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.

The Most Excellent History of Argalus and Parthenia...

...Being a Choice Flower, Gathered Out of Sir Philip Sydney's Rare Garden (no less).

From the diary of Samuel Pepys
31st Jan 1661 "To the Theatre, and there sat in the pitt among the company of fine ladys, &c.; and the house was exceeding full, to see Argalus and Parthenia, the first time that it hat been acted: and indeed it is good, though wronged by my over great expectations, as all things else are." 5th Feb 1661 "Here we saw Argalus and Parthenia, which I lately saw, but thought pleasant for the dancing and singing, I do not find good for any wit or design therein." 28th Oct 1661 "To the Theatre, and there saw 'Argalus and Parthenia' where a woman acted Parthenia, and come afterwards on the stage in men's clothes, and had the best legs that ever I saw, and I was very well pleased with it."

This afternoon cousin Robin Henderson (*1) emailed me a reminder about this 17th-century poem, the epitome of tragic chivalric romance and likely the source of our ancestor Argalus Henderson's very unusual name.(*2)

The earliest publication date I can currently find for the booklet is 1621, but if the authorship is correctly attributed to Philip Sydney,(*3) English poet and courtier, scholar and solider of the Elizabethan age -- who died in 1586! -- then it must have been written decades earlier. I was only able to find "Argalus and Parthenia" written in 1621 by one Francis Quarles, which can be read online, but I warn you, it's pretty heavy lifting. You might want to reconsider, and spend the evening doing something more exciting. Like laundry.

In 1659 John Quarles, son of Francis (and ultimately a victim of the plague) wrote a sequel, "A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia." Because the world needed that.(*4)

At one time I had believed that our ancestor's actual name may have been Hercules. His name was spelled thusly on a couple of documents, and if pronounced HURC-u-lus, it is very similar in sound to "ARG-ulus" (as it was sometimes spelled). Maybe Hercules was a semi-literate clerk's stab at a phonetic spelling?

By the time our Argalus was born, probably sometime between 1720-1730, the name had fallen out of favor, along with its equivalent for the female sex, Parthenia.

So, dear reader, I fear our unfortunate ancestor was actually named for the tragic hero of an Elizabethan-era poem rather than the extraordinarily powerful son of Zeus. I call our ancestor unfortunate because how can you go through life with a handle like Argalus? I mean, really!? Was he "Arg" for short? And how does one even pronounce it? Is it Ar-GAY-lus? ARG-uh-lus? AR-ja-lus? No wonder the county clerk made an executive decision in favor of a mythical hero.(*5) He was doing the man a favor.

I guess it could have been worse. He could have been named for the poem's villain: Dimagorus.

The second inconvenience of his name was the fact that no one ever seemed to be able to settle on a spelling for it (including me). For years I've been all over the place with it as I find it spelled so many ways in the records. Since it seems like the original name was actually supposed to be "Argalus" I've decided to standardize my own spelling of it. I will faithfully copy spelling variations when transcribing records, but when writing of the man himself, Argalus it will be. But you will find it written as Archaelaus, Arglas, Arglos, Agulus, and -- give it time -- more are certain to appear.

If you make it through Argalus and Parthenia, and A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia (assuming you can put your hands on that one), be sure not the miss the final thrilling sequel to the sequel, (this time in prose), "Parthenia's Return to Argalus."

Click to enlarge.

1 Of the Ezekiel Henderson line of Greenville SC.
2 "What a beautiful name," said no one, ever! But believe it or not, I've run across a few other unfortunates who had to live a lifetime with it during the 17th and 18th centuries, so it did have its time in the sun.
3 There is scholarly debate over the authorship, because really, what other kind of debate would there be over the authorship of an obscure 17th-century equivalent of a bodice-ripper?

4 Apparently those wacky inhabitants of the 17th century just loved themselves some Argalus and Parthenia. Couldn't get enough.

5 Just to be clear, I don't know that that's what happened. I'm joking about the executive decision thing. His name really could have been "Argalus Hercules Henderson." Just sayin...