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THE HISTORY OF THE HENRY FAMILY

By John Flournoy Henry

 

PREFACE.

     TO the late John Flournoy Henry, of Louisville, Kentucky,

the descendants of Robert Henry owe most grateful remembrance, for it was he who, after thirty years of patient, persistent research through old letters and manuscripts, court records, and archives in this country, Scotland, and Ireland, compiled and made ready, with the exception of the last details, this volume of the Henry Genealogy. He was not spared to see fully consummated the work that he voluntarily undertook and loved so much, a work that involved many material, physical, and mental sacrifices. He looked upon it as a sacred obligation, as a duty he owed his ancestors, his contem-poraries and succeeding generations, to make the latter familiar with the history of their antecedents, and thereby incite them to emulate their noble qualities. His last labors were on the pages of this book, and his love for all his kin is to be read in every line. To those who aided and encouraged him in this work he felt the keenest gratitude. But for him it would not have been accomplished. He occupied the peculiar position of a living link connecting the present generation with the past. He alone had learned from living lips the personal history and characteristics of the first three generations mentioned in this volume, and well has he drawn their portraits for us.

     It is but just, since he is gone, that his characteristics should be preserved for those who come after, that they may know him to whom they are so much indebted, as we who were fortunate enough to have been brought into personal contact with him have known him. He was a loving, dutiful, and devoted son, brother, husband, and father. With his kin he would, if need be, at any time divide his all. In numerous instances he befriended those who otherwise would have been friendless, and he frequently invited the dependence of those who were weakly struggling alone.

     For years he had been an active member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Louisville, Kentucky. He was a consistent, practical Christian, and in a marked degree carried his faith into his daily life and work.

     A man of strongly decided character; unbending on questions of right or principle, forgiving when unjustly judged; his demeanor was modest and reserved, and a high yet gentle dignity marked all his intercourse, both with his inferiors and his peers. His warm, generous heart and helpful inclinations were fully known only to his loving family and intimate friends, and even to them he depreciated the mention of his sacrifices for others. Duty and right were his guiding stars. He was a hard taskmaster to himself, though indulgent with others. Personal pleasure and recreation would not be sought and could not be enjoyed by him if they interfered with the completion of his unfinished tasks.

     He ever stood firm as adamant for the right, as he conceived it, and was willing at any time to battle or to become a martyr for his convictions, and in this respect he was true to the characteristics and traditions of his sturdy Scotch Presbyterian and valorous Huguenot ancestors.

     A feeling of obligation to him, as well as a sense of the benefits and honor that would accrue to the Henry descendants from the publication of the Genealogy, has induced various members of the family to share in the expense of its publication. A more fitting memorial could not be erected by a loving, sorrowing kindred to one who has done them such signal service than in thus putting into permanent form the result of his long, loving, and painstaking labors.

George Chambers Henry.

Burlington, Iowa, August, 1900.

INTRODUCTION.

'O recall the history of my ancestors; to preserve for the perusal and gratification of my children a faithful record; and to secure, for my own reference, an authentic history of my family, this genealogical essay was undertaken many years ago.

     My father, Dr. John Flournoy Henry, in reply to a request for information, wrote: '' Although there may be little to excite our pride, there can be nothing to cause the blush of shame, in recalling the lives of our ancestors ; and, though every person should stand upon his own pedestal of personality, I see no reason why we should not rejoice in the affinity or the blood relationship of great and good men and noble and virtuous women; nevertheless, there can be nothing more contemptible than the pride of birth which rests its whole claim to respect on the fame or merits of those who have gone before.

     '' If there is any thing about our ancestry to be proud of, it should inspire us with a laudable ambition to emulate their good deeds, and to shun and resist the temptations which may have led them astray. No man in our country can put up any claim of birth with an assurance that it will not be pulled down, for we can not transmit even our fortunes with certainty to our children; but a good name we can give them, and ordinarily we can communicate good principles and good habits, for such is the order of Providence, and such the sure promise of Holy Writ, which tells us to 'train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.'

     '' Let us then rest on this, and leave endless generalities to those who have no other claim of honor."

Already the "twilight of uncertainty has thrown its shadows" over the lives of many mentioned herein, and the "night of forgetfulness" might close forever upon their names and history were not the former, at least, recorded upon these pages.

     With solicitude I have beheld the early traditionary history of my antecedents "slipping from my grasp, trembling on the lips of narrative old age, and day by day dropping piecemeal into the tomb," and I fear that in a little while those who now serve as "tottering monuments of the past" will be gathered to their fathers ; their children may neglect to treasure up the recollections of their parents, and posterity will search in vain for indisputable memorials of the days of its ancestors.

     With many of our families the time for recording their early history has gone by. Their origin and the eventful periods in each generation are buried in the rubbish of years, and, in the touching words of the Psalmist, are almost '' totally forgotten and clean gone out of mind."

     Therefore, there is recorded here such facts as were' in possession, and those that could be gathered from time to time; and if this beginning, for the Henry family, will but serve as a standpoint, something to attract and attach disjointed events of the past and gather those that are current or may hereafter take place, its object and purpose will have been gained, however far it falls short of an elaborate treatise.

     The jealousy of some of the line may be awakened by the mere casual mention of their existence, or the brief remarks in that connection, but so little is known of many that of them no statement could be made with certainty of correctness; and where more extended accounts of others are given, it is because it seems best to record what is known of them than to "let it waste away and be lost forever."

The compiler takes no credit to himself for what is here recorded. He is indebted to many members of many branches of the family for information establishing the facts noted herein.

     Especially does he feel under obligations to his own father, Dr. John F. Henry, who imparted in the most interesting letters a great part of the early history here recorded, but to every Henry there goes out from his heart the most affectionate feelings of regard, with very sincere thanks to all who have been able to aid in the compilation here presented to his kinspeople. 

 John Flournoy Henry.

THE HENRY FAMILY

 

 

CHAPTER I.


The Or1g1n Of The Henry Fam1ly.

     IT has sometimes been a mooted question as to where the Henry family, to which we belong, originated. Some have said in Scotland, some in Ireland. The accepted belief is that they came from Campbellton, Argyleshire, on the southwestern coast of Scotland. Those who contend for the Irish nativity claim that they left Ireland for Scotland because of the long and bitter persecutions endured by the people of Ireland. There are many Henrys in Ireland, among them Lord Mount Cashel, but there are also many in Scotland. When Daniel Henry, as will be hereafter related, went to Ireland in search of his uncles' fortunes and instituted legal proceedings in the city of Dublin, he was compelled to procure an order for the transcript of the family records from Campbellton, Scotland, especially for the trial. If any descendant of the family has any doubt of its origin, he may remove it by a visit to Campbellton, or Aberdeen, where the records may be examined.

     Robert Henry 1, the first member of the family of whom we have any definite knowledge, was a native of Campbellton, and a covenanter of the faith of John Knox. He had three sons, Samuel, Robert, and William. Samuel and William lived bachelor lives, and removed from Scotland to Dublin, Ireland, where they became wealthy merchants with immense shipping interests. One of them was lost at sea while prosecuting the commercial interests of his house, and the other died intestate shortly afterwards. According to the laws of Ireland, the oldest surviving son was entitled to the estate. The only remaining brother of these two men had in the mean time emigrated to the United States, where he had lived and died. His eldest surviving son, Daniel Henry, was the legitimate heir to the fortunes of his Irish uncles. After obtaining the necessary testimony to establish that fact, Daniel Henry started for Ireland, and there, or in Campbellton, Scotland, found the parish register in which there was a full history of the family running back for many hundred years. He possessed little money and no practical experience, and, finding the vast estates of his uncles in the possession of some collateral heirs, he was induced to accept a compromise of one hundred guineas in full settlement of his just claims. His attorney assured him that his claim was undoubtedly good, but frightened him with the law's delays and the immense cost of the suit for recovery, which, being a non-resident, he would have to pay in advance. The collateral heirs, being in possession, would fight him with his own means, and, thus strengthened, would worry him through his life, passed in poverty far away from family and friends, with no one to help or sustain him.

     He was too timid a man to withstand this argument, and he abandoned the contest; if he had been bolder he could no doubt have brought the matter to a successful issue. The estate may even now be traced in the possession of the collateral heirs in Ireland.

CHAPTER II.

The Rev. Robert Henry.

     THE Rev. Robert Henry", second son of Robert Henry 1, of Scotland, the head of the Henry family in this country to which we belong, emigrated to America about the year 1740. He was a graduate of the High School of Edinburgh, and in 1751 took the degree of "M. A." at Princeton College, New Jersey. An old list of Princeton graduates published more than 100 years before was on exhibition at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. In it Robert Henry's name appears in italics, indicating his choice of the ministry. He was a licentiate of the Synod of New York, and was ordained by the Presbytery of that State in 1753, after which he was sent by that body as a missionary to Virginia. On the 4th of June, 1755, he was installed by the Rev. John Todd as pastor of Cub Creek Church, in Charlotte County (a church founded by the Caldwell and Cunningham families), and of Briery Church, in Prince Edward County, both then forming part of Lunenburg County, Virginia. In this missionary enterprise he was associated with such men as the great Samuel Daveis, John Todd, Alexander Craighead, and others of their stamp. He is repeatedly mentioned by Dr. W. H. Foote in his published sketches of the Presbyterian Church in Virginia, who says that Robert Henry had much to do in moulding public opinion in the old Dominion.

     Dr. John F. Henry, his grandson, says of him: "My grandfather, the Rev. Robert Henry, was a rebel, obliged to leave Scotland for maintaining the cause of Prince Edward, the Pretender. He fled after the battle of Culloden, where his cause met with defeat. He was a native of Campbellton, Argyleshire, on the southwestern coast of Scotland. I^ never heard of any coat-of-arms that he possessed, but his might well have been a Bible, he being a Presbyterian minister and devoting his life to expounding the truth. The only arms we ever had were given to us by nature, and with them we were taught to handle the spade, the axe, and the hoe. Could I choose, I would select for my grandfather no other than the pastor of the humble Cub Creek Church, rather even than 'Old Patrick,' with all his revolutionary and oratorical laurels twined around his brow."

Shortly after the Rev. Robert Henry settled in Charlotte County he married the widow of John Caldwell, a lady whose maiden name was Jean Johnson. She was born upon the Atlantic Ocean while her parents were on their way from Ireland to America.

     Mr. Henry received a call to North Carolina in 1767, but in the providence of God he was permitted to remain where his heart evidently longed for its home, almost on the border of North Carolina. On the 8th of May, 1767, he passed to his everlasting rest, and his bones were laid away among the people of his ministry. Mr. Henry was a man of vigorous mind, somewhat eccentric and rough in manner, possessed of great piety, of strong and very excitable temper. He was highly acceptable to the people, and gathered a very large congregation of whites and blacks at Cub Creek Church and at Briery. He devoted much attention to the religious instruction of the negroes, and his labors in their behalf were blessed to such an extent that their fruits are still to be recognized. He possessed great humor, and this quality frequently displayed itself in his sermons. From him undoubtedly the keen sense of humor which characterizes some members of our family in a very striking manner was derived.

     His Hebrew Bible is now in the library of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., having been presented by his widow to the Rev. Archibald Alexander, his successor at Cub Creek Church, and subsequently given by him to the library. The Cub Creek Church has an honored history, and, unlike the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, it still lives. It has had a line of distinguished ministers. Dr. Archibald Alexander was the immediate successor of the Rev. Robert Henry, and his letters refer to our ancestor as a pious and a good man. It is remarkable that the first Alexander commenced his preaching in the field planted by the Rev. Robert Henry. His son, the Rev. James W. Alexander, D. D., first put on the gospel armor in the same country church, and his son, the Rev. Henry Alexander, as late as 1860, was preaching to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of our grand old ancestor's flock. The Rev. Henry C. Alexander died July, 1894, in New York, and by a strange coincidence the Rev. Hugh Henry was, in 1894, pastor at Briery Church, though it is known that he is not of the Rev. Robert Henry's family.

    Writing about 1854 to Dr. John F, Henry, Col. Francis T. Gaines, of the Cub Creek Church, said the congregation still treasured anecdotes and reminiscences of the Rev. Robert Henry, then deceased about a century. Persons of advanced age, he said, took pleasure in recounting many of these anecdotes.

     Mrs. William Johnson, a connection by marriage of the Rev. Robert Henry, said: "He usually stayed with Mr. James Morton, an elder in the Cub Creek Church, the night before preaching at Briery. It was his habit in turning into the forest through which the road lay to cast his bridle upon his horse's neck and engage in prayer aloud. On one occasion he was so much absorbed in his devotions that the horse reached the door of Mr. Morton's house before he had completed his usual exercises. His surprise may well be imagined when the cordial salutation of the family broke in upon his absorbed mind."

     There was standing as late as 1864, possibly later, a large stooping oak, close to the rear of Cub Creek Church, or at its original site, which is said to have received its inclination from having been, when a small sapling, the tying place for Mr. Henry's horse while he preached within.

     He continued pastor of Cub Creek Church until his death, which occurred May 8, 1767. Mr. Gaines says he was buried at Cub Creek Church. His grave is clustered with those of the Brent family, and was at one time enclosed with theirs, but it seems at present that no stone marks the spot. His wife's grave is marked thus: "J. H., died 25th June, 1793, aged 67 years." It is unquestionable that Mrs.  Henry  survived her husband nearly thirty years and was buried immediately by his side, to the south. This fact satisfactorily indicates the spot where Mr. Henry was buried. It is said that the last time he preached at Cub Creek Church he dismissed the congregation, and, taking some friends with him, he marked out in their presence the spot he had selected for his last resting-place in front of the church door, as it then stood. That day two weeks, his regular preaching day, he was buried on the spot selected by himself.

     Though a fine extempore speaker, the Rev. Robert Henry always wrote out his sermons with great care, and spoke from ample notes. Upon one occasion a Methodist preacher in Mr. Henry's neighborhood rallied him for always in his sermons speaking from notes, intimating by his manner that there was a want of originality and invention in this method. In justification of himself Mr. Henry urged, in his broad Scotch dialect, that notes were useful to recall the mind from wandering, and so were a great help to the speaker. It happened, a short time after, that the Methodist brother was present and that Mr. Henry invited him to occupy his pulpit for the day. This offer was accepted, and the Methodist proceeded very glibly for some time, and then hesitated, went on, stopped, and, finally coming to a dead pause, took his seat covered with confusion and mortification. Mr. Henry at once took his place, and concluded the services so abruptly broken off. Upon the first opportunity he asked his Methodist friend why he faltered and stopped in his sermon. "Oh," said he, "the devil blew my candle out." Mr. Henry instantly retorted: "If you had had your notes, you might have defied the devil and all his imps."

     At the time of his death Mr. Henry had several trunks filled with manuscript sermons, arranged for the press. From their sale he hoped to make his family comfortable. They were placed in the hands of a minister, a supposed friend, to be published, and that was the last his widow ever knew of them. The man proved treacherous, and they were published, it is believed, as his own, or under a feigned name. He always managed to silence inquiry till his death destroyed every clue. Gen. William Henry, the Rev. Robert Henry's son, told his children that among his father's friends it was the belief that these sermons were the same afterwards known and published as the "Village Sermons." In consequence of this treachery his family had to struggle through many privations. The War of the Revolution soon came on, after which most of the children emigrated to Kentucky, and thus they finally lost sight of and interest in the only material legacy left to them by the head of the house in America.

CHAPTER III.

Beg1nn1ngs Of The Henry Fam1ly 1n Kentucky.


     THE children of the Rev. Robert Henry and Jean, his wife, were seven, viz., first, Samuel; second, Daniel; third, Jane (or Jean); fourth, William; fifth, Robert; sixth, Sally; and seventh, John Todd. All of these emigrated to Kentucky.Samuel, the first son and child of the Rev. Robert Henry, was educated for the bar and was an eloquent declaimer. He died unmarried in 1783.

     The second son of the Rev. Robert Henry, Daniel, commonly known as "Long Dan," was a farmer in Charlotte County, Virginia. He was a whig of the American Revolution, and fought valiantly for his principles in its many hard battles. As before recorded, he visited, in 1795 or 1800, the birthplace of his father in Scotland in search of a fortune which he never found. On his return he settled in Kentucky, where he was remarkable for his unpretentious honesty. His income was small, but he always contrived to live within it, and was never known to go into debt. His mode of life was primeval in its simplicity. His razor cost twenty-five cents, and he shaved with it for nearly half a century, but only on Saturday nights; his brush and soap were of domestic manufacture, the former made of hog bristles bunched together, and the latter contained always in the bowl of a gourd; his clothing was '' homespun" jeans, and the material worn by the women of the family, indeed by all the women of the neighborhood, was "linsey woolsey."

      In his fiftieth year Daniel Henry married Mrs. Carey, formerly Nancy Smith, the widowed daughter of Capt. "Wildcat" Tom Smith, of Green County, Kentucky, and afterward removed to and died in Christian County in 1853. His widow was living as late as 1860, and was remarried to Edmund Bacon, of Trigg County, Kentucky.

     Daniel and Nancy Henry had several children, all of whom . died young except two, Emma and Thomas S. The first, Emma, married Captain Thomas Haynes, and they had one child, called Emma for her mother. The mother died shortly after the birth of this child, and the child grew up, and in 1853 married James Campbell, son of the Hon. John P. Campbell, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

     Thomas S. Henry, second child of Daniel and Nancy

Henry, married Miss Roach, daughter of Roach, of Christian County. They had one child, a daughter, and shortly after her birth the father died.

     The third child of the Rev. Robert Henry, Jean (or Jane), married late in life James Horton, and died soon after, leaving no children. No information has been obtained of James Horton, though he is believed to have settled in Tennessee.

     Robert Henry, the fifth child of the Rev. Robert Henry, never married. He was a man of great energy and enterprise, and became engaged in commerce on the Mississippi River long before the invention of steamboats. He was in the habit of taking fleets of flat-boats laden with flour and other merchandise to New Orleans, and in one of these dangerous expeditions he lost his life, not far above that city, in 1806. Through the dishonesty of the agents to whom it was entrusted, the cargo was fraudulently disposed of, and the proceeds were never recovered by his estate. The flour which formed this cargo was manufactured at the mills of Gen. Wm. Henry, his brother, on the Great Elkhorn, in Kentucky. Robert Henry was in the highest degree a moral man, and was a professor of the religion of his father and grandfather— the Old-School Presbyterian faith.

     Sarah Henry, the sixth child of the Rev. Robert Henry, married at the house of her brother, Gen. Wm. Henry, in Scott County, Ky., Abram Irvine, of Mercer County, Ky., who lived in the old Caldwell settlement. They had one child,

     Jane Henry Irvine, whose mother died shortly after her birth, about 1804, in her brother William's house where she had been married. In 1822 Mr. Abram Irvine told his wife's nephew, Gen. Patrick Henry, a singular fact in reference to Sarah Henry and himself. He said:

'' The day after we reached home after the wedding, we were walking in the garden, and each of us, cutting a willow slip, planted them, one on one side, and the other on the other side, of the garden gate. Mine was called 'Sarah' and hers 'Abram.' These twigs grew vigorously and flourished, but the year in which my wife died the tree called 'Sarah' for her began to fade, and finally died. The other was in 1822 a thrifty tree, much larger than a man's body." General Patrick Henry says, however, that "Abram Irvine watched this tree intently for symptoms of decay, and I have been informed that the year he died the willow tree died also."

     After the death of his wife, Sarah Henry, Mr. Irvine married a Miss Margaret McAfee, daughter of George McAfee, of Mercer County, Kentucky, and they had several children, one of whom, Mary P. Irvine, married Abram D. Irvine (a relative), and their daughter, Elizabeth Irvine, married Rev. L. H. Blanton, D. D., Chancellor of Central University at Richmond, Kentucky. Another child is the Rev. William Irvine, pastor of the Anchorage Presbyterian church. Mr. Irvine was one of the best of men. His daughter, Jane Henry Irvine, married Capt. Lee M. Speake, of Maryland, and had eight or ten children. Their eldest child, Sarah Henry Speake, was born in 1830 and named for her grandmother. She married the Rev. John Lapsley McKee, afterwards a popular Presbyterian minister (Northern Church) of Louisville, and later still a professor in the Theological School at Danville, Ky. Their son is the Rev. Lapsley McKee, of Richmond, Kentucky. Capt. Speake and his large family moved to and settled in Texas.

     John Todd Henry, the seventh child of the Rev. Robert Henry, was educated for the ministry at Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, by the benevolence and liberality of a distant relative, it is supposed Judge James Henry. He was a splendid scholar and possessed of fine classical attainments, but his overpowering modesty and diffidence prevented him from discharging the duties of his holy office, and he determined to establish a classical school of high grade. This plan was successfully carried out, and the school became very popular. In it his nephews, Robert Pryor Henry and Dr. John Flournoy Henry, as well as others who became distinguished in after life, were educated. He married Sally Keene, daughter of Samuel Keene, of Scott County, Ky., a son of old Hopewell Keene, an eccentric man fond of his violin and of playing for his friends and for the children of the neighborhood to dance in their youthful glee. A story is told that on one occasion he loaded his wagon with fine watermelons and started with them to town to offer them for sale. While ascending a steep hill the gate of the wagon gave way, and out poured the melcns, rolling down the hill in seeming delight. Old Hopewell looked at them awhile, first in amazement, then in disgust, and exclaimed as if they had ears to hear: "Roll to the bottom; I'd curse you, but I feel I can not do you justice."

     The children of John Todd Henry and Sally Keene were: first, Samuel Keene; second, John Todd; third, Amanda; fourth, Edward ; and fifth, Julia; and perhaps others. After the death of their father, John Todd Henry, in Scott County in 1820, the widow and children, with their families, all removed to Boone County, Missouri, where they yet remain, highly esteemed and in comfortable circumstances.

     Samuel Henry married in Missouri, Amanda married a relative named Keene, and John married in Pendleton

County, Ky. The widow of John Todd Henry, "Aunt Sally," died in Missouri late in 1859, aged seventy-eight or eighty years. John Todd Henry was a truly pious man, exceedingly modest and retiring. He differed from his brother, General William Henry, in that he never related an anecdote or told a joke which moved one to laughter, and yet he was the kindest and gentlest of men. The following incident is told (a veritable fact) which is characteristic of his timid nature. He became engaged to Miss Sally Shipp, sister of Laban Shipp, of Bourbon County, Kentucky, and failed to seal the contract with a kiss. She took this omission in such high dudgeon that the next time he called she summarily rejected him, telling him that he was '' too modest a man to know how to love a sensible woman," as if a modest exterior might not cover a truer heart than one displaying more impudence was likely to possess.

     Thus ends what is known to the writer of the Rev. Robert Henry and Jean, his wife, and their descendants, with the exception of General William Henry, to whose record and that of his family I now recur.

CHAPTER IV.

General W1ll1am Henry.

     THE fourth child of the Rev. Robert Henry, William, was born April 12, 1761, in Charlotte County, Virginia, only six years before his father's death. His father's death left the family in straitened circumstances, and, in consequence, he had not the opportunity to acquire a classical education; but, possessing a naturally strong and comprehensive mind, he was able by his own application and perseverance to secure a good English education and a competent knowledge of mathematics and of practical surveying, in which he became proficient. At seventeen years of age he embarked in the war for American Independence as a volunteer in the ranks, serving to the end as a private soldier. He fought under the partisan banner of that famous cavalry officer, Colonel Harry Lee, of Virginia, and afterwards was with General Greene at the battle of Guilford, March 15, 1781, where he fought bravely in a determined effort to wipe out of memory the disgraceful scenes of Camden. He partook of the glory which was conferred on our arms by that well-conducted but indecisive action, in which General Greene, though he did not gain a victory, arrested the career of Cornwallis and actually compelled a retrograde movement of the enemy toward Wilmington, N. C, leaving many sick and wounded behind, while General Greene hung upon the rear and cut off the supplies. This active campaign on the part of Greene, in which William Henry participated, has justly been considered the turning point of the war, as it led to those combinations which resulted in the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis and his whole army.

     In the autumn of 1781, at the age of twenty, William Henry came to Kentucky from Virginia with his elder brother, Samuel. I have seen a memorandum of their traveling expenses, some items of which compare with the standard of Confederate times, a single meal costing two pounds, ten shillings, six pence. He settled at first on Salt River, in Lincoln County, and made his home for some time at the house of George Caldwell, a family connection of his mother's first husband. There he occupied himself in surveying and locating lands, acquiring titles, etc. He subsequently moved to the banks of the Great Elkhorn, in Scott County, near the station known as "Flournoy's," and here he renewed his acquaintance with the lady who was soon to become his wife. He had known Elizabeth Julia Flournoy as a young girl in Prince Edward County, Virginia, a county adjacent to his own native county of Charlotte. The acquaintance ripened into love, and on the twelfth day of October, 1786, they were married in the house built by her father, Matthews Flournoy, near where the old North Elkhorn Church stood, on land now owned by E. N. Offutt, sr. It was known as the old Flournoy Fort. 

     Matthews Flournoy brought the window glass for the house on horseback from Virginia, and this was the first house with glass windows in this region of Kentucky. It was originally enclosed in a stockade, and is now standing, 102 years old. After their marriage William Henry and Elizabeth Julia Flournoy settled on a tract of land about ten miles from Lexington, Kentucky, and four and a half miles from Georgetown, situated on the North Elkhorn, on which stream William Henry erected mills known as Henry's Mills for many years thereafter, and the road from Lexington to them is to this day called Henry's Mills Road. "On this tract of land," says the writer's father, Dr. John F. Henry, "I was born, seventeenth of January, 1793, in a log house which was pulled down not many years after my birth. This was situated on a hill overlooking the Mill Pond. January 10, 1895, Walter Shropshire, of Oxford, Scott County, writes to me, 'your Grandfather Henry's farm near Newton is now owned by Joseph Hall, of Paris, Kentucky, and a man named George Pugh has a lease upon it for many years. The Presbyterian burying ground is still there, but is little used.'

     "About the year 1800 my father removed from the Mill place, which was considered unhealthy because of its vicinity to the Mill Pond, to a place about one mile north called Cherry Spring, from its association with the name of Moses Cherry, of whom it, with two very fine springs upon it, was bought. One of these springs burst from the base of a beautiful cove and supplied the house and cabins bountifully with the purest and most sparkling water, almost as cold as ice. The other bubbled up in rather a flat piece of land not far from a hill, and supplied the wants of the large congregations which worshiped at the Cherry Spring Presbyterian Church. This in my day was a" large double-hewed log house in which I do not remember to have ever seen a stove even in the coldest weather. It was situated on a beautiful hill-top, about three hundred yards from the spring, on the opposite side of the road which leads from Paris to Georgetown. An acre of ground was given by my father to the church, and to this I (as his executor) made a deed some twenty-five years after his death. In this churchyard were buried my mother, my sisters, Patsy Caroline, Lucretia, and Eliza, and my aunt, Mrs. Sally Irvine, the mother of Mrs. Speake and grandmother of Mrs. McKee, of Danville, Kentucky."

     In reply to inquiries made by Dr. Henry, the Rev. F. G. Strahan, of Georgetown, who married a Miss Duke, and who had charge of the Cherry Spring Church, wrote, July 17, 1872: "I have examined the condition of the graves referred to in your letter. You remember, perhaps, that stone slabs with suitable inscriptions were placed over these graves. These slabs are somewhat damaged by time and the effects of weather. The slab over Mrs. General Henry's grave is perfect, with the exception of a small corner broken off at the foot. The slab over your sister Patsy Caroline's grave is broken in two pieces nearly across the center; otherwise it is perfect. The small slab over your infant sister's is perfect, except that the inscriptions, if indeed there were any, are almost obliterated. Great changes have been made since your day at Cherry Spring. An additional acre has been added to that your father gave and a solid stone wall placed around the whole. The old log meeting-house has been removed and a neat brick church erected in its place. Indeed, I suppose you would hardly know the place now or recognize the country immediately around it. The house in which your father lived has been removed and a fine dwelling erected upon the site." Again on November 22, 1872, the Rev. Mr. Strahan wrote in response to instructions as to improving the surroundings, protecting the graves, and replacing the stones: '' On receipt of the money you sent, the work at the graves of your relatives at Cherry Spring was executed according to the plan suggested. It is very substantial, greatly more so than when first done. The masonry is hammered stone, laid in cement; the old slabs are laid on in cement, and the broken slab looks almost as well as before it was fractured. The work not consuming the funds you sent, the Elders appropriated the surplus, as you instructed, for the benefit of the church, and they are thankful to you for it." On June 17, 1877, the writer visited Cherry Spring Churchyard, Scott County, Kentucky, and found the graves much as stated by the Rev. Mr. Strahan. There is no certain mark, however, upon that of Mrs. Sally Irvine, the sister of General William Henry, though by the side of the others there is a grave marked by two small, rough, irregular stones without any lettering upon them.

The most prominent slab bears this inscription:

Sacred to the memory
of

El1zabeth Jul1a Henry,

consort of ,
General Wm. Henry,
who departed this life on the
21st day of November, A. D. 1813,
in the
46th year of her age.

On a slab just north of this there is a small grave with the following inscription:

Sacred to the memory
of

Patsy Carol1ne Henry,
daughter of
William and Elizabeth J. Henry,

who departed this life on the
14th day of October, A. D. 1814,
in the
16th year of her age.

On a smaller slab next to Patsy Caroline's grave the inscription is almost obliterated, and is as follows;

Sacred to the memory
of

El1zabeth Jul1a Henry,

Lucretia Henry,

     The settlement about Cherry Spring Church is now called New Town. It is about one fourth of a mile east of the point where the "Henry's Mills Road," or Lexington and Versailles turnpike, comes into or crosses the turnpike from Georgetown to Paris. On the south side of the road the church is situated, and the village of New Town is just east of the church. New Town also contains a Campbellite Church about the same size of the Cherry Spring Church building. Dr. A. S. Smith is an elder in the Cherry Spring Church. He lives about one third of a mile from the old Mill site, now called Roger's or Thompson's Mill, on a hill on the east of Henry's Mills turnpike, just where the Elkhorn comes close up to the road on the west. His post-office is Georgetown or New Town.

     In McAfee's history of the War of 1812, it is said of General William Henry that "he had not forgotten how to fight," alluding to his services in the Revolution and to the part he played in the fierce struggles for supremacy between the white men and the Indians in the then frontier region of Kentucky, a region known as the "dark and bloody ground." He encountered vast numbers of warlike Indians, and time and again imperilled his life in the constant endeavor that was being made to beat the savages back across the Ohio River. The providential interpositions in favor of General  Henry seem very marked in some incidents related of him. When the Indians gathered together in great force at a place now known as Blue Licks, Colonels Todd and Trigg raised a force to go out and fight them. At the rendezvous at Lexington it was ascertained that Flournoy's Station, to which General illiam Henry belonged, was too greatly weakened by the ardor of its volunteers. None being willing to return, a draft was resorted to, resulting in the sending back of William Henry and old Billy Stafford to take care of the women and children at the station. Both of these patriots had been confined at the station until they longed for active warfare, and so much did they object to being immured there again, while their friends marched to Blue Licks, that they offered all they had to their seemingly more fortunate comrades to change positions with them. In vain! the honor in store in a campaign against the Indians was too dazzling to be exchanged for worldly possessions. It was but a brief time after their departure before stragglers came in with the dreadful tidings that Todd, Trigg, and nearly all their men were butchered at the fatal battle of the Blue Licks. They had been led into ambush by their wily foes, and such a scene of carnage followed as never before and never since has been known in Kentucky.

     Thus it appears that the two who were compelled to return to Flournoy's station were preserved against their wills. It is related of old Billy Stafford, mentioned above, that he afterward became a great land speculator and trader, subjects in which his mind seemed wholly engrossed. Upon one occasion he posted with great haste for a nurse and sent her swiftly to his home. Then on he went upon his journey to sell and purchase lands. When he returned the child was walking. He was a kind-hearted, improvident man, withal, often known to have on three coats at one time and all three worn out at the elbows.

     One cold winter's day, when the snow was four or five inches deep, General Henry and his wife were at the station. He left two negro men near his house splitting rails. They were surprised by a large force of Indians, and after a hard struggle one, Dick, was captured, bound and hurried off toward the Ohio River. The other negro made his escape to the station and gave the alarm. It was then late in the evening, and David Flournoy (Mrs. Henry's brother) alone could be spared from the station to accompany General Henry in pursuit. They mounted their horses in haste, and dashed to the spot where Dick was captured. The Indian tracks were plainly to be seen, so on they rushed, hoping to overtake the Redskins. They imagined they could, every now and then, hear a sound floating over the hills like a cry for help. The tracks of the Indians in the snow showed plainly they were running; the pursuers urged their horses to their utmost speed, and then, as they could catch no further cry, they surmised that Dick had been gagged, and they determined to push on until dark. Then they halted and held a parley. It was apparent that the Indians numbered fifty or more, and, realizing it would be madness to rush into such a band, they resolved to return for help. It was afternoon the next day before the pursuit could be renewed. Just two hundred yards from where General Henry and David Flournoy had turned back the day before they found two Indians had taken to the tops of trees on opposite sides of the trail, and were there awaiting the arrival of the pursuers, with their deadly rifles in hand. These two videttes were quickly dispatched, and the main party pushed on to the river, but the captors had crossed it and carried Dick with them. He was never heard of again. This reduced General Henry's negroes to one man and a half dozen women. Surely "there is a Providence which shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may." One moment more and these daring young men would have bitten the dust, but Providence interposed and saved them.

     General William Henry became almost immediately one of Kentucky's most distinguished citizens. In the year 1802 he served as a member of the Convention which framed the first Constitution of Kentucky, and he was for nearly twenty years a member of the Legislature from Scott County. In those days there was but one Congressional District in Kentucky. General Henry became a candidate for Congress with such competitors as General Thomas Sanford of Campbell County, Col. Robert Johnson of Scott County (the father of the R. M. Johnson who killed Tecumseh, and the grandfather of the late Jilson P. Johnson), and the celebrated Joseph Hamilton Daviess, commonly known as Joe Daviess, of Franklin County, who was afterwards killed at Tippecanoe.

     This contest confirmed the rivalry, the hostility, in fact, which so long existed between the Henrys and the Johnsons. The Congressional contest resulted in the election of General Sanford, General Henry being second in the race, Colonel Johnson third, and Joe Daviess last. Though subsequently in the Legislature, General Henry was never again a candidate for Congress. The Johnsons succeeded to Congress in the person of R. M. Johnson, and maintained their political ascendency. At that day there was a Henry and a Johnson party in Scott County that existed for many years. The feud was great, and the struggle each year intense, but one of either party was almost invariably elected. The only personal difficulty recorded of General Henry was with Col. James Johnson, brother of Col. Robert M. Johnson, a quarrel that was the outcome of one of these elections. Col. Johnson had done him a gross injustice, and he manfully resented it. The antagonism of former days has been forgotten, however, by these two families, and among the later generations there exists the most sincere friendship and attachment, indeed love and confidence. General Henry's chance for national reputation, as a statesman, was destroyed by his defeat in the Congressional race. Had he been elected to represent his district in Congress, such was his suavity of manner and nobility of bearing, and such were his intellectual attainments, that no position seemed too high for his aspirations. He had friends in public life who would have been proud to have been associated with him. He was the particular friend of Henry Clay. When Mr. Clay came to Kentucky, he bespoke the kind offices of General Henry, who was a leading and very prominent man in Kentucky affairs. So highly did the latter esteem Mr. Clay that he placed his eldest son, Robert P. Henry, in Mr. Clay's office to pursue his law studies, and during his whole life Mr. Clay manifested an exceeding attachment to General Henry. After his death Mr. Clay's friendship was manifested to his sons, Robert P. Henry and Dr. John F. Henry. This feeling was not disturbed by the fact that when the names of John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Andrew Jackson came before Congress for the Presidency, Robert P. Henry resisted the warm and urgent appeals of Mr. Clay to vote for Adams and voted for Andrew Jackson in preference, although Mr. Jackson was known to be opposed to Mr. Clay. This course, however, Robert P. Henry did not pursue from hostility to Mr. Clay, but to carry out his honest conviction that General Jackson was the preference of his district, a fact conclusively established by his unanimous return at the next election, without opposition, to serve a second term in Congress.

     The question is often asked if we, as a family, are related to Patrick Henry, the great orator of Virginia and of the Revolution. There is, perhaps, little doubt that a relationship exists. General Henry, after talks with Patrick Henry, confirmed it, and said that they were certainly either first or second cousins. They were clearly branches of the same Scotch family, both imbued with the same general characteristics of blood, and equally devoted to liberty and religion, their freedom and their conscientiousness of principle. General William Henry's branch adhered to the Presbyterian faith and Patrick Henry's to the Episcopalian. It is gratifying to know that from the earliest records both branches were Protestant. Both were Whigs of the Revolution of 1776, and in different fields acted well their parts in that great struggle for human right, and both lived long enough to prove that liberty was no mere dream of the enthusiast, but the most real and substantial of all political and domestic good. May their posterity possess equal love and veneration for their country's liberties, and may they transmit these attributes of patriotic character to their posterity without blot or blemish. Dr. John F. Henry says: '' Before the removal of my father's family to Kentucky they resided in the immediate neighborhood of Patrick Henry, the orator of the Revolution, whom he knew and greatly admired. I have repeatedly heard him say that he had talked with Mr. Henry about the families, and they had found that there was a relationship, but they had not traced it to a definite source. As both families were from the same locality in Scotland, they concluded that they had a common ancestor far back in the distant twilight of the past. Doubtless we are independent branches of a common root, but what matters it? Old Patrick could not impart his genius to his own sons and daughters; then why should we desire to boast of being kin?

     "I am proud to trace my lineage to the humble pastor of the Cub Creek Church of Charlotte. Were we to rely on the Winston name, so common in our family, we could only cousin with the wife of the 'Forest Born Demosthenes,' as Byron called him, and of her I never heard any thing remarkable. The perpetuation of the same names in different families, like similar words in cognate languages, shows identity of origin, though the links of the lineage may have been long forgotten.

     "At the Baltimore convention which nominated Bell and Everett for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency in 1860, my brother, Gustavus A. Henry, a delegate, was said by some ardent admirer to be a grandson of Patrick Henry, and, notwithstanding he assured the gentleman that the claim was unfounded, it was so reported by the papers. For political purposes he might be a grandson, for in eloquence he is the equal of Patrick Henry if not his superior."

      At an advanced age, when most men were seeking in domestic comfort the easy enjoyments of declining life, General Henry went forth as Major General of the First Division of Kentucky Militia under Gov. Shelby to fight the battles of his country. He had the confidence and sincere friendship of Gov. Shelby and of General William Henry Harrison. Five of his sons were in the same war, and proved that for devotion to country, for gallantry and proud bearing, and true patriotism, they were indeed worthy sons of a noble father, whose bright name was ever a passport for them to honor and renown.

     On the declaration of war in 1812 General Henry, being General of the Militia, was consulted, but for some reason not now known did not take his place in the field until the summer of 1813, when Governor Shelby, determining to march at the head of three or four thousand mounted volunteers to aid General Harrison in the invasion of Canada, tendered General Henry the second place in command, with the rank of Major General, commanding the first division of the army. The third place was offered to General Joe Desha, then a member of Congress, and afterward Governor of Kentucky.

     General Henry had been a candidate for the legislature at a recent election and had sustained a defeat, attributable to the overwhelming efforts of the Johnsons, and this appointment was under the circumstances peculiarly gratifying and , soothing to his wounded pride. He selected as members of his staff his eldest son, Robert Pryor Henry, afterward member of Congress from the Christian County District; Matthews Flournoy, father of Mrs. Robert J. Ward, of Louisville; and Thomas C. Flournoy, afterward of Arkansas, who was his private secretary.

     General Henry served throughout the campaign with great gallantry. Of the five sons who were with him, three also served throughout the war, viz., Robert P., on the staff of his father; Dr. John F., as surgeon ; and William, as Lieutenant in the 28th Regiment of U. S. Regulars. General Henry was engaged in the battle of the Thames, and for his distinguished services he received the commendation of the commanding General (Harrison) and the thanks of Congress.

     On his return from Canada he was attacked by army, or Canada, fever, as it was called, and prostrated by a long illness from which he never fully recovered.

    These pages might be swelled to volumes in commemorating the noble virtues of General William Henry. No man ever lived who to a greater extent possessed the confidence and trust of his neighbors, whether political friends or foes. The day on which he started on Gov. Shelby's Canadian campaign there must have been five hundred persons present at his country house to bid him an affectionate farewell. Hard as was the struggle to him, he gently and courageously supported the drooping spirits of the wife whom he was leaving full of anxieties. When the command came to move, he turned to the garden about their home with manly graceful strides, and she, leaning upon the arm of her soldier husband, accompanied him, convulsed with struggling emotions of regret and patriotism. The crowd followed them to the little gateway and looked on in sympathetic silence. They walked back and forth along the familiar path under a grape arbpr for nearly an hour before her feelings could be brought to approach composure. Then, leading her to the doorway of their home, he took leave and was off and away. The picture of this parting is recorded as a vivid memory by those who witnessed it, among them one of his sons. General Henry's son, Patrick, says: '' The events of the War of 1812 are deeply impressed on my memory ; how the soldiers suffered for the want of blankets, and how our government was too poor to furnish them. I remember most vividly how my mother robbed her beds to supply the needy soldiers as they marched by on the way to the frontier, destitute of any protection against snow and ice. Yes, well do I remember it, for I shivered with cold many a night in that long winter; but, while I mourned the necessity for it, I blessed my noble mother for her lofty patriotism. Still, I trust if our country is ever engaged in another war it will not need private contributions to sustain its cause and protect its soldiers. During the war, when my father was in the army, I was post-boy once a week to bring tidings from him and my brothers, Robert P., Matthews Winston, William, John Flournoy, and Thomas, who, though not all with my father, were all in the tented field, and I will never forget the anxiety depicted on my mother's careworn face as she stood watching my return. Oh! what joy I felt when I was the happy bearer of a letter to her and witnessed her thankful eyes and hands raised to heaven in praise for the mercy granted to her absent ones preserved in health and safety. I remember full well how much opposed she was to my father entering the army; how she urged that he had sons old enough to take his place; that he had surely already rendered his share of service to sustain the institutions of his country, etc. His reply to her was that he was at the head of the military of the State, and that Gov. Shelby had again and again written urgent requests to him, asserting in one of his letters that he himself would not go without my father. Gen. Adair, who was also an aid to Gov. Shelby, united his influence to the Governor's, and my father added, even if he desired to remain in the ease and security of home, there was no good reason why he should do so when his country needed him. I remember well how his eye flashed as he exclaimed, 'My country calls me, and I must go.' He appointed my uncle, Matthews Flournoy, and my brother, Robert P. Henry, his aids, and throughout the campaign endured intense hardships and fatigue with manly courage. His children to the latest generation may well be proud of his high virtue and patriotic character."

     Persevering with indomitable energy, General Henry was reaching a condition of competence when an unfortunate security debt swept every thing away, including every negro except the family cook. This did not break his resolution, and he was enabled afterward to rear his children in comparative comfort and give them good educations. He told them that he desired and expected to give to each, besides an education, a horse, saddle and bridle, and three thousand dollars in land or negroes. This he was enabled to do with this exception, viz., that those who chose a classical education and a profession had to be charged with the expense of obtaining these in the general distribution. General Henry enjoined upon his children not to endorse or go security for others, and thus to put the halter around their necks as he had done about his. He impressed upon them that honesty, industry, and economy were the chief supports of character, and that a good education was necessary to adorn and beautify it, and a high and honorable bearing to sustain it. Rallying from this disaster through sheer pluck, he was met with another even more distressing. Every winter he was away from home attending the Legislature at Frankfort, and on one cold winter day his large two-story barn, filled to overflowing with timothy and hay in the upper portion and crowded with stock in the stalls below, burned to the ground. There was between the barns a large threshing floor filled to the top with corn. The stables, cribs, and barns were closely locked up. About midnight the dreadful cry of fire was heard. His sons, Thomas, Daniel, and Patrick, were at home and sprang up at the terrible sound. The latter says, "the whole air seemed on fire, it was so light. The negroes thought the day of judgment had come. We quickly donned our clothes and dashed to the scene, in our alarm seeing nothing but the towering flames leaping through the roof, it seemed to the skies. We ran and stumbled over fences, stumps, and every thing in the way. Well do I remember the falls and bruises I received, for tokens of them lingered with me for many a long day. When we reached it the most appalling sight I had ever witnessed met my dilated eyes. The horses were wildly dashing about the stable in an agony of alarm, for the doors being locked they could not escape if they would. Cyrus, a negro man, risked his life to release them, but just as he had opened a door a huge mass of hay fell burning in the doorway and blocked the passage. The poor beasts had all but one fallen in terror and pain when the doorway was cleared. This one fell at the door, but rose again and dashed away, knocking down fences and every obstruction till it reached the furthest boundary of the place. Next morning he was found, dreadfully burned, and reluctantly we felt compelled to kill him to relieve his suffering. For weeks the smoke continued from the smouldering carcasses of the burned horses, till finally the blackness of ashes rested on the spot to mark where the fearful scene was enacted, the recollection of which will never leave me."

     The strangest part of this incident was the arrival of General Henry the next day. The distance from Frankfort was twenty-one or twenty-two miles. There was no telegraph, nor any other means of rapid communication. Much to the surprise of every one, he said that the night before he had supped with friends out of Frankfort, and, returning late, his thoughts, as he crossed the high hill back of Frankfort, naturally turned to the loved ones at home, and, raising his eyes in that direction, he saw the brilliant light just where he believed his farm to be. At once he became uneasy, though friends tried to laugh him out of it, and with this burden upon his mind he retired, only to roll and toss in his bed the remainder of the night. The following morning he arose, convinced that some calamity had befallen him, and, as soon as the House of Representatives met, he asked leave of absence, and at once set out for home, reaching there in time to see the ruins of the barn. The blow was a heavy one. His circumstances had always been cramped, his family was large and increasing, and its members the subject of his daily anxiety. Five thousand dollars would not cover the loss, and this was a very large sum in those days. To increase his misfortune, suspicion of incendiarism rested upon two of his own trusted negroes. So satisfied was he eventually of their guilt, that for fear they might fire his dwelling also they were sent to New Orleans without recommendations, and were sold for about $200 apiece — a great loss to him in service and in value.

     At the close of the War of 1812, while her husband was still in a very dangerous condition from army fever, Mrs. Henry, from excessive fatigue and anxiety, sickened, and on the 21st of November, 1813, died. Her son, Dr. John F. Henry, says of her: "A noble and a true Christian woman, a devoted wife and mother, to whose tender and gentle guidance I owe more than I can express."

     The next year General Henry's only surviving daughter, Patsy Caroline, died at the age of sixteen, and the household thus being broken up, General Henry sold his fine farm at Cherry Spring, and during his protracted convalescence made his home in Georgetown, living alternately with his sons, Robert P. and Matthews W. During this period he was appointed by President Madison principal assessor for the third district of Kentucky, and spent two or three years in discharging the duties of that office.

     About the termination of this arrangement, in 1816, he married Miss Hester L. Clarke, sister of the Hon. Cary L. Clarke, of Georgetown. She was about forty years of age, and in the year 1818, much to the surprise of every one, presented her husband with a son, James C. Henry, who died, unmarried, August 25, 1847. The "Old Lady," as the elder boys called her, died in Hopkinsville, February, 1852, a few years after the death of her son. It was the request of Mrs. Hester L. Clarke Henry that, instead of being interred in a burying-ground, she should be put under the shadow of the Episcopal Church, of which she was an ardent disciple. Thirty years after, in 1882, this church property being sold for private uses, her body was removed by Mrs. Cornelia V. Henry, nd the remains found surprisingly preserved, the bones perfect, the skeleton whole, the hair unimpaired, and the skin on the scalp intact. A black silk bonnet and dress which had been put upon the remains were in perfect condition. The whole was readily lifted by the velvet lining of the coffin and placed in a new one.  General Henry spent the remainder of his life in great retirement on his farm in Christian County, ten miles west of Hopkinsville.

     He died on the 23d of November, 1824, from the physical complications brought on by army exposure, aged sixty-three years, seven months, and eleven days. His remains were interred near his late residence in the family burying-ground of his brother Daniel, ten miles west of Hopkinsville and one mile from the Newstead Presbyterian Church.

     About 1853 or 1854 General Henry's son, Major Gustavus A. Henry, in connection with his brothers, Robert P. and Patrick, prompted by filial affection, placed suitable walls and slabs around and in the consecrated spot, that it might be preserved from ruin. The remains of his brother Daniel and of his sons, William and Thomas, rest by his side. This hallowed spot is west of the road leading from Hopkinsville, Ky., to Lindsay's Mill, upon a hill about one mile from the road. A plain marble slab marks his resting-place, and a few words of affection are the only eulogy there recorded of this good man. Some of his descendants (in 1897) furnished the means to repair and improve these memorials.

     General William Henry was the progenitor of a numerous family of sons, daughters, and grandchildren. His example in all that was honorable, excellent, and pious among men should be followed with credit by his numerous progeny. He was a model of truth and honesty. His influence in his neighborhood and county and wherever he was known was unbounded. He was upright in all his dealings, the true and steadfast friend of the widow and the orphan. Poverty did not feel itself despised in his presence, but with confidence looked up to this sincere man of benevolence. In all the relations of life he was a model. It was a proud boast of his that no descendant need ever be ashamed to tell his name, for wherever he was known that would furnish the best passport to the confidence and affection of the people. Nor was this a mere idle boast, for he had not an enemy and never injured man or mortal. In every thing he was actuated by the highest and most honorable principles. He was as sincere and true as he was genuinely honest and veracious. His form and person were com-manding.  He was six feet two inches in height, and as straight as an arrow. As an orator, he was born in the '' prodigality of nature;" he possessed an easy flow of elocution and that touching pathos in expression which finds its way so readily to the heart. There was a pure and holy atmosphere floating around him which dis-armed prejudice and suspicion while it established confidence and a firm belief in the integrity of the man. It is a melancholy fact that so many of General and Mrs. Henry's beloved children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren repose in death's embrace at great distances from their loved farms and burial-places. Some there are in and about Hopkinsville, Ky., some at Louisville, some at Clarksville, Tenn., some in Clinton, some in Brandon, Miss., some in Missouri, some in Illinois, some in Iowa, some in California, and even the islands of the sea hold those in whose veins their life blood once flowed. But God's will is our will.

     General William Henry seems to have stamped his strong and energetic character upon his numerous offspring. Their love of civil and religious liberty came from their long line of Protestant ancestors, on both paternal and maternal sides, who came to America that they might enjoy unmolested their precious birthrights. Thank heaven there is not a drop of the blood of their descendants tainted with the narrow and permeating spirit of the Roman Catholic religion, and to the Great Ruler is the solemn prayer offered .that there never will be.

   General William Henry, in the select company of friends, or among those congregated about his happy fireside, was wont to talk for hours of the Revolution, of the Indian wars of Kentucky, and of the "late war," as that of 1812 was called. He had a jovial and cheerful disposition, and on these occasions would blend the humorous and the grave in his anecdotes in a rich and captivating strain, embodying many romantic incidents connected with these stirring times.

     He was economical and industrious, but far more devoted to family distinction and the high and honorable bearing of a gentleman than to the acquisition of wealth. It may be said, without the slightest imputation of vanity, that for good looks, integrity, and honesty, and, above all, for morality and true devotion to country, the Henry family has been unsurpassed through many generations.

   Patrick Henry says of his father: "Though he was not a teetotaler, he was strictly a temperance man, and was not addicted to any vice or evil habit. I have a very distinct recollection of his joining the old Presbyterian Church at Cherry Spring, in Scott County, Ky., and of his going 'to duty' the first time, as he called it. He prefaced it by a few remarks of deep feeling, showing what he considered his duty to be to his maker, guide, and protector through the many trying scenes of his life. It was a deeply solemn occasion. My mother had been a member of the same church for many years, and both died in the same faith.

   "My father's second wife was an Episcopalian, and in the course of time he often at night read the book of Common Prayer at family service, whether from convenience or preference I do not know, but probably to please the 'old lady,' as we boys called her, really out of respect for her. As a speaker he ranked very high, and was remarkable for his clear and lucid exposition of the subject in hand. He spoke with deep feeling and lofty grandeur of manner, and, when he chose to persuade, few were more successful, and few could resist his eloquence."

     Dr. John F. Henry, General Henry's fifth son, wrote of him: "So active and enterprising a man, and one so exemplary in all the relations of life, should at least be known to his descendants, and therefore I desire to perpetuate his memory, at least for a generation or two of those who come after him. His father dying only six years after his birth, and leaving a very small estate, my father early felt life's responsibilities. When I think of the poverty in which he commenced life, his limited education, and the indomitable resolution with which he met and overcame difficulties, rising constantly in the estimation of all good men, until so wise and brave and patriotic a man as Gov. Isaac Shelby conferred on him the commission of a Major General, and assigned him a command second only to his own, I am led to admire the manly qualities he displayed, and at the same time to acknowledge with shame that none of his sons, distinguished and honorable as some of them are, have done as much correspondingly to elevate themselves or their families as did their noble and estimable father. He was one of the most amiable of men, strictly honest in all his transactions, and just to each one of his children, giving to each the kind of education he desired, and dealing out his favors with an equal hand. 'I have understood that he was an efficient and eloquent public speaker, and that John Breckinridge, the Attorney General of President Jefferson, had urged him to study law, but the cares and responsibilities of a large family and his unfained diffidence prevented his embarking in a new career.

     "In height Gen. William Henry was six feet one or two inches, straight as an arrow, and well proportioned. His bearing, erect in the vigor of manhood, became somewhat bent as the infirmities of age pressed upon him. He had blue gray eyes, Roman nose, with an exceedingly amiable cast of countenance. In conversation he was fluent and fond of anecdotes. Honorable and generous, not easily provoked, but brave, he bore no malice. His honesty was above suspicion. With very slender advantages in early youth, he acquired a distinction many, if not most, of his descendants might be proud to attain. He was unostentatious, unpretending, a true Christian, reverencing and worshiping his Maker and Saviour. At peace with all men and respected by everyone, he passed away almost unconsciously, so gentle were the last flickerings of his life. He left a good name, unstained by a single act of dishonor, and this was esteemed by his children a far richer legacy than honor or place, houses or lands could have been without it."

     The children of William and Elizabeth Julia Henry were: Elizabeth Julia (died in infancy), Robert Pryor, Matthews Winston, William, John Flournoy, Thomas, Daniel, Benjamin Franklin (who died young), Patsy Caroline (who died before womanhood), Patrick, Gustavus Adolphus, Eliza (who died in infancy), and Lucretia (who died in infancy).

     In his second marriage with Hester L. Clarke William Henry had one child, James C. Henry, who died unmarried.

William Henry.jpg

CHAPTER V.

The Introduction Of Huguenot Blood.


The Flournoy Fam1ly.

     IT seems proper at this point to introduce a portion of the history of the Flournoys, Elizabeth Julia Flournoy having become the wife of General William Henry. John James Flournoy was born in 1686 and died in 1740.


     He was the father of Matthews Flournoy and the grandfather of General William Henry's wife, Elizabeth Julia Flournoy. Matthews Flournoy came to this country with his two brothers from Geneva, Switzerland. They were Huguenots, expelled from France upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes. This celebrated edict was a decree of Henry IV, published at Nantes in 1598, which secured freedom of religion to the Protestant portion of his subjects. By it the Huguenots were allowed to celebrate and worship wherever Protestant communities existed, to build churches (except in Paris), and to maintain colleges of learning. For a time the Huguenots enjoyed a legal status in France and had numerous churches, but by a decree of Louis XIV, issued 1685, their privileges were revoked, and Protestantism in France ceased to have legal protection. At least two of these three Flournoy brothers became heads of numerous and respected families, viz., that of Matthews


     Flournoy, established in Caldwell County, Kentucky, and that of Thomas S. Flournoy, established in Virginia. The family name in France was spelled Flournois, and was said to mean "Flower of the North."

 

     Matthews Flournoy's family is perhaps more numerous than that of either of his brothers. He was born June 21, 1732, and was married in 1755, in Virginia, to the widow of Charles Smith, formerly Elizabeth Patsy Pryor, daughter of William Pryor.  Matthews Flournoy's wife, the widow Smith, had by her first marriage two children, a son and a daughter. Lemuel, the son, married Miss Perkins, sister of Hardin Perkins, of Tennessee, and had a large family, whose history is not known. The daughter, , married John Dabney, near Franklin, Tenn., and raised a number of children.

     Matthews Flournoy's children by his marriage with the widow Smith, nee Pryor, were ten, viz., Robert, Samuel, David John, John James, Francis, Thomas, Matthews, Patsy Caroline, Lucy, and Elizabeth Julia, who was born May 9, 1768, and later became the wife of General William Henry.

     The first, Robert, married a Miss Mary W. Cobb, of Georgia. He had previously removed to that State  from Virginia, and by this marriage became the ancestor of a numerous progeny.

     The second, Samuel, married Nancy Ann Martin, and their children were twelve, viz.,  Matthews,  James Flournoy, Samuel, Jack Flournoy, Nancy, Rachel, Amelia, Emily, Patsy, Cassandra, Agnes, and Martha.

     The third, David J., married Cassandra Conn, daughter of John Conn, and died in 1862. Their children were fourteen, viz., Thomas Conn, Elizabeth Julia, Notley Maddox, Matthews Willis, David John, Sally Conn, Davidella Flournoy, Thompson, Breckenridge, Letitia Grayson, Cassandra, Agnes, Adelaine, and Mary Jane. The history of all these children is not known to the writer, but David John married Elizabeth Cunningham, of Clark County, Ky., and died February, 1862. In 1822 he deeded to the Trustees of the Briery Church, Charlotte County, Va., an additional acre of land adjoining the old meeting hamlet. His widow died October, 1865. Their son, Robert Cunningham Flournoy, married Mollie Davis, of Shelby County, Ky. In 1867 they were located in Christian County, and afterward settled in Louisville, from which city they removed to California in 1882. Their daughter, Letitia, married a Mr. E. W. Stone, in Scott County, and another daughter, Elizabeth Julia, married Edward O. Stephenson, of Chillicothe, O., brother of the Hon. Job S. Stephenson, of Ohio.

     The fourth child of Matthews Flournoy, John J., married Agnes Grant, daughter of Col. John Grant, of Campbell County, Kentucky. They died without children. This "Uncle Jack" is the one who left at his death about seventy thousand dollars, one half to the Flournoys and one half to the Grant family.

     The fifth child of Matthews Flournoy, Francis, born January 18, 1773, married Sallie Goodman, of Fayette County, Ky., September 25, 1800, and raised a large family.

     The sixth child of Matthews Flournoy, Matthews, Jr., married Emily Smith, daughter of "Rice Bird" Tom Smith, of Fayette County, and had five children. Matthews, Jr., was a lawyer of prominence, possessed fine oratorical powers, and was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Kentucky on the Democratic ticket. The seventh child of Matthews Flournoy, Patsy, married John J. Wells, of Virginia, and had a number of children, some of whom became distinguished men. Mr. Wells died in 1802, and Patsy died about 1805.

     The eighth child, Thomas Flournoy, born January 3, 1775, married a Miss Davis, of Florida, at the house of Governor Milledge, of Georgia. She died January 25, 1829. One of their children was Martha, who married Dr. John Carter, of Augusta, Ga., and died in 1871, some fifteen or twenty years after Dr. Carter's death. Mrs. Carter's children were Anna, who married George Robertson, of Augusta. They had one daughter, Jennie, who died in 1869. Flournoy, who became a successful physician in Augusta and died July, 1873; Cary, who belongs to the U. S. Army; John, who died in 1869, and Sophia, a most beautiful girl, who married in December, 1869, Col. S. K. Johnson, Superintendent of the Georgia Railroad.

     After the death of his first wife Thomas Flournoy married Catherine Howell, a lady of Philadelphia, Pa. In 1894 she was still living, aged 94, at No. 3244 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

     The ninth child of Matthews Flournoy, Lucy, died unmarried.

     The tenth child of Matthews Flournoy, Elizabeth Julia, as before stated, married Gen. William Henry, of Scott County, October 12, 1786, and died November 21, 1813, aged forty-five years, six months, and twelve days.

     Matthews Flournoy, Sr., raised a large family of remarkable men and women, nearly all of whom were far above the ordinary average of intellect, and many of whom were highly distinguished. His was a bold and adventurous spirit. He lived on the creek called "Ward's Fork," in Charlotte County, Va., and was the first to emigrate to the then howling wilderness of Kentucky. He made frequent trips back and forth alone, and was several times made chief of bands of emigrating citizens to the "new country." Upon one of these perilous trips his camp was attacked by a large band of Indians, and he was killed while fighting gallantly for the women and children under his protection. This was on his thirteenth trip, and the fight took place somewhere near Cumberland Gap, between the Holstein and Clinch rivers. He was with Whitney, a celebrated Indian fighter, and some others. When attacked, they sought the protection of the forest trees, and Whitney called to  Matthews  Flournoy, "Why do you remain behind one tree? change from one to another, or they will kill you." Flournoy replied, "I can not move; they have shot me through the knee." Just then Whitney saw a stalwart Indian with his arrow drawn upon Flournoy. He raised his rifle, hoping to kill the wild warrior before he had slain his friend, but the Indian was too quick. His arrow pierced the heart of Flournoy almost at the same instant that Whitney's rifle ball entered the vitals of the Indian.

     Whitney and his companions were driven from the forest, but returned to carry off the body of their companion, and found it so eaten by wolves that they buried it on the spot where he was killed. Within recent years his grave was pointed out to a gentleman in Virginia. It is from the family of Matthews Flournoy's wife, the Pryors, that the Henrys get the Matthews name. She was one of six or seven daughters and several sons. One of the daughters married Womack, of Kentucky; another, Hill, of Tennessee; another, Perkins, of Tennessee; and still another, Malcolm McNeill, of Tennessee, afterward of Mississippi, who died in Trigg County, Ky., about 1865. He was a gentleman of great worth and wealth, and of estimable character. The sons married in Virginia, and from one of them sprang Roger A. Pryor, famous as a duelist and lawyer.

     A member of the Pryor family, in 1860, told the writer's father that the Pryors were the descendants of a Judge Pryor, who came to Virginia in the reign of King George I or II, and said he, "Whether this family can trace its lineage to Matthews Pryor, the poet and ambassador of Queen Anne's reign, I know not; but if they could, as is highly probable, I have some doubts if the relationship would be creditable to them. There is this trait running through the Pryor race — every one of them was fond of horses and more or less addicted to the sports of the turf."

     In the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, when Benedict Arnold was overrunning Virginia and exciting the slaves to insurrection, with its horrid atrocities, Matthews Flournoy's wife learned that her slaves were about to rebel. They had appointed a time when all the white males were from home. Nothing daunted, she armed herself with a loaded musket, and, marching right up to their gathering, told them that she knew their design and would shoot down the first one daring to disobey her. She then ordered the ringleader to the cellar, which was the only place she could use as a temporary prison. He, knowing her resolution and fearing that he might be the first victim, sullenly but promptly obeyed. She then ordered one and then another to follow, until the rebels were deprived of their leaders, after which she dismissed the disheartened crowd to their cabins. She then kept guard over her prisoners until relief came upon the return of her husband and sons. Dr. John F. Henry, her grandson, said of her: "She was a true heroine. I barely remember her, but my mother often told me of her. She was gentle and kind in peace as she was brave in war, and a true Christian, and she died triumphing in the victory of faith over death."

     Dr. John F. Henry wrote: "When I was a student of medicine I remember to have seen at my father's house Dr. David Flournoy, of Virginia. He had traveled extensively in Europe, which in that day was deemed a great distinction, and I recollect his saying that he paid a visit while in Geneva to a Monsieur Flournois, who had been made a Prefect by the first Napoleon, and was, of course, a man of some note. He was descended from one of the Flournoy brothers who remained in Geneva when the other three fled to America. Dr. David Flournoy was an agreeable and highly accomplished gentleman. He sang well and related anecdotes with great gusto. I presume that Thomas S. Flournoy, of Virginia, a Representative in Congress and a "Know-nothing" candidate for Governor against Henry A. Wise in 1860, is his son."

     In 1865 Dr. Henry, in writing to Mrs. Martha Carter, widow of Dr. Carter, of Augusta, Ga., and daughter of Thomas Flournoy (eighth child of Matthews Flournoy), says: "I remember your father well, as I saw him when he visited Kentucky in the autumn of 1811, nearly fifty-five years ago. I was then about eighteen years of age, and had just commenced the study of medicine. He was then in the maturity of his fame, and he left an impression on my mind which has survived to this day. He was of the most perfect manly beauty, but his manners and conversation were so fine that in listening to his musical voice you almost forgot that you were in the presence of an Apollo. He was one of the most courtly men I ever saw, reminding one of the Chevalier Bayard, the knight without fear and without reproach. When I heard of his appointment as Brigadier General in the War of 1812 I expected to witness a very brilliant military career, but the army did not suit his tastes and genius, and he soon resigned, returning to the forensic theater, where he had already gained many laurels, and to which he added many more, all of which remained green and fresh during his life, and the memory of which is still cherished by those who witnessed his triumphs.

     Robert, the eldest son of Matthews Flournoy, went to Georgia from Virginia immediately after the termination of the Revolutionary War, and was never in Kentucky. All the other children came to Kentucky except Mrs. Wells (Patsy), who died in Virginia. Thomas, your father, the eighth child, was in Kentucky only a year or two when, becoming restive under the discomforts of a wilderness home and the yearnings of a genius prompting him to seek the improvement of his mind, he accepted the invitation of his elder brother, Robert, who tendered him a course of law lectures at Litchfield, Connecticut. Of the five sons of Matthews Flournoy who settled in Kentucky (Samuel, David J., John J., Francis, and Matthews, Jr.), the first had a large family of sons and daughters, ​who have scattered over the West and Southwest. It may be said of Uncle David's children that the sons were generally prosperous and the daughters usually pretty. One of his sons, Thompson, died the first year of the Confederate War, having been made a Brigadier General, but not having entered the field. These children married, some of them well and others not so well. One of the granddaughters, Mrs. Horn, lives near Clinton, Iowa. Dr. Matthews Flournoy died about 1863 or 1864, leaving a son and daughter. The son married a daughter of Judge Gamble, of Missouri, brother of Governor Gamble, of that State. Other branches of the Flournoy family are in Western Kentucky, Missouri, and Iowa. They all speak of three brothers, from whom this noble race of men sprang.

     The whole Flournoy family possessed great energy, great quickness of mind, ambition to acquire fortune and to live well rather than to aspire to office or station, though many of them held posts of trust and honor. They had fiery tempers generally, not always well restrained, and sometimes uncontrolled by reason, but at times they were pacific. They were men whose friendships were greatly more to be desired than their enmity, but the most of them possessed high and noble principles, and were the very souls of honor. Coming from French stock, they excelled in conversational powers and were fine public speakers, but their pride and waywardness often interfered with or prevented their acquiring great control over the sympathies of the people. I think we may call them the steam power of the Henry family. My mother, Elizabeth Julia, the tenth and last child of Matthews Flournoy, I can not speak of without remembering all her noble and unselfish conduct, her love for and devotion to us, a set of rough, rude boys, who without her fostering care might have been cast as wrecks upon the shores of time. She was governed by principle in every act of her life, and stamped her lessons of prudence and virtue on her children's minds. We, the Henrys, are thought to have derived our finely-developed persons from the Pryor stock, but our six-foot propensity came from the Caledonian, from whom also we received whatever of humor we may have. Our wit, if any of it now be found, came from the Flournoys, and, while a full share of our tempers may be from the same source, they doubtless have come to us legitimately from all our ancestors.

     We are the blended product of the Scotch Presbyterian and the Irish Civilian, the French Refugee, and the English Cavalier — who could desire a higher origin?

     Some contend that Matthews Flournoy's father came from Geneva, Switzerland, instead of from France. Dr. David Flournoy undoubtedly found many of that name h ere who spelled it Flournois. It is probable that many of the name fled to Geneva upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and never afterward returned to France, for the remembrance of the fatal day of Bartholomew deterred them—a day on which many of their kindred were inhumanly butchered by decree of a bigoted Prince at the instigation of the Pope and his Jesuits. The preponderance of testimony, however, is that  Matt-hews Flournoy's father was a Frenchman, and it is reasonable to suppose that from that "gay, sprightly land of mirth" a full portion of the hilarious disposition and the proverbial cheerfulness of the Flournoys came. Both the English and the French are represented in them — the old Pryor stock furnishing the sturdiness of the English character, and the Flournoys owing their animation to the vivacity of the French.

     That the line of our maternal ancestry may not be lost, our Flournoy ancestors and collateral relatives are here referred to, though probably not one tenth of the numerous off-shoots can be named.

CHAPTER VI.

The Children Of General W1ll1am Henry.


Robert Pryor Henry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   THE children of William Henry, fourth child of Rev. Robert Henry and Elizabeth Julia Flournoy, ninth child of Matthews Flournoy, as before recorded, were thirteen, viz: 1st, Elizabeth Julia; 2d, Robert Pryor; 3d, Matthews Winston; 4th, William; 5th, John Flournoy; 6th, Thomas; 7th, Daniel; 8th, Benjamin Franklin; 9th, Patsy Caroline; 10th, Patrick; 1 1th, Gustavus Adolphus; 12th and 13th, Eliza Lucretia.

     The only child of William Henry and Hester L. Clarke was James C. Henry, born August, 1818, died at Buena Vista • Springs, near Russellville, Ky., in 1847, aged twenty-nine. He became a physician of much worth, and was considered a writer of more than ordinary merit. He was never married. In February, 1852, his mother followed him to the grave.

     The first child, Elizabeth Julia, was born October 14, 1787, and died January, 1788.

     The second child, Robert Pryor"1, was born November 24, 1788, in Scott County, Kentucky, and died August 25, 1826, aged thirty-eight. March 19, 1812, he married Gabriella Francis Pitts, daughter of Josiah and Lucy Craig Pitts, of Georgetown, Ky. She died January, 1829, shortly after the death of her husband.

    The third child of Robert Pryor Henry1", Robert P., Jr.", was born in 1817, and never married. He was a promising and talented fellow, but languished with disease for years, and finally died with consumption on the Island of Curacao, West Indies, in 1844, aged twenty-seven.

     The fourth child of Robert P. Henry"1, Gabriel F., was born in 1819, and married Harriet Conant, daughter of Dr. Conant, of Raymond, Hinds County, Mississippi. They had one child, Josephine, born in 1846. Poor Josephine, the sprightliest of children, closed her mortal career in 1855. The father, Gabriel F. Henry, died in 1847, aged twentyeight.

     The fifth child, Marius, died at sixteen years of age.

     The sixth and last child of Robert P. Henry"1, Katherine, who was as frail as she was beautiful, lived but eight years.

The descendants of this gifted man, Robert Pryor Henry1", are reduced to two, one of them a grandchild, Albert Henry, son of Albert Henry, and the other a great-grandchild, Josephine, daughter of Robert Donner Henryv, son of Albert Henry.

Robert Pryor Henry

     Robert P. Henry1" was one of the aids of his father, General William Henry, with rank of Major in the campaign of 1813 under Shelby, and was afterward member of Congress from the Christian County District of Kentucky for two terms. So popular was he that when he became a candidate the second time he had no opposition. In 1826 he was by far the most popular man in Kentucky, was a finished scholar, and a most eloquent orator. He sometimes boasted to his brothers and to his home circle that he spoke better English than Murray himself. He was unquestionably a most chaste and persuasive speaker, and took rank at once at the head of the bar, crowded when he commenced the practice of law in the Georgetown District of Kentucky with such legal lights and such eloquent men as Henry Clay, Isham Talbot, James B. January, John T. Johnson, William Brown,  Matthews  Flournoy, Benj. Johnson, Amos Kendall, etc. As a law student under Mr. Clay, he felt himself equipped for any emergency. He became a candidate for Congress against Richard M. Johnson after the vote of the latter for a law known as the "Compensation Bill," but unfortunately Ben Taylor, of Franklin County, was also upon the field upon the same platform as Mr. Henry. After speaking through the district, the friends of Mr. Henry and of Taylor held a conference, and it was decided that, inasmuch as Taylor was first on the track and was the senior in years, he should run the race. Mr. Henry retired and gave his influence to Mr. Taylor. "I remember," says General Patrick Henry, '' to have heard my brother, Robert P.1", and his antagonist, Johnson, in a great political discussion at Georgetown when I was thirteen years of age; and the remark that John Wallis, a queer old friend of our family, made before my brother withdrew in favor of Taylor. He told my father that he feared Johnson would be elected, for when Robert P. Henry1" spoke, the intelligent and cultivated people listened, but when Johnson spoke the fools and the negroes thronged to hear him, and that he had always noticed that to be a bad sign." 

   

     Col. Johnson's manner of speaking was very loud and furious, foaming at the mouth like a madman. Showing the arm of his old blue coat, which needed renovating, he said it was worn out "writing at Congress for the widows and orphans of his district." Then he rolled up his sleeve and exposed a ragged shirt, and, opening the shirt and striking his breast, he asked the crowd if they wanted to "kill Dick Johnson?" Answering himself affirmatively, he said: '' Yes, down with him, plunge him into the Gulf of Corbecia " — a gulf I have never found on the maps or heard of from that day to this. There never was a more complete demagogue; and yet he had a kind heart, as I can testify, for with all the contests of the Henrys and the Johnsons he assisted my brother, Major William Henry, and through his instrumentality principally he was elected Keeper of the Kentucky Penitentiary. As an orator, there was no comparison between R. M. Johnson and Robert P. Henry1".

     Dr. Benjamin Wilkins, of Mississippi, wrote in 1855: "Robert P. Henry"1 was superior to John J. Crittenden and second to no man west of the mountains, unless it was Henry Clay. I regret whenever I think of it that he was taken from his kindred and country, with all the wonderful powers his Creator had given him, before he had reached the zenith of his fame. It would have been great and lasting, and the name of Henry would have again lighted up the American firmament. His name would have rivalled that of Patrick Henry of the Revolution, the greatest name except Washington's upon the scroll of fame. He was an inimitable man in every way. It seems, though thirty years ago, that I can see his charming countenance, his quiet smile, and feel his irresistible humor."

     About the year 1817 Robert P. Henry1" located in Hopkinsville, Ky., and the bar he met in that place was no less distinguished than that he left at Georgetown, having such members as John J. Crittenden, Solomon P. Sharp, Fidelio C. Sharp, John Brethitt, James Brethitt, Benjamin W. Patton, Daniel Mayes, and the like. That region was then new, and such were the attractions it offered to the longing eyes of lawyers that they nocked from all parts of the State to these green pastures. 

   

     Robert P. Henry1" not only sustained himself among the legal giants of those days about him, but held first rank among them, and might have remained the leading barrister of the State but for that ignis fatuus popularity which led him again into the arena of politics, and, of course, ruined his practice. He offered himself for Congress, and was elected by a large majority. This was unfortunate for his family, because it resulted in injury to his law business, on which they depended for subsistence. At the expiration of the first term he was re-elected without opposition. During his second term he was stricken down with congestive fever, just as his fame began to ripen and appreciation of his public and private virtues had grown into the hearts of the people.   

 

     He was full of anecdote and was quick of repartee. Among other amusing things he told was an anecdote of Mr. Allen, of Tennessee, a member of Congress from the Sumner County District. There was a party of friends in his room one night, including several from Virginia, who were continually boasting of their State and its prowess. Allen, to cut their feathers, asked them if they were in the "late war." "Yes," said they, "we were." Allen asked very gravely, "Well, did you belong to the Mare and Colt Regiment?" "The what?" said the boasters, springing up in indignation. "Well," said Mr. Allen, "I do not know any thing about it myself, but I have been informed that there was a regiment which hastened down to Norfolk when the enemy was momentarily expected to attack the city. It was in the spring, when every available horse was in the plow putting in the crops and could not be spared, so in this emergency the mares had to be pressed into service, and almost every mare had a colt, hence the name, 'The Mare and Colt Regiment.'" One of the Virginians, more irascible than the rest, swore that the whole story was an infamous lie, and he could whip any man who said it was true. The crowd had to interfere. Allen insisted that he could not vouch for it, but the man who told him seemed to be respectable. "He is a false-hearted liar," said the Virginian, with clenched fists. "Stop, gentlemen," said the company, "this thing has gone far enough. Let it drop, gentlemen, everybody knows it is false." "No, they do n't," said the Virginia member, chuck full of pride; "it is a vile slander on the fair fame of Virginia, my own native State, and I would be a craven son not to denounce it as such." "But," said Allen, "I wish only to tell it as I heard it, but I do not by any means endorse it or vouch for it. The man who told it to me said the regiment, five hundred strong, got along very well until 12 o'clock, when the five hundred colts began to get hungry. Then the greatest confusion set in; the colts began to nicker and to try to suck their mothers; some would run up one side of the column, some down the other, squealing and nickering as they went. Presently the Adjutant came spurring to the head of the column, the mare he bestrode meanwhile turning and stopping for her colt. Finally, riding up to the Colonel, he exclaimed that it was impossible for the regiment to get along. 'The colts are hungry,' said he, 'and we are dreadfully bothered with them. What are we to do? Our poor countrymen in Norfolk need us. It may be at this very moment the women and children are being butchered by the brutal enemy. What are we to do? What can we do?' 'Oh,' said the Colonel, 'that is a very easy matter to settle,' and, riding to a little eminence outside the line, he gave the command, 'Attention, regiment! Prepare to suckle, suckle colts,' and instantly there was such a popping of mouths as was never heard before." The Virginian all this time had to be held. He was perfectly frantic. "After awhile," Allen said, "the Adjutant again rode up to the Colonel and said to him in greater distress than before: 'Now, what is to be done, Colonel? We are in a worse fix than before. The colts will suck forever, and there is no way to stop them; our poor countrymen, what will they do, our poor countrymen! They need us at Norfolk.' The Colonel said that was also easily settled. Difficulties seemed to sink into utter insignificance before this doughty soldier. He raised himself in his stirrups and shouted stentoriously; 'Attention, regiment; prepare to unsuckle, unsuckle colts.' In the twinkling of an eye the colts were uusuckled, and the line of march to rescue their countrymen was resumed." By this time the Virginian was fighting mad, and it was a long time before he could be pacified. It required the interposition and kind offices of the whole company to allay his fury. He offered to fight one or all who believed one word of it. Of course all denied that they believed any such tale, and finally Allen said that he was glad to hear it denied and disbelieved; that he himself had pronounced it a gross fabrication when he heard the man tell it, and that he had come very near having a personal difficulty with him for the honor of the grand old State. This appeased the Virginia member somewhat, but he thought it necessary to clinch what he had before said, and again to pledge his honor that there was not a word of truth in the story from beginning to end, and that he could whip the man who believed it. To hear Robert P. Henry1" tell this story in his peculiar happy vein was captivating and convulsing. Like his father, he delighted in light and amusing anecdotes, and never failed to act them to the life. They were made up, indeed, of life scenes that he painted with a master's hand to the eye and to the heart.

     He was very fond of practical jokes, and frequently practiced them upon his brothers. There was an old man in his father's neighborhood in Scott County, Ky., by the name of Craton, who had a large family of girls, the eldest of whom was a stout and hearty woman. They were the kind of great strapping girls that were by no means handsome. Old man Craton never came to General Henry's house but he plagued Robert P.1"'s brother, Tom, a boy then about thirteen years of age, about his eldest daughter, Jinsey. Tom hated him worse almost than Old Nick himself, and after various sharp shots and retorts it always ended in a cry loud and long on Tom's part. At such times he would be fighting mad and would use old Craton's name unmercifully, his father's authoritative commands to the contrary notwithstanding. Once after a scene of this sort, Robert P."1 followed Tom out behind the house where he was blubbering away and abusing old Craton dreadfully, saying, '' Confound his ugly gals, I would not go to see one of them to save her life, and he's always plaguing me about them. I'll kill him if he don't quit. I'll be dogged if I don't." While he was in the midst of his soliloquy, Robert P.1" came up and told him in an earnest tone that he did not treat the old man right, and that if he would listen to his advice he could effectually put Craton down so that he would never say Jinsey to him again. Tom brightened up at once, and, rubbing his fist in his eyes and drying his tears, he inquired, "How?" "Why," said Robert P."1, "the very next time old Craton asks you when you are* coming to see Jinsey, tell him you have been thinking about it, and that you intend to go over soon and marry her. Then at that Pa and I will burst out and laugh old Craton out of countenance, and he will never pester you again." "But," said Tom, "will you laugh and put him down?" "Certainly we will," said Robert P.1" "Now, dry up your tears and come back in the house, and you 'll see how quickly we 'll suppress him. We 'll help you, come on." Having thus encouraged Tom, Robert P.1" left him, and, returning informed old Craton and his father of his plan for renewing the attack upon Tom, and, thus prepared, they waited in anxiety for his coming. Presently in came Tom, eyeing old Craton savagely. "Ah," said Craton, '' I am glad to see you come back, Tom; I hope you have reconsidered that little family matter and are determined to come over soon and talk it over with Jinsey." "Yes, I have," said Tom, "and I am determined to marry her, too." His father and brother laughed heartily at this as if in genuine delight, and for a moment Tom's eyes brightened like a conqueror's, but old Craton in exuberance of spirit quickly sprang to his feet, and, rushing forward to Tom, seized his hand, and, shaking it with intoxicated delight, exclaimed, '' Thomas, I am glad to hear it; I had rather have you for a son-in-law than anybody else in the world, and I should like to see how you would look standing up before the preacher." This was too much for Tom. His allies, in spite of all they could do, burst out laughing. Tom saw he was betrayed, and, with a loud yell of execration on old Craton, made his escape muttering, '' That he had told Bob it would not do, and that he would kill old Craton outright and put a stop to his meanness, confound his old picture." Old Craton's manner was inimitable; every third or fourth breath he would draw it up through his nose, like a snuff-taker. Then his rough, hearty manner, full of fun, his countenance vivid with delight, made a scene when he seized Tom's hand that would have excited the risibility of gravity itself. Who can wonder at Tom's defeat? Just imagine old Craton talking with delight, and every sentence snuffing his nose as if to prolong his enjoyment, while Tom was suffering tortures at every snuffing pause.

     Another of Robert P.1"'s practical jokes on Tom gave great diversion at the time. Tom was half grown, and had probably never spoken half a dozen times to any girl; he knew the penalty too well. His older brothers were such inveterate jokers that he feared even to look at a girl. On one occasion his mother wanted Miss Sally Lindsay to stay with her a short time, and she was in a quandary to find an escort for her. None of the older boys could go, and Tom would not, she knew. At last Robert P.1" and his mother agreed that Tom should be sent with a sealed letter to Miss Sally, and that she was to be instructed in the letter how to act. She was told to have her horse caught, saddled, and bridled without Tom's knowledge, and hitched close to the blocks so that she could mount in a trice. She was to conceal this from Tom, and, in order to do so, her mother was to detain him by foul means or fair until Miss Sally was ready. Under the pretext of carrying a message to Mrs. Lindsay as well as the letter for Miss Sally, away Tom went on old Dry Bones, a horse that never could be fattened, do as you would. Dry Bones was a very good runner, though not very spirited. Arriving at Mrs. Lindsay's, Tom delivered the message and the letter, which was acted upon as soon as its contents were read. Tom wished to return, and a dozen times he sprang up to leave, but Mrs. Lindsay detained him by asking some question about the family, or about some of the neighbors. He had become very restless when Miss Sally came into the room tying her bonnet strings. Tom sprang from his seat and made for the door, saying he must go. "Stop," said Miss Sally, "I am going with you." "Ha, not with me," said Tom, darting through the doorway with Miss Sally after him.

     Tom mounted first and succeeded in shutting the gate before Miss Sally reached it, and thus gained the start of her. Away he went on Dry Bones at the top of his speed. Opening the gate, Miss Sally flew after him. It was a most exciting race. Tom's switch soon gave out, and then his hat was made to take its place. He,thought he had distanced her, but, looking back, there she was almost upon him. He applied the hat more vigorously; he leaned forward and patted Dry Bones on the neck, and in his anxiety entreated her to do her best. "Oh, Dry Bones," said he, "let yourself out. Help me now, and I will never forget you. Oh, I never needed your help, Dry Bones, so much as I do this day. My good old mare, help me — help me." Dry Bones really seemed to understand her master's desperate situation, and she really did her best for him. For three miles the contest was kept up at a killing pace. At length the road turned up toward the house, and the gate had been purposely left open by Robert, who well foresaw the race. Away Tom swept up the lane to the yard fence. Dry Bones was on her mettle, and it was impossible to rein her in at the garden gate. She ran up against it, and Tom, unseated by the sudden check, was thrown sprawling into the yard. He rose and ran, and just as he reached the steps of the house Miss Sally sprang from her horse at the block, saying "he didn't attempt to run that way when we were in the woods." "It's a lie," said Tom in his anger and with a boyish forgetfulness of gallantry. He bounced into the house and out at the back door. His mother and brother Robert witnessed this exciting race for more than a mile. Tom's hat was completely worn out on the charge, and Dry Bones was far from dry; indeed, she was almost used up in her efforts for her master.

     An anecdote is told of Robert P."1 and his brother William, who were on their way to the mill, the first mounted on "Fleta" and the last on "Old Hippy." As was their custom, every time they came to a good piece of road they tried the speed of the horses. Away they went like wildfire on a beautiful stretch of half a mile. About half way "Old Hippy" fell and tossed William heels over head. Robert P."1 reined up "Fleta" as soon as he could, and ran back to where William lay perfect senseless. He sprang to his side and finally succeeded in rousing him, all the while being in the greatest terror and alarm. After awhile he succeeded in getting William to sit up, and the first word he said was, "I'll tell you what it is, Bob, 'Old Hippy ' is a good horse for all." '' For all what ?" said Bob. '' Why, for all he has burrs in his mane and tail," solemnly answered William.

     Robert P."1 once courted the daughter of old Dr. Warfield, of Lexington, Ky., and one day break-fasting at his house the Doctor passed the waffles to him saying, "Will you have a waffle?" pronouncing it "Waffeld." "Thank you," said Robert, "not until I have gotten her consent;" which quick repartee pleased the Doctor greatly, but embarrassed Miss Warfield.

     When he was a candidate for Congress in the Hopkinsville District of Kentucky, a man from Pond River, who was very influential in his section, came to him in apparent anger, saying: '' Sir, you are a candidate for Congress?" "Yes," said Robert Henry, "lam." "Well, sir," said Magby, "I am powerful influential, and if I go for you, you will be elected, and if I don't, you'll be defeated." "Then surely I shall be happy to have your influence," said the candidate. "It all depends on the answer you give to a question I will put to you, whether you will get my vote or not, Mr. Candidate," said Magby. '' Oh, if that is all, I know you'll vote for me. Let me hear the question," said Col. Henry. "Well," said the gentleman from Pond River, "are you in favor of the com-mi-tee, or the non-com-mi-tee ?" (pronouncing it with the accent on mi and tee). This was a puzzler. Col. Henry had not the most distant idea what the fellow meant. He had never heard of any contention on that important matter, but he disliked to appear ignorant upon a subject of so much interest to his constituent, for it will never do for a candidate to acknowledge ignorance upon any subject whatever. Looking steadily into Magby's eyes, with a sort of confidential gaze, he said unconcernedly, "Which are you in favor of?" "Why, the non-com-mi-tee, of course," said his interlocutor without hesitation. "So am I," said Col. Henry firmly. "Then give us your hand," said Magby; '' you will get every vote on my creek. I am rejoiced to have you come out so frankly and to know that you coincide with me, for it convinces me that I was right to have faith in your opinions, and the Pond River District is yours." He was as good as his word, and carried it for Col. Henry. This recalls a somewhat similar experience his brother General Patrick Henry had when a candidate for the Legislature in Montgomery County, Tenn. A little sandy-bearded fellow by the name of Harry Horn was opposed to General Henry, or at least favored some one else, but said he, "I've a question to put to the candidate, and if he answers it rightly I'll vote for him." "Well," said General Henry, "state the question, and as it is offered publicly, I'll answer it publicly." "Yes," said Horn, "that's what I want you to do, and now don't you think there should be a law passed by the Legislature exempting the father of nine children from militia duty?" General Henry asked him if he had nine children, and he responded he had, and that was why he asked the question. "Well," said General Henry, "I surely think such a man should be exempt on one condition, and that is, that he should pledge himself never to be the father of ten children." "Well," said Horn, "I'd die on the field of battle first." The bystanders enjoyed the scene, and unanimously decided that Horn was properly answered, and that he was bound to vote for General Henry, which he agreed to do.

Robert Pryor Henry.jpg

CHAPTER VII.

 

Matthews Winston Henry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 THE third child of General William Henry was Matthews Winston, called Matthews for his grandfather Flournoy and Winston because of the relationship to the Winstons of Virginia. He was born January n, 1790; died July 31, 1838, of congestive fever, at the old Washington Hall, Bowling Green, Ky., aged forty-eight years. March 17, 1813, he married Juliette Pitts, younger sister of the wife of his brother, Robert P. Henry. She died February 3, 1845. The mother of Juliette and of Gabriella F. Pitts was Lucy Craig, a daughter of Elijah Craig, a Baptist clergyman of prominence, who, with his brother, came at an early day from Virginia. These brothers were engaged largely in the land oper-ations of that day, which so generally occupied the early settlers. Josiah Pitts, their father, commenced life very poor, made a large fortune by investing in land, merchandising, and general trading, but lost it all and died almost in destitution. His brother, Younger Pitts, was more careful or more successful, and left a good estate, which was added to by his children and grandchildren, some of whom still live in and about Georgetown, Kentucky.

     Matthews Winston Henry served under Colonel Campbell in the finest troop of cavalry ever up to that time raised in Kentucky. In 1812-14 he was in the hard-fought battles of Massisinaway and others, where he was commended by his superior officers. He pursued the life of a farmer, but engaged in other occupations. He was United States mail contractor between Louisville and Nashville, and died of fever contracted while building locks and dams on the Big Barren River in Kentucky, at the point where the town of Woodbury now stands. He was buried at Bowling Green. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

     Matthews Winston and Juliette Henry had twelve children, viz., Elizabeth, Lucretia, Lucy Craig, George W., Elizabeth, William Pryor, Martha Stewart, Mary Moore, Robert Winston, Gabriella Frances, Eliza U., Matthews Winston. The first and second, Elizabeth and Lucretia, were twins, and died in infancy.

     The third, Lucy Craig, born May 22, 1816, died December 8, 1893, married Warner Lewis Underwood, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, August 31, 1830, Father Hume, of Nashville, performing the ceremony. George D. Prentice was Mr. Underwood's groomsman. Mr. Underwood was a Union member of the United States Congress about 1856 or 1858, and upon expiration of his term was a prominent but defeated candidate for Clerk of the House of Representatives. Subsequently, in 1862, he was appointed by President Lincoln United States Consul at Glasgow, Scotland. He died March 12, 1872, and his family, consisting of three sons and five daughters, continued for many years to reside in Bowling Green.

     These children are, first, Fanny, who married Colonel Ben C. Grider. Her eldest son is Warner U. Grider, Assistant Inspector of Mines for Kentucky. Her second son, Judge Loving Grider, named for Judge Loving, of Kentucky, father of Hector V. Loving, was a brilliant young lawyer of Kansas City, where he died September 29, 1897. He was brought back and buried at Bowling Green, Kentucky. The " Kansas City Star" said of him: '' He was an advocate of power and an orator with no superior at this bar. He possessed the graces of the orator to an extent allowed by fortune to very few men, and his style of oratory was not only polished, but commanding and impressive." The '' Kansas City Bar Monthly'' said: "He was a true priest in the temple of justice and worthy to enter her holy of holies." For a number of years he was prosecuting attorney for Sumner County, Kansas, and was a delegate at large from that State to the Chicago Convention which nominated Cleveland for the Presidency the second time.

     Second, Juliette, married to William Wallace Weston, by whom she had two children, Elzy and Lucy. The former died \ in early manhood, and Lucy married Hunter Meriwether. They live in Kansas City, and have two children, viz., William and Lucy. After the death of Mr. Weston his widow married Mr. Long, who soon thereafter died. She survives, and is living in Kansas City.

     Third, Lucy, who married Judge Ferdinand Jay McCann and resides in California. They had nine children.

Fourth, Josie, who married Charles Nazro, and resides in San Diego, California. Mr. Nazro died April 12, 1898, at San Diego. They had four children. The first, Edith, died March, 1898. Three are living.

     Fifth, Warner, who married Miss Ida Owens, November 24, 1869. Both have died, leaving two children, Josie and Warner. Warner, Sr., was a lawyer, who graduated at Albany, N. Y., and was afterward Registrar of Bankruptcy in Bowling Green. His death occurred October 16, 1874. His daughter, Josie, married Samuel D. Hines, a lawyer of Bowling Green, Kentucky. They had two children, Harold and Underwood. His son, Warner Owens, lives in New York City and is in a good business.

Sixth, Henry, who resides in Birmingham, Alabama.

     Seventh, John, who married Miss Hattie Sprague, of Colorado, and resides in Arizona. He is interested in mining.

Eighth, Mary, who married Samuel Poyntz. They had one daughter and two sons. After his death she married Col. Malcome H. Crump, of Bowling Green, and they have one son.

     The fourth child of Matthews Winston and Juliette P. Henry, George W., was born at Bowling Green in 1818, and was married in 1838 to Miss Sarah C. Macey, of Frankfort. He died of cholera on the Mississippi River, December, 1849, while engaged in commerce and transportation, being the owner of a line of steamboats plying between Louisville and New Orleans. His widow survived him forty-one years, and died in 1890. They had four children:

     First, Ellen Frances, who was born at Bowling Green, Kentucky, September 19, 1839, and was married to Mr. William W. Graham, September 11, 1860. He died February 5, 1882; she now resides in Illinois. They had eight children, viz., Harry Todd, born June 25, 1861, died January 16, 1865; George Grider, born July 22, 1863, died August 3, 1891; Harry Morris, born August 27, 1865; an unnamed boy, born August 14, 1867, who died September 4, 1867; Juliette Winston, born October 10, 1868; Lillie W., born January 20, 1873, died May 12, 1879; Nellis Norton, born December 10, 1874, died September 15, 1880, and Robert Henry, born June 23, 1877.

     Second, Robert Llewellyn, born February 22, 1844, in Frankfort, Ky. He married, September 6, 1871, Miss Rosa Sharp, daughter of Fidelio C. Sharp, a leading lawyer of St. Louis, Mo. From this union there was but one child, Fidelio Sharp Henry, born September 7, 1872. He graduated at Yale College in 1894. His mother died February 8, 1877. On May 31, 1880, Robert L. Henry married Miss Ada Camille Badger, and their children are foUr, viz., Robert Llewellyn, Jr., born November 4, 1882; Huntington Badger, born January 10, 1887;  Winston  Patrick, born May 22, 1888, and Camille Badger, born September 3, 1894.

     Robert L. Henry attended the schools of Frankfort and Bowling Green, and later pursued his studies at Versailles, Ky. In 1862 he enlisted in the Federal Army, joining Company "C," Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, and participated in the battle of Perryville and the campaign about Lawrenceburg and Richmond, Kentucky. Later he was appointed military storekeeper at Nashville by General Rousseau, with rank of First Lieutenant. At the close of the war he located in St. Louis, where, after a few years, he engaged in the lumber business. In 1874 he moved to Chicago, and the firm of Henry, Barker & Co. was formed, and became very prominent and successful in that line of business. Subsequently Mr. Henry built the Duluth Lumber Company Mill, at Duluth, Minnesota, which in 1884 was the largest lumber mill in the Northwest. In 1886 he returned to Chicago and conducted the same business under the firm name of R. L. Henry & Co., but in 1893 became interested in the production of oil, and was made vice-president of the Henry Oil Company, holding and working properties      in Ohio, West Virginia, and other States.

     Mr. and Mrs. Henry occupy a prominent position in society, and their elegant home on Grand Boulevard, Chicago, is the center of a brilliant circle, while he is a leading member of the Union League and the Iroquois Clubs. Mrs. Henry was born in Louisville, and is the daughter of Mr. A. C. Badger, formerly of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and afterward a successful banker of Louisville and of Chicago, where he now lives. The mother of Mrs. Henry was Elvira C. Sheridan, of South Carolina.

Third, George W., was born February 5, 1848, in Louisville, and was married to Miss Florence Chrisman, of Chrisman, Ill., December 13, 1876. Her family was from Kentucky. Their children were two, Florence Blanche, born January 4, 1879, died May 8, 1894; and Phillip Henry, born October 20, 1881. In religion the parents are Baptists, and in politics Geo. W. Henry was a National Democrat. He settled in Chicago in 1872 and continued to reside there, though president of the "Henry Oil Co.," petroleum producers in Ohio and other States. He died suddenly at Kansas City of pneumonia, November 1, 1898.

     

     Fourth, Alexander C, born at Lexington, November 11, 1845, and married to Miss Emma Carter, November 5, 1867. Their children were three, viz., Winston B., born August 1,  1868; John Richard, born June 9, 1873, died April 14, 1896; and Sarah Corinne, born March 7, 1883. Alexander C. Henry has pursued a farmer's life in Franklin County, Ky. He has also engaged in trading and in numerous other business enterprises. He resides near Frankfort, and is a Democrat in politics.

 

     The fifth child of Matthews Winston and Juliette Pitts Henry was Elizabeth.

     The sixth child of Matthews Winston and Juliette Pitts Henry, William Pryor, married Miss Corinne Carter, of Nashville, Tenn. They had two children: First, Marius Carter, and second, Corinne Blanche. Corinne B. married in 1870 Mr. Nicholas Monsarrat, of London, Canada, who is Vice President of the Columbus and Hocking Valley R. R. They reside at Columbus, O. Their children are seven, viz., Elizabeth Henry, Nicholas Danleney, Norton Slaughter, Charles Reginald, Corinne Quigley, Carter Grace, Marquise Villeneuve.

     Marius C. Henry married Lucy Thompson, of Wisconsin, and is living at Temple, Texas. They have one child, Bertha Thompson Henry. The father, William Pryor Henry, died of cholera in 1855 at the house of his aunt, Mrs. Cornelia V. Henry, in Christian County, Ky. His wife preceded him to the grave.

     The seventh and eighth children of Matthews Winston and Juliette Pitts Henry, Martha S. and Mary M., very lovely girls, were twins, born December 7, 1824. Martha S. was married at the Second Presbyterian Church in Louisville, March 2, 1847, to George W. Norton, President of the Southern Bank of Kentucky in Russellville. They resided in Russellville many years, and in 1868 removed to Louisville. Their children were seven : Ernest John, Juliette, Minnie, Susie, Lucie, Martha, and George W., Jr.

 

     Ernest was born December 5, 1847, and died of consumption July 22, 1874, at Minneapolis, Minn., where he had gone in search of health. He married Ann Eliza Caldwell, November 1, 1870, daughter of Dr. W. B. Caldwell and granddaughter of James Guthrie, formerly Secretary of the United States Treasury, and left two children: First, Caldwell, born January 9, 1873, and married to Miss Nannie Stephens, April 12, 1893; they have a son, James Guthrie Stephens, born March 9, 1895.

 

     Second, Ernest John, born August 12, 1875. The latter married Miss Ferda Sebastian Zorn, of Louisville, April 21, 1898.  Second, Juliette, born January 8, 1850, and married to Dr. J. B. Marvin, of Louisville, April 30, 1879. Their children are Joseph Benson, Jr., born May 21, 1883; Martha Henry, born October 1, 1885; and Minnie Norton, born October 3, 1887.

     Third, Minnie, born March 26, 1853, and married to William B. Caldwell, Jr., October 3, 1878, brother of her brother Ernest's wife. Mr. Caldwell died September 30, 1880.

     Fourth, Susie, born August 29, 1857, and married to John Coleman, January 18, 1881. Their children are: George Norton, born December 23, 1881; Margaret, born January 29, 1883; William Caldwell, born October 17, 1884; Susan Norton, born August 3, 1886, died June 18, 1887; John, Jr., born August 10, 1890, and Robert Henry, born February 15, 1894.

     Fifth, Lucie, born November 19, 1859, and

 

     Sixth, Martha, born July 21, 1863.

     Seventh, George W., Jr., born September 12, 1865, and married to Miss Margaret Macdonald Muldoon, June 8, 1897. They have a daughter, Margaret Macdonald, born April 10,

1899.

     Mary Moore Henry married Thomas J. Slaughter, of St. Louis, afterward of New York City, in 1844. Their children were seven, viz., Winston Henry, Julian, Clayton, Lucy (Lute), Martha, Mary, and Gabriel. Henry died in Australia. He married the well-known actress, Marie Wainwright. They had two children, Mary Gertrude and Elizabeth Mayhew.

Lucy married Dr. Prince Albert Morrow, in and of New York City, April 23, 1874, and their children are six, viz., Mary Henry, born March 17, 1876; Albert Sidney, born April 2, 1878 ; Juliette Norton, born June 19, 1880; Lucy Slaughter, born April 19, 1882; Robert Lee, born September 4, 1888; and Mildred, born March 27, 1890.

     Julian married, and died December, 1896.

     Mary married Horace H. Emmons, and died May, 1892.

     Martha, born December 9, 1865, married Charles McDonald, January 12, 1888, and resides in Chicago. They have a son, Charles Stewart, born January n, 1889.

     Gabriel married, October 16, 1899, at Evanston, Ill., Elizabeth E. Fletcher.

     The ninth child of Matthews Winston and Juliette Pitts Henry, Robert Winston, died at eight years of age.

     The tenth child, born April 30, 1832, Gabriella Frances, married at Bowling Green, Ky., in 1854, Wilkins Wheatley, of St. Louis, son of Dr. Frank Wheatley, of Hopkinsville, Ky. About 1875 thev removed to New York, and about 1880 to Fulton, Mo., where Mr. Wheatley died in 1881. They had three sons and four daughters. The sons settling in California, the mother and daughters removed there in 1886, and Mrs. Wheatley died at Los Angeles, February 4, 1897, and was buried in St. Louis, February 10, 1897, by the side of her husband.

     Their first child, Rachel (first daughter), died young. Warner U. (the first son) married Maude Oakley, of St. Joseph, Mo., and they have one son, William.

     Wilkins W. (the second son) married Louise Rogers, of New York, and they have one son, Wilkins.

     George Slaughter was the third son; Marjean (the second daughter) died at the age of eighteen.

    Juliette Winston (the third daughter) was married in New York to Gabriel Morton, of Kentucky. They reside in the City of Mexico. They have one daughter, Marie Gabriella, born February 9, 1891.

     Frances Lucy (the fourth daughter) married Carl Denio, and they have a little girl, Geraldine, born in the spring of 1897.

     The eleventh child of Matthews Winston and Juliette Pitts Henry, Eliza U., known as " Hassie," was born July 26, 1835, and was married to W. F. Obear, of St. Louis, Mo., November 25, 1856, where they resided until 1887, when they removed to California. She was a beautiful woman. Their children are: First, Tom Slaughter, married to Mamie Maurice, October, 1884; their children are Maurice, Elise Henry, Frances, and W. F., Jr. Second, William Frank, married to Bessie Helfenstein, November, 1886. She died in the autumn of 1897, leaving an infant which lived only a few hours. Third, Mary, who married Stephen Gano Long, October 1, 1890; their children are Spencer, W. F., Jr., Stephen Gano, Jr., and Thomas. Fourth, Winston Henry, married to Anna Bagget, November, 1891; their children are W. F., Jr., Katherine, and Winston Henry, Jr. Fifth, Norton, married to Mabel Pallet, March 3, 1897. Sixth, Robert Leighton. Seventh, John Palmer, and eighth, Julian, not married.

Mr. Obear died at Los Angeles, Cal., in the fall of 1891, and his widow, Hassie Henry Obear, followed him to the grave December 7, 1898, at Los Angeles, on the anniversary of the birth of her sisters, Martha and Mary. Their only daughter, Mary, as above stated, married in California, October 1, 1890, Stephen Gano Long, of Kentucky, and removed to Louisville, where he engaged in the practice of law. They subsequently returned to California, and are living at Los Angeles.

     The twelfth child of Matthews Winston and Juliette Pitts Henry, Matthews Winston, was born November 28, 1838. He received an appointment to the West Point Military Academy in 1858, where he remained till the breaking out of the Confederate War in 1861, when he was assigned to duty, with rank of Lieutenant, in the United States regular army under General Lyon, in Missouri. Though unwilling to fight against his native South, the United States War Department would not accept his resignation. After the battle of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Mo., in 18,61, he again forwarded his resignation and made his way into the Confederate lines. He was soon made chief of artillery on the staff of General John B. Hood in the Army of Virginia, with the rank of Major, and gained much credit and distinction in command of Hood's Artillery Corps. His health was greatly impaired by army exposure, and after the surrender, disappointed and disheartened, he sought exile, first in Mexico and then in California and Nevada. In the latter Territory he became interested in engineering and mining operations. While in the White Pine District, Nevada, he discovered and located the claim since widely known as the " Henry Tunnel."

     After an engagement of more than ten years, in which he had not seen his betrothed, Miss Susie Burrell, daughter of Major Burrell, of Clark County, Virginia, they were married, September, 1875. In the winter of 1875, with his bride, an accomplished and charming woman, he returned to Nevada, where, in the wilds of that far-off mountain region, their first child, Juliette, was born. With this child and the mother, in the autumn of 1877, Major Henry visited New York on business connected with his mining interests, and, while temporarily sojourning in Brooklyn, was stricken down, and after an illness of two weeks died of paralysis of the brain on his birthday, 28th day of November, 1877, aged 39. In his death the last male representative of his father passed away. After his death Dorothy Burrell, their second child, was born in Virginia. The widow married Dr. Edward Randolph, of Virginia, who soon after died. Her post-office is Millwood, Virginia.

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Matthews Winston Henry

Juliette Pitts

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