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. 

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.

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

ISO A Direct-line Male Descendant of Gilbert Henderson of Northampton and/or Accomack Counties, Virginia (ca 1652+)

I am currently in search of a direct-line male descendant of Gilbert Henderson of Northampton and Accomack Counties, Virginia, to do a Y-DNA test for our Henderson family. We hope the results of the test will reveal whether or not Gilbert was related to James Henderson Sr. who can be found in records of those counties contemporaneously. We have a number of strongly-matching DNA signatures for descendants of James, but no tests for any of Gilbert's descendants.

Gilbert Henderson (frequently also spelled Gilbert Hinderson) first appears in the records of Northampton County, Virginia, in  May of 1652 when Thomas Johnson Jr used him as a headright to patent 450 acres in the Pongoteague Creek area.

This does not necessarily mean that Gilbert was an indentured man of Johnson's, nor does it mean Gilbert ever lived on or near the Pongoteague Creek property, nor does it even mean that 1652 is the year Gilbert arrived in Virginia. Headright certificates could be bought, sold, traded and held for years before an owner used them to stake an actual claim to property. (Due to systemic fraud, a person could even be claimed as a headright of multiple properties for various enterprising land grabbers.) The only thing we can know for sure from this record is that Gilbert Henderson had entered the colony of Virginia sometime prior to May 1652. He may have been an indentured man to Johnson. He may have lived on the property Johnson patented. But then again, he may not have.

In 1657 Nicholas Waddelow assigned a 400 acre patent  called "Gabriel's Island" to Robert King, John Watts, Gilbert Henderson and Robert Blake (the latter of whom deeded his quarter back to Waddelow's widow). It is not clear what Gilbert did with his portion of the island (now called Watts Island). The records tell that "after severall other assignments" the island was sold to Walter Taylor.

Gilbert makes his next appearance in the records of Hungars Parish (Northampton County, VA) on 25th March 1660 when he married Mary Major, daughter of William and Mary Major. Here he is called "Gilbert Hinders." In April of 1661 the couple baptized their only known daughter, Bridget (entered in the parish register as "ye daughter of Gilbert and Mary Henderson").

Sometime around 1666 (per a 1688 Northampton record) Gilbert and Mary had had their only other proven child, John. The fact that both Gilbert Henderson and James Henderson Sr named their firstborn sons John allows me to nurse the tenuous hope that the two men might have been brothers. Naming conventions of the era often saw the firstborn son named for the father's father. If one or both of these Henderson men were following the traditional naming scheme, then one or both had a father named John. Ideally, the same John. But only the DNA can tell.

By October of 1664, Gilbert Henderson was moving up in the world. Using headrights Wm. Cartright, Wm. Chamberlain, John Clark, Robert Compton, Thomas Jones, Thomas Walter, George Crooke, Edward Lenthall, Robert Dormer, and Timothy Terrill, Gilbert patented 500 acres for himself and Mary near the Makepungo River in Accomack County (which had until recently been the northern half of Northampton County). This land was neighboring that of Henry Bishop, whose daughter (or possibly granddaughter), Sarah, would marry a son of James Henderson Sr.

In 1665, Gilbert and Mary sold 250 acres of their newly-acquired tract to Edmond Joynes, in whose care the widowed Mary would leave 11yo son John upon her own untimely death. Edmond may have been connected with Mary's family in some way, as he used her maiden name, "Major," as his second son's given name in 1687. Although his wife's name was believed to be Mary, I do not think Edmond married Mary Major Henderson since he married in 1685 (per Miles Files) and the widow Henderson was dead by December 18, 1677. In the 1677 record which directs the custody of John Henderson to Joynes, John is called an orphan, so both Gilbert and Mary Major Henderson were dead. John was the only child mentioned, leading me to believe that Bridget. who would have been about sixteen in 1677, had either died in childhood, or was already married. In 1712, Gilbert Henderson the Younger (son of John Henderson, and grandson of the original Gilbert and Mary) would witness Edmond Joynes's will.

According to Whitelaw's Virginia's Eastern Shore, Gilbert Henderson the Elder died in intestate. We have no way of knowing if he and Mary had children other than Bridget and John, however, not a single record has come to light to indicate that there are descendants from Gilbert Henderson other than through his sole known surviving son, John Henderson of Accomack County, Virginia.

John Henderson, son of Gilbert the Elder and Mary Major Henderson, married twice, By his first wife (name unknown) he had three sons: Gilbert the Younger, Robert, and John Junior.  By his second wife, Mary Ann Savage, he had no sons. The ideal candidate for our DNA test will be able to prove a direct-line male Henderson ancestry back to one of John's three sons or five known grandsons, as follows:

Gilbert the Younger of Northampton or Accomack County VA married Mary Green and had sons John (b ca 1710), Gilbert III (b ca 1717), and Jacob (b ca 1720). Gilbert and Mary Green Henderson also had three daughters, but their descendants do not carry the Y-chromosome.

Robert Henderson m Elizabeth _______ and sold his land in Accomack to brother Gilbert the Younger in 1725. Shortly thereafter (1727) a Robert Henderson appears in the Nanticoke Hundred of Somerset County, MD. In 1740 a dependent, Daniel, appears in the household of Robert Henderson. They will remain together in the household until 1748, when Robert disappears, presumably having passed away. Daniel will continue to appear on the Somerset County tax lists until they end in 1759, and he can be found in subsequent records of the county.

John Henderson Jr is not mentioned in the 1722 will of John Henderson Sr, however, the will of Gilbert the Younger clearly mentions his brother John Henderson. A George Henderson is mentioned in John Sr's will, and since neither Gilbert the Younger nor Robert were known to have had a son named George, we can only presume that George belonged to John Jr.

All three of these men and their descendants are believed to have lived on the Eastern Shore for at least 1-2 more generations, and descendants are doubtless still living there today. There are a number of websites that attempt to connect the Hendersons of the western shore (Virginia's Tidewater and Northern Neck) to the elder Gilbert Henderson of Accomack and Northampton Counties in Virginia. None of these sites provide any documentation or offer any proof of such a connection and I believe that earlier researchers may have simply jumped to conclusions since Gilbert is one of the earliest Hendersons to appear in America. A simple review of proven parish dates, land records and court orders for Gilbert and Mary Major Henderson quickly disprove a number of the supposed connections found in online trees.

Bearing this in mind, the DNA tester we seek will be able to provide solid documentation back to one of the three sons of John Henderson Sr of Accomack Co VA, or to one of his known grandsons, John the Younger, Gilbert III, Jacob (not to be confused with the son of Francis Henderson of Somerset Co MD), Daniel, or George.

If you believe your lineage leads back to one of these men, please contact me to discuss potential DNA testing suitability.

UPDDATE 10/30/15: An old article in the Clan Henderson newsletter An Canach mentions Gilbert Henderson and states "Gilbert and his descendants have a provable lineage down to this day..." and implies a relationship to the early Tidewater Virginia Hendersons, however, as far as I or anyone involved in the Henderson DNA project knows, there are no confirmed (or claimed) DNA testers from Gilbert's line to prove or disprove a connection with the Tidewater Hendersons. DNA test results from a tester whom we believe descends from Gilbert's line (but have not yet proved) matches the results of descendants of James Henderson of Somerset County MD.

Update #1: Looking for the Link Between "Delmarva" James of 1661 and "Onslow" James of 1732, plus Bishops and Stokelys

If you have not yet read my original article in which I set out prove once and for all whether there is a direct lineal connection between the James Henderson Senior and Junior of early Onslow County NC and the older group of Hendersons on the Delmarva peninsula, take a moment to read that to get up to speed.

For years our two families of Hendersons have operated on the premise that each group had emigrated separately, the first arriving in the very early 1660's on the Delmarva Peninsula (Northampton and Accomack County VA), and the second Henderson family arriving roughly seventy years later, probably through the port of Wilmington, and then taking up land in what became Onslow County NC. To be fair, a couple of researchers from the Delmarva group gave the idea of a direct connection more weight than our group did, but no paper connection had ever been made between the two groups,* so we just had to shrug and wonder. Thanks to the magic of DNA testing, we've learned that not only is there a connection, but potentially a much closer one than we thought. This means we need to have another look at the paper trail.

A slight adjustment to what had been a longstanding chronology for the Onslow group (which I won't go into here, but which I believe is a correct change since it brings my work into alignment with that of Morris Meyers's) has shown several possibilities where the elusive connection might exist.

You'll see at the bottom of the first article the original version of the chart I made to help us quickly identify the places in the Delmarva tree where a direct connection with our James of Onslow might have occurred. In this article I am posting an updated version of the chart in which I believe I have eliminated two of the former candidates that were being investigated as potential ancestors.

I am not a linear researcher. I tend to be a bit like a hummingbird, flitting intensely from question to question, and person to person in the database, but at the end of the day (or week, or month), I typically arrive at a conclusion I can support with reasoning and evidence. I can't say that I'm pursuing this leg of the research in as systematic a way as I'd have liked (too many tangents lead me astray in the web of interconnected families), but I can say that my haphazard method has produced results.

As I said, I have eliminated two of the male candidates from the original chart, both of them sons of John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson. The John Henderson-Elizabeth Barnabe line is prolific and by far the best documented of the Delmarva group. John Henderson's younger brothers William (m. Sarah Bishop) and James Junior (m. Esther) are much less so, so I started with John's only two sons who might be long-shot possibilities: William b ca 1681 and Joseph (b unknown).  John and Elizabeth's other sons, Charles (b ca 1687), John Junior (b ca 1689), James (b aft 1695) and Benjamin (b ca 1697) were "pedigreed" enough for me to identify and eliminate them as strong candidates to be the ancestor of our Onslow James Henderson(s). Their children didn't fit the names or dates we were targeting, and were typically too young to be our man.

If there is indeed the direct connection between our two families that we suspect, our  James Henderson Senior of Onslow was most likely a grandson of the original Delmarva James of 1661 Northampton/Accomack County VA.  Even so, I had a quick run through the children of John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson just to make sure there were no obvious gaps, and to satisfy myself that I had thoroughly explored every possibility before ruling them out.

Again, I realized that I had no information on that couple's eldest son, William, nor their youngest, Joseph. Subsequent research showed that both men had pre-deceased their father and William apparently died without heirs, naming only siblings in his will. This explains why there is so little about him online. No descendants to dig up bones. Joseph's will only mentioned a wife (Elizabeth) and an underage daughter, Hannah. That seems to effectively eliminate both of these men, who were already weak candidates due to their age (in other words, they obviously aren't our man, and their children would have been too young to be our James Senior, even had any previously undocumented sons of either man turned up in research).

Both of those men are now grayed out on the updated chart (at the bottom of this article, click to enlarge) with notes indicating no direct male heirs.

In another encouraging development, I believe I have identified an unaccounted-for James Henderson on the 1723 "census" information for Somerset County MD (where the Delmarva group settled after leaving Northampton and Accomack). Since we can account for the James living in 1723 who belonged to John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson (as well as John and Elizabeth's grandson James who would not have been old enough in 1723 to head up a household), AND we can account for the James Henderson Junior b 1669 who married Esther, then this third unidentified James (born sometime prior to 1703) would necessarily have had to have belonged to William and Sarah Bishop Henderson, OR to James and Ester Henderson. This is precisely what we were hoping to find. A previously unidentified James of the right age in Delmarva. But it's too soon to get excited. We can't prove he's our James Henderson Senior of Onslow, and we don't know which of the two couples he belonged to. But I'm working on that. I have my suspicions. Things are looking promising, but it's a tough row to hoe trying to find solid documentation that far back.

The third change to the chart is a very tentative (and perhaps premature) one. We know that James and Mary Henderson were the parents of John, baptized 1661 in Northampton Co VA, and also of William and sister Jane (sometimes spelled Jeane), both born before 1668. But in 1668 James has a new wife, Alice, whom he "transports" into Somerset County MD along with his three children. Obviously some time before 1668 Mary had died, leaving John with three very young children. I can just imagine how he liked that situation. He needed a wife, and fast. And as they say, proximity, proximity, proximity.

Up until this point, based on the "transportation" record of 1668, we had idly believed that James brought his children and new wife Alice from England? Scotland? But there was a problem with that. John, the eldest, was clearly baptized in Northampton County VA in 1661. James was active and well-documented in the records of the Delmarva Peninsula all through the early-to-mid 1660's so he had little opportunity to take a practically constantly pregnant Mary on a dangerous ocean voyage to England/Ireland/Scotland (and why do so?), then remarry and travel back to Virginia/Maryland in time to be there in April 1666 when he received a 400a grant for eight headrights in Accomack County VA. When I laid this out on my timeline, I realized he had only moved the family from the colony of Virginia across the (disputed) border into the colony of Maryland. That constituted "transporting" the family That meant wife Alice was likely from Virginia. Proximity, proximity, proximity. 

Now, let's talk about those eight headrights in April of 1666. Like I said, I'm a research hummingbird and I dart from idea to idea, and one of the ideas I've been spending some time on is the connection between the Henderson family and the Bishop family. (Remember, James's son William married Sarah Bishop in 1685 [documented], daughter of Delmarva settler Lt. Henry Bishop, who, incidentally was a neighbor to Gilbert Henderson who was also in Hungars Parish in 1661 baptizing a daughter the same year James and Mary Henderson were baptizing their son John, but I digress. Hummingbird.). The Bishops married into the Stokely family (of early Accomack and Northampton Counties, VA, also spelled Stockley and Stoakley). The Bishops also show up in 18th-century New Hanover and Onslow County NC, and could be clue that leads us to the connection between our Onslow group and the Delmarva group. But...hummingbird.

So back to those headright settlers, now that we've established a family connection between the Hendersons and Bishops and Stoakleys, and we're talking about (or were supposed to be) James's second wife, the mysterious Alice, take a look at this record from Cavaliers and Pioneers: "JAMES HENDERSON, 400 acs. Accomack Co., on S. side of Pocomoke Riv., 5 Apr. 1666, Bounded on E. by land surveyed for Thomas Davis. Trans. of 8 pers: Jno. Long, James Collins, Edwd. Top, Eliz. White, Jno. Price, Jno. Aubry, Alice Stewkly, Florence Evans."

Alice! Stewkly! Stokely? Proximity, proximity, proximity.

Click chart to enlarge

*Barnaby Henderson, son of Charles & Parthenia Merrill Henderson of the Delmarva line shows up in Onslow County NC several decades after James Senior and Junior are already settled on property on the New River. This later immigration of Onslow County Hendersons is well-documented and is not the connection we are looking for, however, almost all of the Hendersons who remain in Onslow County today trace back to this line.

Delmarva Hendersons in Revolutionary Worcester Co MD Militias

I'm going through some paperwork on loan from fellow researcher Robin Henderson and I ran across an extract of Worcester Co MD Hendersons on Revolutionary militias made by David Jones (also researching the Delmarva Hendersons). 

This seems like a good thing to keep up with, although I'm not prepared to park the data anywhere specific since I don't yet have all of these men parceled into my database. Since this is likely to be of use to other researchers, I thought I'd chart it up here in my blog. I'm dividing it out by companies rather than listing the men alphabetically.

Names taken from The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, by S. Eugene Clements and F. Edward Right.

Captain John Parramore's Company, Wicomico Battalion 1777
Brittingham Henderson 1777, 1780
Ephriam Henderson 1780
Samuel Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780

Captain Samuel Smyly's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1780

Captain William Purnell's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1777, 1780

Captain Matthew Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
John Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780

Captain William Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
Jesse Henderson 1780

Captain Layfields Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Isaac Henderson 1780
Jacob Henderson 1780
James Henderson 1780
Jenkins Henderson 1780
John Trehorn Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Joseph Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Levi Henderson 1780
Smart Henderson 1780
Thomas Henderson 1780
William Holland Henderson 1780
William Merrill Henderson 1780

Note: There is some confusion in online trees as to whether Brittingham Henderson was the son of Jesse & Rhoda Henderson, or the son of John and Rhoda "Brittingham" Henderson. I have found no satisfactory documentary evidence of either scenario at this point. (Neither have I found proof that either Rhoda was a Brittingham.) A Sally Brittingham married a James Henderson on 21 Oct 1830 in "Maryland" but that's the only documented connection between Brittinghams and Hendersons I have found. A Rhoda "Bowds" (name uncertain) made a December 1804 will and left bequests to sons Brittingham Henderson and William Henderson (one shilling each), but there is no indication of who Rhoda might have been prior to becoming a Henderson, or whether she was the wife of Jesse or John (or either). 

Was There Ever a "James Isaac Henderson?"

This blog article is an update of a little write-up I did back in 2006 when I realized that James Henderson who made his 1770 will in Onslow County NC (*1) was being referred to increasingly online (and without any caveats or explanation) as "James Isaac Henderson" -- as if it had been copied straight from an early 18th century parish register.

Furthermore, I realized that I might be responsible for the perpetuation of the error.

Prior to about 1985 the connection between Argalus Henderson (*2) of Chatham County and his father, James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow County, was not widely known among researchers. Most people's research dead-ended with Argalus during much of the last century, so the connection with James Henderson of Onslow was something that only began to show up among researchers in the last 20-30 years. I realized it was likely copies of my own (sloppy) notes that were being shared during the early days of internet genealogy, so before his name became forever chiseled in stone, I thought I'd better try to undo some of the damage I'd done.

Having said that, I have updated this blog article with some additional thoughts and ideas about the use of the name "Isaac" in the Onslow family line as well as the possible earlier use among the Eastern Shore Hendersons.

Here is a slightly modified version of my original 2006 article:

Was there ever a "James Isaac Henderson"?

During over two decades of research, no single document with the name "James Isaac Henderson" has ever been found. So why is the name so widespread among internet researchers?

I May Be to Blame

I confess it's probably my fault. Over twenty years ago, long before the advent of the internet and its ability to rapidly perpetuate incorrect information, I took up research of my Henderson family where my aunt, Thelma Henderson Schoolfield, had left off. Since time was a luxury I had back in the day, I made rapid headway in courthouses and libraries across North Carolina and quickly discovered that we could push our line back one generation prior to Argalus of Chatham County NC, who until that time was our earliest known Henderson ancestor.

Colonial North Carolina records conclusively show that the father of Argalus Henderson was one James Henderson of Henderson's Landing on the New River in present-day Onslow County. I was delighted to find numerous early Onslow County records all referencing James Henderson. James Henderson was a busy man. James Henderson showed up in the records regularly. There was no question about where James Henderson was, or what he was doing, or what he was called. Notice that I keep emphasizing James Henderson, and there is no "Isaac" in between "James" and "Henderson."

James Henderson (the man I believe to be James Henderson Sr., whom I now call Mariner James Henderson) appears almost immediately in Onslow after the formation of the precinct, years before it officially became a county. Possibly he was already living in on the New River, although we have not yet been able to conclusively identify him in the records of earlier New Hanover Precinct or surrounding precincts of Bertie, Chowan, Beaufort or Carteret. (*3)

At first James appears alone, and then there is a period of years where a “James Henderson Sr.” and a “James Henderson Jr.” are mentioned in records. Then, after another period of years has passed, the records once again only reference a “James Henderson,” leading us to believe that either father or son had died. For some reason I no longer recall, I originally thought that Junior had died, but now I am more inclined to believe it was Mariner James Henderson Senior who passed away, once again leaving a single James Henderson - very likely the man we call “James ‘Isaac’ Henderson” - active in Onslow County until his death, between 1776-1780.

The latter James Henderson named the following children in his will: son Argalus, and daughters Lucy Henderson Loyd, Bethany Nixon, Elizabeth ("Betty") Jenkins, Nancy ("Nanny") Henderson. (*4) Throughout his will and in all other colonial records except for the the single reference below our James is referred to only as "James Henderson."

The Origin of Isaac

So where did "Isaac" come from?

Onslow County NC Deed Book 18 Page 44:

Apr. 16, 1792 "William Loyd and his wife, Lucy, and Archelaus Henderson of Onslow and Chatham Counties, NC, for the sum of [sixty pounds] sold to James Foy, Jr., land on Kizabel's Creek in Onslow Co. near James Henderson's Landing, 220 acres whereon Isaac Henderson lived and died, and willed to his daughter, Lucy Henderson, now Lucy Loyd, the land granted to Nathaniel Avritt and deeded by will to James Henderson, deceased. Test: James Foy Sr., William Jenkins."

This record is clearly referring to the same James Henderson of the 1770 will (who named Lucy and Argalus as his children). And yet, equally clearly, the same man, the father of Lucy and Argalus, is being called Isaac Henderson in this document eighteen years later.

Without looking at the original document, I have no way to tell if this is a transcription error, but it seems unlikely that "James" could be mistaken for "Isaac." Since Argalus would name his firstborn son Isaac, I feel certain that the record says "Isaac" and not "James." (*5)

For lack of any better ideas, I decided that the best thing to do was use “Isaac” as a possible middle name for James. These days I always try to put it in quote marks "Isaac" or parentheses (Isaac) to remind us that it may not be correct.

Curiously, there is a tiny bit of a hint that the progenitor of the Eastern Shore Henderson may also have used the name "Isaac" and in fact may have also been a James “Isaac” Henderson himself, but I base that on a single speculative clue having to do with the fact that his daughter, Jane Henderson Williams, followed the tradition of naming her eldest son after her husband’s father (John Williams) and then, instead of naming her second son “James” for her father as one might expect, she named him “Isaac.” A tenuous thread, but an intriguing one.

So there you are. For better or worse, the name "James 'Isaac' Henderson" was carelessly recorded in my notes, which soon began to circulate among online researchers. Mea culpa. Mea culpa. If anyone can provide an original source document with the full name "James Isaac Henderson", I would be happy to change my position on this and stop qualifying the name with quotes or parentheses, but until then, "Isaac" remains unconfirmed and open to debate.

Now, an additional word about the frequent use of the name Isaac among descendants of Hendersons of the Eastern Shore. In my database I currently show the following Isaac Hendersons. There may be others that I don't have in my notes.

Somerset County MD James Henderson's Descendants Named "Isaac:"

• Isaac Williams b aft 1696, s/o Jane Henderson Williams of Somerset Co MD
• Isaac Henderson b 1741 s/o Jesse & Rhoda Henderson of Somerset Co MD
• Isaac Henderson b 1790, s/o Barnaby Henderson Junior of Onslow Co NC
• Isaac Henderson b aft 1801, s/o Lemuel Henderson of Accomack Co VA (connection unidentified)
• Isaac Henderson b 1806 s/o Levin & Nancy Layfield Henderson
• Isaac Henderson b 1836, s/o James Henderson of Worcester Co MD
• Isaac Newton Henderson Sr. b 1847, s/o Henry Henderson of Duck Creek NC (connection unproven) and Isaac Newton's son, Isaac Newton Henderson Jr. b 1885, Onslow Co NC

Chatham/Onslow James "Isaac" Henderson's Descendants Named "Isaac:"

• Isaac Henderson b 1753, s/o Argaleus of Onslow & Chatham Counties, NC
• Isaac Henderson b 1822, s/o Argaleus Henderson the younger of Greenville Co SC
• Isaac R. Henderson b 1827, s/o Hezekiah Henderson of Chatham Co NC
• Isaac Henderson b 1831, s/o Obediah Henderson of Chatham Co NC
• Isaac E. Henderson b&d 1882, s/o Elwood Lindley Henderson of Chatham Co NC
• Isaac Ingram Henderson b 1886, s/o Orla Hezekiah Henderson of Chatham Co NC (Orla and Elwood were brothers, sons of Isaac R. Henderson listed above)

Jane Henderson Williams, daughter of James Henderson Senior of Somerset Co MD, named her eldest child "John" after her husband's father (and her husband). Traditionally the next son would have been named "James" for her own father, but instead, she called him "Isaac."

*1 Although James "Isaac" wrote his will in October 1770, he apparently did not die as anticipated. He can still be found in Onslow records up until August of 1776. The first record that clearly indicates his demise is from 8th April, 1780.

*2 Spelled varyingly as Argulus, Argaleus, Archelaus, Hercules, etc.

*3 There are records of a James Henderson active in upper coastal NC as early as the seventeen-teens and seventeen-twenties, but I have not yet been able to conclusively prove he is Mariner James Henderson of Onslow.

*4 Also in the area during James “Isaac” Henderson's lifetime was a Joseph Henderson, and a William Henderson, but no connection has yet been established, although I am keeping an eye on William in particular as a possible relation.

*5 It was traditional up until the 19th century to name the eldest son after the father's father.

Was Alice Henderson, wife of James (b aft 1695 Somerset Co MD), a Kollock or a Pollock? Or neither?

In a recent article discussing the likelihood of a connection between James "Isaac" Henderson of 1732 Onslow County NC and the older group of Hendersons on the Delmarva Peninsula, I stated:

"John and Elizabeth [Henderson] had a son named James (b aft 1695 d bef Aug 1776) who married Alice Kollock (could this be "Pollock," a prominent name in early Bertie & Onslow Counties?) but from what I can tell of him and his descendants (including another son named James who m Sarah Merrill), this family stayed in the area of Somerset and Worcester Counties in MD and is pretty well accounted for."

To satisfy myself that "Kollock" was not a mis-spelling of "Pollock," I had a quick look this afternoon just to see if there was an actual "Kollock" family living in the vicinity of Somerset County MD in the late 1600's, and sure enough, Jacob Kollock had settled the area around Lewes and Rehoboth Bay as early as 1689. There is an 1865 book of the family's genealogy free to read online which does as decent a job of enumerating the family's generations as one might expect from an older work of genealogy.

Down the Kollock rabbit hole I went.

But the further I burrowed, the more I began to wonder at a Kollock connection with our group of Delmarva Hendersons. The information I was given in my database shows James Henderson, son of John & Elizabeth Barnaby Henderson, marrying an Alice Kollock in Somerset County MD about 1715. Estimated dates of birth for James and Alice are "about 1695." A birth around that time would have most likely made Alice a granddaughter of Jacob Kollock through his sons Simon, Cornelius or Jacob Jr. (Jacob Sr.'s seven children seem pretty clearly outlined and there is no Alice among them.)

Although I didn't see children of Cornelius or Jacob Jr. in the book, Simon did have a granddaughter named Alice who married a John Henderson (not James). Further investigation yielded a marriage date of 24 Jan 1763 in Lewes, DE -- too late to be the Alice Kollock who married James Henderson.

Additional digging online turned up the information that Alice was the daughter of Shepard Kollock (who was in turn son of Simon, and grandson of Jacob). Simon died intestate so there were subsequent court records in Sussex County DE which helpfully outlined the relationship of some of the Kollock family members. Of most interest to me, however, was this account from Land Records of Sussex Co DE, Deed Book L No 11 and M No 12:

George Kollock, ship joyner,
from Boaz Manlove, High Sheriff of Sussex Co. 
4 May 1769. 

Simon Kollock, Esqr., late of Sussex Co., died intestate, and 2/3 of his tract fell to Shepard Kollock, eldest son, admr. of his late father who left and bequeathed by his last will the afsd. land amongst his several heirs, which heirs exhibited a petition to the Court of Common Pleas for a division of the land and the above land was allotted to Alice Henderson wife of John Henderson, shopkeeper, being one of the heirs of Shepard Kollock, land in the suburbs of the town of Lewes, on the southeast side fo the main county road that leadeth from the town of Lewes to Rehoboth and on the northeast side and adjoining David Hall's land which he bought of Simon Kollock, one of the afsd. heirs and joining the afsd. George Kollock's land on the southwest side of his land, being part of the afds. dividend or tract surveyed and divided of 42 1/4 acres, which John Henderson as above mentioned by a certain obligation became indebted to John White and Samuel Coldwell of Philadelphia, merchants and sometime afterwards said White and Coldwell recovered a judgement against afds. Henderson for the sum of the afds. obligation and whereas his land was seized and sold by public sale to George Kollick for 40 shillings. Wit John Russel, Wm Prettyman. Within deed ackn. 4 May 1796

George Kollock, Sussex co., joyner, from Alice Henderson, Sussex Co., spinster. 4 May 1769 For 87. Parcel of land being part of a larger tract granted by patent to Alexander Molleston, late of afds co., dec'd, and by sundry deeds of conveyances became the property of Simon Kollock, Esqr. late of the county adsd., died intestate and Shepard Kollock admr. of afds. Simon Kollock and the land became the property of Shepard Kollock and the land fell to the heirs of afds. Shepard Kollock and a parcel was allottted to Alice Henderson, one of the daughters of afds. Shepard Kollock. Lnd being in the suburbs of the town of Lewes joining land of David Hall and George Kollock. 41 1/4 acres. Wit: Benjamin Miflin, John Haverlo. Within deed of sale ackn. 5 May 1769.

So it appears that John Henderson, shop keeper, had nearly let his wife's inheritance slip out of the family but it was rescued by Alice's brother, George.

I don't know what to make of the 1769 appellation "Alice Henderson, Sussex Co., spinster" -- did she leave him for what he'd done?

I have found several trees online that show Alice Kollock (w/o "James" Henderson) as the daughter of Simon and Comfort Shepard Kollock, however, the information above clearly calls Alice Henderson "one of the daughters of the aforsaid Shepard Kollock" -- not a daughter of Simon.

At any rate, it seems clear to me that the Alice Kollock who married a John Henderson in Sussex County DE is not the Alice Kollock we are looking for as a wife of James Henderson of Somerset Co MD. I have no idea who the younger Alice's husband John Henderson was, or whether he was even connected with the "Delmarva James" Henderson family. I am adding him to the database as husband of Alice Kollock, and I am adding Alice as daughter of Shephard, but I have no parents for this John. If anyone can shed any light on him, please do so in the comments section below.

I am developing a nasty little suspicion that there might not have been an Alice "Kollock" who married James Henderson circa 1715 in Somerset County MD. Still, have to explore every avenue. Maybe she was the daughter of Cornelius, or Jacob Jr.?

A quick search for further information on Jacob Kollock Jr. and Cornelius Kollock revealed that Jacob Jr. was likely too young to be father of an Alice born around 1695, he himself only having been born in 1692. Although he did marry an "Alice Shepherd," I don't think he's a candidate for our purposes.

Here is his obituary from the Pennsylvania Gazette, March 26, 1772:

JACOB KOLLOCK - On the 7th of last Month departed this life at Lewes-Town in the County of Sussex, in the 80th year of his Age, after a long and tedious illness which he endured with great fortitude and Christian Resignation, Jacob Kollock, Esq., who for upwards of forty years was annually chosen one of the Representatives in Assembly for said County; and for the same Length of Time he was President of the Court of Common Pleas, a Trustee of the Loan Office, Register of Wills, Clerk of the Orphans Court, and Treasurer of the County, all which Offices he executed with great Reputation. And in the various Stations of private Life his Conduct was irreproachable ; he was an affectionate Husband and Father, a faithful Friend, and a kind Master. His steady Perseverance in a virtuous Course of Life rendered him deservedly beloved by all his acquaintance. He was Colonel of the Sussex Regt. 1756. —The Pennsylvania Gazette, March 26, 1772

So scratch Jacob Jr.

Now, what about Cornelius? A search of the LDS records shows the children of Cornelius as: Simon b 1723, William b 1725, Sarah b 1727, Mary b 1729, Royal b 1721, and Samuel b 1733. No Alice, and all too born to late to align with the Alice we're looking for.

My guess at this point is that process of elimination has shown that Alice, wife of James Henderson b ca 1695 in Somerset County MD was unlikely to have been Alice Kollock since no Alice was found among the Kollock family during the correct time period. I believe that researchers may have mistaken the Alice Kollock who married John Henderson in Sussex Co DE in 1763 for Alice, wife of James Henderson of Somerset County MD -- although how that could have happened, considering the clarity of the records, is a mystery to me.

If anyone is aware of documents that can disprove my theory of a case of mistaken identity, please contact me and point me in the direction of the missing records! I would be delighted to be able to re-connect the Kollocks to the Delmarva Henderson tree, but at this point, I feel I must remove them.

Richard Barnabe, Merchant of London, Makes a Wonderfully Helpful Will

I remember former Clan Henderson genealogist Dr. Horace Loftin once telling me that he had discovered a record that caused him to speculate that his Henderson ancestor, James Barnabe (later spelled Barnaby), had been a merchant sailing to and from the East Indies. Since I wasn't working on that line of Hendersons at the time, I neglected to ask for details, which has necessitated me finding them for myself.

Although I am doubtful of a connection between my James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow County and the family of John and Elizabeth Barnaby Henderson of Somerset & Worcester Counties MD, I was still intrigued by the idea of a 17th-century merchant family settling the wilds of the Delmarva Peninsula so I went poking around to see what I could learn.

First, a little background on the Barnaby connection to the Hendersons of the Delmarva Peninsula...

On 1 Jul 1680, in Somerset County MD, Elizabeth Barnaby (b Feb 1661), daughter of James Barnaby (the younger) and his wife Mary, married John Henderson (b May 1661), son of James Henderson and his wife, also Mary. Their numerous children and grandchildren would for the most part stay in the Worcester County MD area with the exception of grandson Barnaby Henderson, who would move to Onslow County NC circa 1765.

Elizabeth Barnaby's father, James the younger, made his will on 26 Jan 1665/66 leaving bequests to wife Mary (executrix), and his minor children James (noted as under 16), Rebecca, and Elizabeth (both noted as under 15).

After James's early death, his widow, Mary Barnaby, would marry local planter Edward Jones. Mary's health (or luck) was apparently not much better than James's and a few months after giving birth to her first child with Mr. Jones (in 1669), Mary died too, leaving her three young children and an infant in the care of her second husband. I found an interesting abstract (See footnote 1) conveying the information that "James Barnebe" was "shott with a gun in the hands of Mercy Fountaine on the plantation where Edward Jones liveth the 3rd day of March 1681 and was buried there the 4th day of the same month." James would have been about seventeen, and Fountaine was only about fifteen years old at the time. I have not been able to find any additional details on the incident, so I assume it was accidental since there are no apparent trial records.

James Barnabe, father of the unfortunate orphans (and even less fortunate son), was in turn the son of James Barnabe the elder and his wife, Sarah.  According to a deposition, James was in Northampton County, VA as early as 1637/38. In 1640 he and Sarah were headright settlers for John Holloway of Accomack County VA, and in 1651 they were the same in Northampton County VA for Roger Jones (not sure how that happened, but that's what my records say). I wonder if Roger was any relation to Edward...hmmm.

I have a notation that James Barnabe the elder was "of London" with an estimated birth date of 1610, so I decided to have a look and see if that held water. 1637 was a long time ago and there is a lot of room for error to develop in the records. I didn't really expect to find anything to connect this James Barnabe to any English merchants or shipping enterprises, but blow me down...

From the book Virginia Gleanings in England, by Lotrop Withington, page 135:

"Will of Richard Barnabe, London, Marchant, bound on a voyage by God's grace to the East Indyes with good shipp or vessell named the Mary of London of the burden of One Thousand Tunnes or thereabouts. Will 19 January 1630, proved 11 July 1636."

The will is lengthy and detailed (lucky for us all). This was obviously not an old man, and he had plenty of time to think things through and write it all down. His wife was already dead and buried (in the church of St. Katherine Colman of London, in case you are wondering), and he makes known his wish "to be buried neere late wief." He leaves "all to daughters Elizabeth Barnabe and Mary Barnabe, executrixes" but he appoints his brothers-in-law John Boulteel, Clarke and George Rookes, Marchant" as overseers to care for his goods until his daughters reach the age of 21.

In addition to naming other in-laws and outlining the relationships of several, he mentions: "To Loving brother John Barnabe (See footnote 2) resident in Virginia and Planter there 100 pounds, and my brother James Barnabe resident in Virginia 100 pounds, to be paid to them if living, or if dead to their sons and daughters. If none be living, then to the children of said brother in law George Rookes, Merchant."

George Rookes was married to the Barnabe's sister, Elizabeth, with whom he had seven children. Richard Barnabe also names sister Martha Barnabe "sometime weif of John Sargenson, vintner, dec'd and her sonn William," and another sister, Katherine Clarke and her son Robert and daughter Katherine.

Ever helpful to the future genealogist, he mentions Ann Barnabe, daughter of his brother John, married to _______ Edwards, Merchant, as well as a small bequest to servant, Elizabeth Rivers.

The rest of his estate he left to Masters and Wardens of Company of Drapers of London ("whereof I am a brother") to be used to enable "some godly and vertuous Preacher" to "preach five sermons yearly in church of St. Katherine Colman neere billeter lane, London." He's very specific about the sermons that be preached and obviously his heart lies with his dead wife and five (or six?) dead children in the churchyard.

He goes on to outline additional bequests in varying sizes to those who have served his family, as well as more distant relatives.

In April of 1635, he added an appendix to the "will made in England by me Richard Barnaby, Merchant, In good shipp Hart now bound for England," and in it he leaves bequests to friends including a "paire of Buffe gloves," and "one Capp wrought with silk and gold" and "one capp of lynnen with needle worke purles." To his nephew George Rookes he adds a bequest of an "imbroidered girdle with silver buckles." He leaves additional interesting bits and bobs to friends, servants and even the ship's surgeon and his mate. Apparently Mr. Barnabe's household was flush with treasures.

But that's all he wrote, folks. Sadly, his will was proved just over a year later on 11 July 1636. In a slightly depressing footnote to this piece, the church of St. Katherine Colman in London was demolished in 1925. No "godly and vertuous Preacher" shall evermore preach a sermon over the mortal remains of Ann and Richard Barnaby or their numerous departed children.

So it does indeed look like the Barnabes were a family of prosperous merchants of London. Richard and James's brother, John Barnabe, came to Virginia in 1621 and was "a servant in Governor George Yardley's house in Jamestown for two years" before going on to become a planter and a merchant with brother-in-law George Rookes. Although I have not been able to find any specific references to James Barnabe of Delmarva engaging in shipping or the merchant trade, it is clear that he was the third Barnaby brother in this scenario, and that he therefore very likely did come from London.

1.  Somerset Co. MD, Liber J.K.L., Court Record, 3 Mar. 1681

2. Per a footnote at the bottom of the will, "The census of Virginia, 1624-25  gives the 'muster' of  John Barnabe at Elizabeth City. It includes himself, aged 21, who came in the London Merchant in 1620 (Notten's Emigrants, p. 247.)" Additional details about John Barnaby (Barnabe) can be found in Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary, by Martha W. McCartney.