Richard HENDERSON (1735-1785)

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Richard HENDERSON (1735-1785)

Source: Rossiter Johnson, ed. 1904. Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Ammericans. 10 vols. The Biographical Society, Boston MA (online at Ancestry.com).

Biographical sketch of Richard Henderson in Vol. 5, on p. 196.

HENDERSON, Richard, pioneer, was born in Hanover county, Va., April 20, 1735; son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Williams) Henderson. His paternal grandparents came from Scotland and his maternal grandparents from Wales. His father was born in Hanover county, Va., March 17, 1700. Richard removed with his father to North Carolina about 1745 and acquired his education without instructors, after he had reached manhood. He was constable and under-sheriff in Granville county, N.C., his father being high-sheriff of the same county. He was admitted to the bar, and in 1769 was appointed associate judge of the superior court by Governor Tryon. His persistence in enforcing the law caused the displeasure of the opponents to the tax laws and on one occasion, in September, 1770, the Regulators drove him from the bench. When a state government was organized in 1776, he was reelected, but declined to serve, being interested in the Transylvania Land company. He made the Treaty of Watauga with the Cherokee Indians in 1775, twelve hundred savages being present, by which the company became proprietors of 18,000 acres of territory for £10,000 worth of goods, an extent of territory comprising over half the area of the present state of Kentucky and the adjacent part of Tennessee. A government was organized at Boonesborough and Henderson was made president of the proposed state of Transylvania. The first legislature assembled under an elm tree near the walls of the fort in February, 1775, and of the members, the names of Daniel and Squire Boone, Richard Calloway, Azariah Davis, Isaac Hire, William Coke, Samuel Henderson, John Todd, Richard Moore, John Lythe, James Douglass, Nathan Hammond, Alexander Dandridge, Samuel Wood, Matthew Jewit, Valentine Harmon, Thomas Slayter, John Floyd and James Harrod appeared. A liberal government was instituted, but the purchase made by Henderson was annulled by the state legislature of Virginia and as a compensation the state granted to the company a tract of land twelve miles square on the Ohio below the mouth of the Green river. Judge Henderson was a boundary line commissioner in 1779. He removed to Nashville, Tenn., the same year and practised law there one year. Afterward he settled on his large plantation near Williamsborough, N.C., where he engaged in farming. The town, village and county of Henderson, N.C., were named in his honor. He was married to Elizabeth Keeling. He died in Hillsborough, N.C., Jan. 30, 1785.

Family Group Sheet of Daniel BOONE & Rebecca BRYAN

Data on Azariah DAVIS

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