, future President George Washington agreed to rent to Kennedy a farm located on Bullskin Creek (in present-day West Virginia). Washington’s confidence in Kennedy was misplaced. Kennedy failed to pay the agreed rent and skipped out, leaving a significant debt which Washington (through a series of factors and friends), attempted to collect for over a decade. After vacating Washington’s Bullskin Creek property, Kennedy removed to Winchester, in Frederick County, VA, where Washington continued to pursue him for payment. All attempts were met with frustration as letter after letter to Washington from his collection agents explained Kennedy’s reduced circumstances and advised Washington that the money was likely never to be had. Washington must not have been the only person Kennedy owed. By July of 1790 Kennedy had been sentenced to live within Winchester’s prison bounds on account of his debts. An increasingly aggravated Washington had asked Daniel Morgan, a friend and resident of Frederick County, to attempt to collect from Kennedy, but Morgan reported that “a bad woman which [Kennedy] kept for a house keeper made such a Deep stroke at him that [it had] frustrated all [Morgan’s] designs & left the old man poor indeed.” Morgan went on to report that Kennedy had “an estate in Scotland worth about￡500 sterling which he has been offering for [sale]” -- but I have been able to find no record of the estate in Scotland, nor any sale thereof, nor any satisfaction of Washington’s debt.

A ￡500 (presumably sterling) estate was substantial money in 1790 and had Kennedy been successful in liquidating the estate, he would likely have had sufficient funds not only to pay his debts, but to establish himself as a man of means in the county. A man that I have every reason to believe is the same Captain David Kennedy was appointed first High Sheriff of Frederick County and was a mason in the Winchester Lodge in the late 1790’s, so it appears he may indeed have been able to redeem himself.

I have found no evidence that Captain David Kennedy of Stewart’s troop (later of Bullskin Creek and Winchester, Frederick County VA) ever married. The fact that he kept an unscrupulous housekeeper tends to make me think he lacked a wife (not to mention discernment concerning women). As Wade P. Kennedy stated, Captain David did in fact serve in the Revolutionary militia of the district of “West Augusta” (an area that encompassed far more territory than present day Augusta County and included parts of western Pennsylvania), and his Lieutenant was indeed John Smith. However, there is no evidence that either man ever set foot in Russell County. Their service during the Revolution is reasonably well documented, and with the exception of a couple of brief details into Ohio and Pennsylvania, was mostly confined to the area around Frederick County, VA, where Kennedy was assigned to keep the peace and to guard a contingent of Hessian prisoners of war.

Our David Kennedy first appears in Russell County VA in 1790 when he obtained 50 acres of land from one Richard Price. If you will remember, Captain David Kennedy was confined to Winchester’s prison bounds in July of 1790.

Our David married Elizabeth Conway in Russell County in 1792 (although the month and day are illegible). Captain David apparently never married (no modern-day descendants appear to be claiming his lineage).

On 25 November 1793 our David Kennedy was still in Russell County VA where he was fined for “profanely swearing 3 oaths.” In November of 1793 the formerly destitute Captain David of Frederick County had apparently made good and was serving his first term as sheriff of that county, where we find records of him being bonded and appointed to his position of public trust on the 7th and 8th of November.

Captain David is still in Frederick County in October of 1794, the same year our David Kennedy shows up on the tax lists of Russell County VA.

The records of 1790-1794 appear to rule out the possibility that the two David Kennedys were the same. While not technically impossible, it is a great deal more than highly improbable.

So unfortunately we must lay another cherished family tradition to rest. If anyone can provide additional details or records to disprove my conclusion regarding Captain David Kennedy of Frederick County, VA, who served with Lt. John Smith in the militia of the district of West Augusta, I will happily investigate them. (If anyone would like to review the records I collected regarding Capt/Col David Kennedy, my 33 pages of working notes and unedited comments and observations are available online as a Google Doc.

In the mean time, I will continue to to pursue traditional methods of research as time allows, carefully monitor new DNA matches, and attempt to advance our knowledge of our Kennedy ancestry through SNP testing. While I realize that it may take time to absorb the implications of what we have recently learned and to come to terms with the small varying degrees of disappointment I know we must all feel, I hope you will join me in feeling encouraged that we can release old errors to make way for new research that will give us a truer picture of our family’s shared history. I will make every effort to keep the family apprised of new discoveries and developments on all fronts. My most profound thanks to all of you whose generous contributions made this valuable testing possible.

Just remember, this is not the “end result” of what we’ll learn from our tests, only the beginning.