Researched by my mother, Annette Batey Pittard, May 10, 2000
Updated by Billy Pittard July 22, 2013
This is the story of my Henderson ancestry in Rutherford County, Tennessee. It begins with Samuel Henderson, my first Henderson ancestor to move to the area, and comes forward to my mother’s generation. This story was researched and prepared by my mother, Annette Batey Pittard in the year 2000. I have made a few edits to bring it up to date, and added pictures. My mother was a G.G.G.G.G. granddaughter of Samuel Henderson (1737-1818), the progenitor of my Henderson line in Rutherford County.
The Henderson family has been present in Rutherford County, Tennessee for over 200 years. I am aware of three Henderson lines from the early days of settlement of Rutherford County. Samuel Henderson (1737-1818) had two sons, Richard and James who both established long lines of ancestors in Rutherford County. The third line is that of Logan Henderson (1785-1846). There is no known family connection between the Logan Henderson family and the Samuel Henderson family.
– Billy Pittard
Samuel Henderson (1737-1818)
Around 1805 Samuel Henderson and his wife Mary Ann Waldrop left their home in Laurens Co. South Carolina and moved to Middle Tennessee. With them came at least two of their children, Richard and James, as well as several of their son Richard’s small children. Samuel and Mary Ann would have been in their late sixties at this time, so they must have had true pioneer spirits to leave their home and take a long treacherous journey to a new home in the Tennessee frontier. They established a family line that is still present throughout the area.
The pioneering and patriotic spirit was strong in Samuel’s family. His first cousin Richard Henderson is famed as an explorer and first developer of the Tennessee Valley, and whose accomplishments include the founding of Fort Boonesborough, Kentucky which he named in honor of his friend and employee Daniel Boone, and the founding a temporary settlement on the banks of the Cumberland River known as French Lick which later became the city of Nashville. Other members of this Henderson family include Thomas Henderson who was recognized for piloting General Greene’s army across the Dan River during the retreat from Guildford Courthouse during the American Revolution, and Judge Leonard Henderson who was Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829-1833. Several counties and towns across the South have derived their “Henderson” name from this family.
Samuel Henderson was born in 1737 probably in Hanover Co. Virginia where his father Richard Henderson was High Sheriff. In 1757 Samuel married Mary Ann Waldrop (b. 1738). Samuel served as a lieutenant in the American Revolution under Colonel Francis Marion. The earliest known record of Samuel in Rutherford County is dated Aug. 7, 1805 when Robert Weakley and John R. Bedford deeded 244 acres to “Samuel Henderson of Rutherford Co.” Samuel and Mary Ann had nine children:
- Mary (b. about 1758) married Robert McNeese
- Richard (b. 29 Dec. 1765) married Mary “Polly” Tinsley
- Nancy (b. 1768) married William Rodgers
- Susannah (b. 1769) married John Rodgers
- Patience (b. 15 Feb. 1770) married Andrew Rodgers
- Christian (b. 24 Nov. 1771) married John Davis
- Sally (b. about 1783) married John King
- Samuel T. (b about 1784) married Sally Pyles
- James (b. 1785) married his cousin Fannie Henderson
Two of Samuel and Mary Ann’s children are known to have moved to Tennessee around 1805: Richard whose descendants are described here, and James who also established a line of descendants in Rutherford County.
Richard Henderson (1765 – 1833)
Named for his grandfather, Richard Henderson was born in 1765 in Laurens County, SC. His wife, Mary “Polly” Tinsley, the daughter of Isaac Tinsley and Elizabeth Golding, was born in 1776 in South Carolina. Richard and “Polly” were married March 22, 1794 in Laurens Co. South Carolina where they had the first eight of their thirteen children. Along with Richard’s parents and uncle James, they moved to Wilson County, TN around 1805 where they had five more children. Some time after 1813 Richard moved most of his family to Athens, Limestone Co., AL where he died in 1833, followed by his wife in 1856. Their children:
- Preston W. (b. 1795) married Darotha Teague
- Permelia (b. 1796) married Pitts Chandler in Wilson Co. TN
- Margaret Tinsley (b. 1798) married James Miller
- Sarah “Sally” (b.1799) married Anderson Miller
- Isaac (b. 1800) married Cynthia Beaver
- Elizabeth (b. 1801) married John Tucker
- Samuel (b. 1803)
- Mary Ann “Polly” (b. 1806) married William Young
- Richard (b. 1807) married Mary Ann Teague Simpson
- Robert McNeese (b.1809) married Sarah Neely
- Caroline H. (b. 1811) married Thomas Stockton
- Susanna (b. 1813) married Bluford Henderson
- Martha (b. 1818) married William Alexander
Preston W. Henderson (1795-1857)
Preston Henderson was born in 1795 in Laurens Co. SC and came to Wilson Co. TN at an early age around 1805 with his parents and grandparents, and lived there the rest of his life. He married Darotha Teague (b. 1798) in 1816. She was the daughter of William Teague and Elizabeth Miller. Preston established their family home at Henderson’s Cross Roads, (now called Norene), TN (now adjacent to Cedars of Lebanon State Park). Preston and Darotha had eight children:
- Richard (b. 1821, d. 1842)
- Harmon Luster “Lus” (b. 1826, d. 1905) married first Louisa Catherine Henderson in 1846, second married Sarah Ann Phillips in 1852
- Mary Ann (b. 1829, d. 1913) married James A. Blankenship, an attorney
- Henrietta “Rettie” (b. 1832, d. 1911) married Thomas Phillips
- John Bond (b. 1834, d. 1898) married Sarah Jane Bass
- Jeremiah Tucker “Tuck” (b. 1836, d. 1913) married Sarah E. Thompson
- Robert H. “Hert” (b. 1839)
- Marsalete S. E. (b. 1842) married Wilson Shelah Phillips
The three Phillips spouses mentioned above were the children of David Phillips (b. 1794) and Mary “Polly” Waters (b. 1802). Mary “Polly” Waters was the granddaughter of Shelah Waters the Tennessee pioneer and one of the original settles of the Watertown area in Wilson County, TN.
Three of Preston and Darotha’s four sons fought for the Confederacy in the War Between the States. Harmon Luster and John Bond were in Co. D. 3rd Battalion of Forrest’s TN Cavalry. Jeremiah Tucker was in the 9th Battalion TN. John Bond rode his horse from Wilson Co. to Huntsville, Alabama so the three brothers could serve together. The youngest brother, Robert (age 22) stayed behind to help his widowed mother Darotha (age 63) run the family farm. All three Henderson brothers survived the war.
Preston died in 1857. Darotha died in 1868 and is buried beside Preston in the Henderson Cemetery off Puckett’s Lane in Wilson Co. near the home where they raised their family.
John Bond Henderson (1834-1898)
John Bond Henderson (b. 1834) married Sarah Jane Bass (b. 1840) in Wilson Co. TN on Nov. 22, 1855. She was the daughter of John B. Bass and Susan Barbee. They had five children:
- George Thomas (b. 1858, d. 1860)
- Wilson Perry “Wilse” (b. 1856) married Maggie Williams, daughter of James A. Williams and Bertha Short
- Robert Hatton “Bob” (b. 1861, d. 1943) married Elizabeth Jane Malone “Betty”
- Mary Floy (b. 1868, d. 1945) married Andrew Malone Jr.
- Zoa Almeda (b. 1873) married John Hickman Jones
John Bond served in Forrest’s Tennessee Cavalry during the War Between the States, and was always known as an excellent horseman. After the war he was known for the fine horses he raised on the family farm.
Sarah Jane died in 1876 when their youngest child, Zoa was only three years old. John Bond later married Mary Bryan. They didn’t have any more children, however, Mary cared for Sarah Jane and John Bond’s children and they were a loving and close-knit family.
John Bond continued to live in the home at Norene, TN where he was raised until his death in 1898 and is buried in the family cemetery in a stand of woods a short distance from the house.
Robert Hatton Henderson “Bob” (1861-1943)
Robert Hatton Henderson “Bob” (b. 1861) married Elizabeth Jane Malone “Betty” (b. 1859) on Nov. 30,1882. She was the daughter of Andrew James Malone and Amanda E. Peyton. “Betty” and “Bob” had ten children:
- Andrew Hatton (b. 1883, d. 1954) married Florida Pilcher
- John Bernice “J. B.” (b. 1886, d. 1966) married Ceacy Constance Doolin
- Eddie, died age two
- Robert Clarence “Tab” (b. 1889, d. 1973) married Hattie Roberta Phillips
- Gertrude B. “Gertie” (b. 1892, d. 1925) married Johnny Kornman Phillips
- William Eugene (b. 1894, d. 1965) married Jean Blackwell Nichols
- Carrie Davis (b. 1897, d. 1938)
- Laddie Peyton (b. 1900, d. 1979) married Ollie Mae Lahew
- Lassie Dayton (b. 1900, d. 1959, d. 1939) married Sam Franklin Adkerson
- Bertha Eleanor “Nell” (b. 1904) married Anderson Rankin Smith
This large family lived in an equally large colonial home that always seemed to be full of family and friends. The writer has heard many accounts of the numerous visitors and guests in this home. One of “Betty” and “Bob’s” granddaughters, Ruth Henderson (Batey) remembers a nightly ritual of taking an oil lamp from Grandma’s room, going through the long dark halls and huge rooms to the parlor where the family enjoyed music together. “Aunt Nell played the piano, Aunt Lassie sang and Uncle Laddie played the violin.” Little Ruth always stayed until the music was finished because she was afraid to go back through the big, dark house alone.
Their home has been continuously occupied by members of this family since the original family member purchased the property in 1824, and remains in the family to this day. The house stands on Powell’s Chapel Road in the north part of Rutherford County.
“Betty” died in 1938 and “Bob” died in 1943. They are buried in the Malone-Henderson cemetery at Powell’s Chapel near their home.
Robert Clarence “Tab” Henderson (1889- 1973)
Robert Clarence Henderson “Tab” was born Sept. 30, 1889. He went through life known as “Tab”, a nickname his older brother, Hatton had given him when he was a baby. “Tab” married Hattie Roberta Phillips (b. 1885) daughter of John Houston Phillips and Susan Roberta Short on Sept. 30, 1908. In 1915 they bought a family farm on the banks of Fall Creek in the area known as Lamar. Here they raised their eight children, seven girls and one boy:
- Elizabeth Louise “Sissy” (b. 1909, d. 1939) married Frank Miller Patton
- Ceacy Ruth (b. 1911, d. 2008) married Frank Blackburn Batey
- Herbert Winfred (b. 1913, d. 1996) married Cordelia Crutcher Batey
- Roberta Nell “Pretty” (b. 1915) married Charles Raymond Carter
- Mary Evelyn “Price” (b. 1918, d. 2002) married Theron Monroe Killough
- Mattie Frankie (b. 1920, d. 1971) married Bill Allen Martin
- Zoa Syble (b. 1922, d. 2003) married Louis Milton Deckelmann
- Sarah Marguerite (b. 1924) married Joseph Dennis Minton
Hattie and Tab’s two-story colonial home had an upstairs porch where the girls loved to sleep on pallets on warm summer nights. Their home was always overflowing with people, food, music, laughter and happiness.
A typical summer breakfast in their home consisted of country ham from the smokehouse, fried chicken right off the yard, eggs straight from the hen’s nest, fried corn from Papa’s corn field, tomatoes from the garden, gravy and homemade biscuits from the oven of the wood-burning cook stove, coffee, and cool milk that was kept in a tub of cool well water in the well house. There was always lots of damson preserves and pear honey made from the fruit trees that grew in the yard. But breakfast was just the start; the big meal of the day was dinner at noon and its preparation began as soon as breakfast was over. Supper, the evening meal, consisted of leftovers from dinner. Nobody ever left this home hungry.
Summer fun consisted of croquet, horseshoes, walking in top of the wooden plank yard fence, and going down to the waters of Fall Creek. Winter past times were playing the card game Rook, Parcheesi, checkers, and eating hickory nuts. Year-round fun was being in the parlor with Marguerite or Frankie playing the piano and everybody singing. Both Hattie and Tab played the piano. Tab also played the banjo and French harp. However, Marguerite their youngest child was the star musician, not only performing for the family but for the public, playing both piano and organ. Easter was a big event every year. All the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and cousins came for an unforgettable annual egg-hunt. Life was busy, full, and rewarding at Mama and Papa Henderson’s house.
Tab died in 1973 and Hattie died in 1975. They are buried in Roselawn cemetery here in Rutherford Co. where they lived their whole lives.
Sadly, their antebellum home was razed by the federal government when Percy Priest Lake was built. The formerly beautiful site of their home is still graced with an annual bloom of daffodils and lilacs. The area adjacent to their home site is now a boat ramp known as Tab’s Creek in honor of the family that lived there.
Ceacy Ruth Henderson (1911-2008)
Ceacy Ruth Henderson was born July 21, 1911. She married Frank Blackburn Batey (b. Dec. 1904, d. June 1998) on Dec. 31, 1931. As a young couple, they ran a general store in Lamar, TN (now under the waters of Percy Priest Lake), and moved to Walter Hill in 1946 where they inherited a farm from Blackburn’s parents, David Frank Batey and Tempie Ransom Crutcher. They maintained this family farm for well over fifty years. They had five children:
- Ceacy Ruth (Bradford)
- Cordelia Annette (Pittard)
- Mary Wheeler (Richardson)
- David Winfred
- Gary Henderson
Ruth died in 2008 at the age of 97. When she passed away she was survived by all 5 of her children, 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild.
Great work Billy. Keep it up.
I do enjoy these…..I know lots of the faces in the 1958 picture…I do remember UNCLE Tab as we called him….I don’t know why we called him uncle unless it was out of love and respect…He was always playing jokes on us kids as I remember.
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Great !
The Malone farm home looks very much like my ancestors family home, the Hook-Powell-Moorman farm in Franklin County, VA. I am involved with a group interested in developing more heritage tourism for this area.
I enjoy your postings.
Billy, this is a wonderful blog! You are my 3rd cousin, 1x removed – your great great grandfather Bob Henderson was my great grandmother Mary Floy Henderson’s brother! Are you on Facebook? My name is Jill Barron Cartwright.
Nice to meet you, cuz! yes I’m on Facebook. I’m glad you like the blog. It’s all about sharing and meeting relatives. Do you know Anita Norris Prewitt?I got a lot of info about your line from her. Please let me know if you have info and pictures to share. By the way, how did you find my blog?
Anita is my 2nd cousin – and she’s the one who told me about your blog! 🙂
I have a Robert Henderson b 1775 in Barnwell SC who married Judith Henderson from Davidson Tenn. They had several children and ended up raising children and purchasing land in Claiborne Louisiana. My 5x grandfather Robert Henderson siblings and parents are unfounded.
I love this post!!! Thank you for sharing! I’m the GGGG granddaughter of Mariah and Billy Malone. 🙂
~Annelise Werme
Annelise – I am the GGG granddaughter of Mariah and Billy Malone! Who are your parents/grandparents/greats?
Jill, I am the eldest daughter of Bruce & Asta Henderson Werme. I grew up in the “Old Home Place.” My grandfather is Bruce Doolin Henderson, my great grandparents are JB & Ceacy Doolin Henderson, & Great Great grandparents are Bob & Betty… 🙂
I have always been enchanted with the “Old Home Place”! Who lives there now? I entered everything into my Ancestry.com tree and you are my 3rd cousin 1x removed! Would love to share more family info! Are you on Facebook and/or Ancestry.com?
[…] « The Henderson Family of Middle Tennessee […]
wow, what cool history stuff. John Bass and Samuel Henderson are on this
with a big big version at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylehailey/9583931271/sizes/o/
Thanks Kyle! I love that circular chart! Please tell me how you made it.
Mobil Family Tree Pro on the iPad. The circle chart is pretty cool
I don’t want to tarnish the family name, and I have no political agenda, but this statement I think deserves further examination (which I have researched extensively). There is NO record of his service (or his two brothers) after Shiloh I can find (fold3.com and TN Archives). The odds of three brothers surviving a four year tour of duty with Forrest is very unlikely.
After Shiloh, the family farm was in Union hands. With a wife at home on the farm raising small children alone, I know what I would have done.
Thanks for your work cuz. Keep it up!
“John Bond served in Forrest’s Tennessee Cavalry during the War Between the States, and was always known as an excellent horseman. After the war he was known for the fine horses he raised on the family farm”.
Hello Billy,
I am researching my folks. My Henderson that intersects with yours at Samuel Henderson is from his youngest son James. James and Fannie’s (also a Henderson) son James Simmons Henderson was born 3 months after his father’s death. He was blind, at birth or early in life. He was one of the first students at the Tenn. School for the Blind in Nashville and at the age of 20 (1850) he became the literature teacher after typhoid took out a number of the teaching staff. At the age of 25 he moved to Spartenburg SC and started the Blind education department at the School for the Deaf ( now the SC school for the Deaf and Blind). He married Carole L Walker, the daughter of the Deaf School founder. They were my GG grandparents.
So we are blood kin it would seem. You have a beautiful family.
You mention that James ( son of Samuel) had other descendents in the area of middle Tenn.. Do you have any contacts/ information on this?
Thank you for your blog and any help.
Lynne Ross-
Lynne,
Thank you for your note. Very interesting information about your ancestor, James Simmons Henderson. I was not aware of his story. In case you did not know, James Simmons Henderson’s brother Pleasant Terry Henderson was also blind. He was a baptist minister. I will send you more info via email.
Billy
Thank you Billy. No I did not know that Pleasant was blind also. One of my questions is How did James end up having his educational opportunity? Not asking you to answer just thinking out loud. Thanks again. I was stumped on another family line. most grateful for this. Lynne
Lynne,
Who are your great grands, grandparents, and parents? James Henderson (son of Samuel) was my GGGG Grandfather Richard Henderson’s baby brother, so we are blood kin as well! My line from Richard Henderson goes from him to his son Preston W. Henderson, to his son John Bond Henderson, to his daughter Mary Floy Henderson, to my grandmother Gladys Malone, to my father Don Barron, to me (Jill Barron).
Hi Jill,
Glad to meet you here. I am the daughter of Graeme Ross (1915-1984), son of Graeme Ross (d. 1932) and Margaret Octavia Henderson Ross (d. 1986). We called her Munna. She had one sister and four brothers, colorful great aunt and uncles, all great storytellers ( sounds like it runs in the family).
She was raised in SC by her parents James Rutledge Henderson (1864-1928) and Ida Briggs (1863-193?). James was a pharmacist, and died with 2 other men rescuing people from a hotel fire in Shelby NC, not far from where I now live.James was only six years old when his blind father, James Simmons Henderson (1832-1870) from Tenn. passed. His wife Carole Walker Henderson remarried an Irby and lived in Laurens SC with the youngest Henderson children and had three more children. The house is still there and registered ( for it’s architecture, under Irby name). James and Carole are both buried at the Spartenburg SC State School for the Deaf and Blind cemetery where they both had been early teachers.
James came to the school in 1855 to found the blind department at the then deaf only school. He came from the School for the Blind in Nashville after having been a founding student and then a teacher of literature at that school.
I knew nothing of this history until I came to visit my grandmother Munna in Charlotte NC and told her I was working at the Texas School for the Deaf and Blind and she began to sign the letters of the alphabet.
I asked her how she had come to learn sign and the story unfolded. How ironic that I found my way to working at such a school, with the history I knew nothing of.
I have a question….
Has anyone sorted out Samuel further back?
Thanks
Lynne Ross
Lynne, I will send you what I have on Samuel’s ancestry. I have a few more generations in my database – back to our original Henderson ancestor who immigrated to America from Fifeshire, Scotland. By the way, Samuel’s first cousin was Richard Henderson of the Transylvania Company. Most of the Henderson-named towns and counties across the south got their name from our Henderson clan in America.
Lynne, you are my 5th cousin 1x removed! Would love to know more about your immediate family to fill in on my family tree!
Hi, the Thomas Henderson who was at the ” Guildford Courthouse” during the Rev War was not Judge Richard Henderson’s brother, Thomas Henderson. This Thomas Henderson was my ancestor and he was from Virginia, Henry County. Henry County, VA talks about how he was a Capt. in the Rev War and went to Guliford Courthouse. Judge Richard Henderson’s brother stayed in North Carolina. In fact there have been sources that Thomas Henderson aka Judge Richard Henderson’s brother went to Tennessee. That is 100% in correct. That Thomas Henderson who went from Virginia , who was a Capt. in Rev War and was at Guliford Courthouse, went to Tennessee where my family stayed there until the early 1920s then we moved to Michigan 🙂 Sadly a lot of people have put two Thomas Henderson’s together when they were not the same persons, nor were the same age lol.
Rachel, thank you for your information. The Henderson family is notoriously hard to track. Please forgive me for moving slowly to make the correction on my blog post.
Thank you for that. Ancestry keeps sending both records which weren’t working together so I just kept moving on to the next family members. I am glad to see, I wasn’t confused and these men, are actually two men. Both may, have easily, both been judges. I will look back now that you shared. Thank you. I am Ruth Lee Herring from James Henderson.
Your family history is very interesting. I studied my
Henderson line in Sevier County TN for nearly 40 years. My book is entitled Henderson Smokey Mt Mystery published by Xlibris. I do not see any relationship between our Henderson’s. However they are most likely related back from Scotland. Or
Early VA.
F Robert Henderson
Hello to my family. James Henderson is where I came from.
Thank you for the information on Samuel Henderson family. I come through Christian (b. 24 Nov. 1772) married John Davis. Their son was John Davis who married Dicey Bennefield and their son was Richard Henderson Davis who was a doctor in Arkansas for many years. Christian would be my 3ggrandmother. I would be interested in any further information on this family. Richard Henderson Davis went by R.H. Davis and his son was John Richard Davis and his son, my grandfather was William Washington Davis and my mother was Ella Mae Davis. My parents moved to Idaho when I was a small boy. Don Allen Gross
Your article is delightful! I’m a great-granddaughter of Wilson P. Henderson (son on John Bond). My dad (his mother was Sallie Lou Henderson) grew up in Grundy Co, and became a Baptist missionary to Uruguay. So we were raised far away from TN and knew very few of our relatives, much less our ancestors. Thank you so much for doing all this research. The photos especially are a treat. For my sister’s 65th Birthday, we’re taking a trip to Tennessee for a cemetery tour of the family.
Thank you and your mother for your wonderful research and stories. Samuel Henderson would be my 8th great-grandparent in the line of Henderson’s. Permelia Henderson’s daughter Mary, who married Wiley Irby, then came to Missouri and that is where my side of the family is buried. Would love to hear more…shezit52@gmail.com
cousin Sheila Johnson Griggs
Hi Billy! This research is phenomenal and I can trace my roots back to Preston Henderson. On the picture you have of Prestons home, do you know where that stood in relation to the Henderson graveyard? Anywhere close? I’d love to share what I’ve discovered!
My 6th GGM was Mary Henderson, she married Joab Mitchell, who died trying to deliver salt. Mary Henderson, born 1733, was the sister of Samuel, born 1737. Thank you for your blog. I love finding familial connections and how our ancestors thrived and lived.
Hello, my name is Gary Lee Przewoznik and I believe I am a descendent of your family. My mother Carol Ann (Henderson) Przewoznik is the daughter of George Henderson, who was the son of Robert E.Lee Henderson. He was originally from Grundy County Tn. and moved to Kentucky, then up to New Jersey mid 1900’s. I have Henderson documents and if interested please reach out. Would love to continue growing out my family tree.
I would love to be included on this information! I am also looking for any pictures anyone has of Preston and Dorothy’s children that aren’t in this article. I am specifically looking for any of Henrietta Henderson (Thomas Phillips); these are my GGG grandparents. Or of Mary Ann Henderson (James Albert Blankenship). Thanks!