Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/221

 HENDERSON

HENDERSON

S. Rollins for representative in the 37th congress the same year, and was a delegate to the state convention of 1861 that determined the state to remain in the union. On the outbreak of the civil war he organized a brigade of state troops and was commissioned brigadier-general of militia. He was appointed in 1862, by Lieut. - Gov. Willard P. Hall, U.S. senator in place of Trusten Polk, expelled, and he was elected by the legislature to fill out the term. In 1863 he was elected for the full term expiring March 4, 1869. In the senate he was chairman of the committee on Indian affairs ; organized the Indian peace commission in 1867 ; was the author of the thir- teenth amendment to the constitution, and was among the original agitators of the suffrage amendment embodied in the organic law as the fifteenth amendment. He was one of the seven Republican senators who voted for acquittal in the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson. He was married in 1868 to Mary, daughter of Judge Elisha Foote of New York. He resumed his law practice in St. Louis, Mo., in 1869, at the close of his senatorial term. He was nominated for gov- ernor of Missouri in 1872, but was defeated by Silas Woodson. He received the Republican nom- ination for U.S. senator in 1793, but was defeated in the election by Louis Bogy. In 1875 he was ap- pointed by President Grant to assist the U.S. district attorney in the prosecution of the -"■ Whisky ring," violators of the revenue laws, but was removed by the President in December of tliat year. He was presiding officer of the Republican national convention of 1882. He subsequently resided in Washington, D.C., where he was elected by congress a regent of the Smithsonian Institution in January, 1892, and again in 1898. He was elected a member of the Geological and National Geographic societies, and was a member of the Pan-American conference of 1889-90. He is tlie author of many articles on economic subjects, especially finance, contributed to the magazines. The University of Missouri conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1882.

HENDERSON, John Steele, representative, was born near Salisbury, N.C., Jan. 6, 1846 ; son of Archibald and Mary Steele (Ferrand) Hender- son ; grandson of Archibald and Sarah (Alexan- der) Henderson and of Stephen Lee and Margaret (Steele) Ferrand, and great-grandson of Judge Richard (1735-1785) and Elizabeth (Keeling) Hen- derson and of the Hon. John Steele (q. v.) His maternal great--grandmother, Elizabeth Max- well Steele, gave all her savings to General Greene on his retreat, thus enabling him to feed his tix)ops and cross the Yadkin before its swollen waters impeded the pursuit of Cornwallis. John attended the University of North Carolina from

January, 1862, to November, 1864, when he en- listed in the Confederate army and served until the close of the war. In January, 1866, he en- tered Judge Pearson's law school at Richmond Hill, N.C., and was admitted to the bar in June, 1867. He was register of deeds for Rowan county, 1866-68 ; was elected a delegate to the proposed constitutional convention in 1871 ; was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1875 ; elected a member of the lower house of the state legislature in 1876 and of the upper house in 1878 ; and in 1881 was elected by the general assembly one of the three commissioners to codify the statute laws of the state. He was elected presiding justice of the inferior court of Rowan county in June, 1884, and was a Dem- ocratic representative in the 49th, 50th, 51st, 52d and 53d congresses, 1885-95. He was chairman of the committee on the post-office and post-roads of the 53d and 53d congresses. He received from Trinity college, N.C., the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1890.

HENDERSON, Joseph, representative, was born in Shippensburg, Cumberland countj, Pa. , Aug. 2, 1791 ; son of Matthew and Margaret Hen- derson. His father was a surveyor. In 1802 the family removed to Centre county, Pa., and in 1812-13 Joseph attended lectures at Jefferson Medical college, from which institution he re- ceived his M.D. degree. He also studied medicine under an older brother, Dr. Jolm Henderson, of Huntingdon county, Pa. In 1813 he was ap- pointed first lieutenant in the 22d regiment, Penn- sylvania volunteers, and in the spring of that year marched his troops to Sacket Harbor, where they joined the main army on the frontier. In the fall of 1813 he was promoted captain and in 1814 was brevetted major, with the command of a regiment. He engaged in the battles of Chip- pewa, Lundy's Lane and the siege of Fort Erie. After the close of the war he settled at Brown's Mills, wliere he practised medicine until 1850. He was a representative in the 23d and 24tli con- gresses, 1833-37. In 1850 he removed to Lewiston, Pa., where he practised his profession until his death. He held high rank as a physician and was a trustee of the state lunatic asylum. He was twice married : first to Jane E., daughter of Judge Samuel and Elizabeth (Plunket) Mac- lay ; and secondly in 1852, to Margaret Isenberg. By his second wife he had three sons, James L., Joseph and William B. He died at Lewiston, Pa., from injuries received fifty years before at Fort Niagara, Dec. 25, 1863.

HENDERSON, Leonard, jurist, was born in Granville county, N.C., Oct. 6, 1772; son of Judge Richard and Elizabetli (Keeling) Hender- son. He was admitted to the bar in 1794 and was clerk of the district court of Hillsborough until