A Horde of Hendersons

This week's "Family Sunday" will take a look at one of the larger branches of my father's side of the family; the Hendersons of Southern New Jersey. They were a family of farmers, most of whom were born, lived, and died in Cumberland County. There must be hundreds of living descendants, so I hope this information will be of interest to some of them.


The earliest of the Hendersons which I've been able to identify is Joseph Henderson, born circa 1770. His wife may have been Judith Cobb Clark, though I haven't seen conclusive evidence of this. Joseph and his wife had a son, John Bell Henderson (b. January 7, 1803 in Cumberland County, NJ), and John subsequently married Elma Sockwell on June 9, 1822.

John & Elma Henderson had 9 children (Generation 3):
Abram Clark (b. August 1822)
Henry Wharton (b. 1825)
Daniel Woodruff (my 4x great grandfather, b. January 21, 1827)
Joseph Woodruff (b. November 1830)
Martha E. (b. August 1836)
Lucy (b. 1838)
William A. (b. 1842)
Eunice Clark (b. September 23, 1842)
Harriett S. (b. 1845)

I am currently tracing the children of Daniel's siblings, and their offspring may be the subject of another column someday.

Daniel Woodruff Henderson married Caroline Royal Sheppard on September 29, 1849 in Deerfield, NJ, and they certainly did a lot of begetting. I have been able to identify 15 children, though family lore tells they had 20 who lived to adulthood. Either way, those numbers are nothing to laugh at, and it is an ongoing mission of mine to find and identify their many descendants.

The children of Daniel & Caroline Henderson (Generation 4):

Robert (b. March 2, 1851)
Rebecca (my 3x great grandmother, b. 1853)
Martha E. (b. 1855, /Died 1900)
Sarah M. (b. 1857)
John (b. April 15, 1858, /Died August 19, 1858)
Daniel W. Jr. (b. 1859)
Caroline (b. 1861)  -Updated-
Thomas (b. April 13, 1863 /Died June 14, 1896)
Phillip S. (b. 1865)
Edwin "Edward" (b. September 2, 1867)
Lewis J. (b. August 4, 1869)
Harvey Loper Fodell (b. January 14, 1871 /Died December 9, 1926)
William F. (b. May 10, 1873)
Howard C (b. February 7, 1875)
Sherrard "Sherod" (April 10, 1877 /Died August 17, 1955)

Now for their children (Generation 5):

Robert Henderson married Joanna Brooks (b. November 1854) in Bridgeton, NJ on October 25, 1874, and they had 4 daughters:
Hattie (b. 1875), married Harry Blizzard on July 1, 1893.
Elizabeth "Lizzie" (b. September 15, 1876) -UPDATED
Mary P. (b. June 1880)
Ella L. (b. June 1888)

On September 2, 1874, Rebecca Henderson married Charles W. Ballinger (b. August 1853). As far as I've been able to tell, they only had one daughter, Nellie (my 2x great grandmother, b. February 1876). I'll discuss more about Nellie & her line in a later column to appear on April 2.

Martha E. Henderson married Edmond D. Minch (b. 1851) on January 11, 1881. They had a daughter, Edith (b. September 16, 1886) and a son, Roland Leslie (b. March 18, 1891 /Died November 1975).

Sarah M. Henderson married James E. Thompson (b. 1854) on December 27, 1876. They had at least 3 children:
Carrie H. (b. January 9, 1878)
Edward (b. September 6, 1880)
A second daughter (b. September 16, 1888) whose name I haven't been able to find. She may have died young, as she doesn't appear on the 1900 census.

Daniel W. Henderson Jr. married Anna M. West (b. 1862) on December 15, 1883. They had two children; daughter Rena M. (b. December 27, 1884), and son Claud (b. March 24, 1889).

Thomas Henderson married Rebecca J. Ashley (b. March 25, 1866) on December 29, 1883. They had four children:
Unidentified daughter (b. April 25, 1885)
Wilbert M. (b. March 29, 1887)
Mary Dare (b. March 29, 1887)
Gladys S. (b. November 26, 1896)
It is sad that Thomas apparently did not live to see his last daughter's birth, and I believe Rebecca may have died shortly thereafter, as the children were split up and living with different family members by 1900.

Phillip S. Henderson married Emma M. Goutiere (b. June 1869), and they had three children:
Gwyneth (b. May 6, 1893),
Russell Stanger (b. September 14, 1896 /Died August 1967)
Kenneth Phillip (b. June 30, 1909 /Died September 10, 1943)

Edwin "Edward" Henderson married Emma (b. September 1880) sometime before 1900. I haven't discovered if they had any children, but they had none listed on the 1920 census.

Lewis J. Henderson married Abigail G. Sharp (b. June 1868), and they had 5 children:
Allen R. (b. May 27, 1893)
Alice Hazel (b. August 26, 1895)
Bessie (b. May 7, 1899)
Edith M. (b. 1904)
Lois E. (b. 1907).
Abigail died sometime before 1910, and Lewis married Elfrida Spence (b. 1868) sometime thereafter.

Harvey Loper Fodell Henderson married Esther Catherine Wilhelm (b. June 7, 1870 /Died February 10, 1921), and they had two children:
Howard Cortland (b. February 6, 1896 /Died August 15, 1959)
Caroline Beryl (b. February 21, 1897 /Died 1969)

William F. Henderson married Lillian W. Hickman (b. November 1879) on June 12, 1896, and they had six children:
Pearl S. (b. October 29, 1897)
Reba L. (b. 1902)
Anna May (b. 1903)
Edwin F. (b. March 30, 1906 /Died July 1979)
Emma S. (b. 1912)
Mildred B. (b. 1917).

Howard C. Henderson married Clara H. (b. 1878), and they had 3 children:
Johnathan M. (b. 1907)
Frances (b. 1911)
Ruth E. (b. 1915).

Sherrard "Sherod" Henderson married Myrtle Husted (b. September 1875) in 1903, and they had five children:
Seth D. (b.March 16, 1906 /Died August 15, 1983)
Anna M. (b. 1909)
Dorothy (b. 1910)
Rosa T. (b. 1914)
Harry L. (b. September 22, 1915 /Died May 1974).

My knowledge of Generation 6 is limited, but I'll share what I have been able to dig up. If you have any information to add to this, please be sure to let me know, as it would be nice to hear from some living cousins.

The only one of Robert's daughters that I've been able to trace further is Hattie Henderson, who married Harry Blizzard on July 1, 1893. Harry and Hattie Blizzard had four daughters:

Henrietta (b. October 1893 /Died 1967)
Irene (b. February 1898)
Mary C. (b. 1904)
Bertha (b. 1908).

Roland Leslie Minch married Jennie R (b. 1893), and they had at least one daughter, Margaret R. Minch (b. 1917).

Edward Thompson married Myrtle Bardman (b. 1880 in PA), and they had 2 sons:
Walter (b. 1907)
James (b. 1912).

Claud Henderson married Lily (b. 1889), and they had 2 sons:
Osea Merrice (b. 1907)
Claud M (b. 1918).

Wilbert M. Henderson married Elva Parkhill (b. 1887 /Died 1969). They moved to Punxsutawney PA, and they had son Wilbert Jr. (b. December 14, 1908 /Died October 1982) and daughter Yvonne Magdeline (b. 1911 /Died 1990).

Russell Stanger Henderson married Alice G. Rice (b. December 30, 1895 /Died January 2, 1988), and they had a daughter, Louise Henderson (b. February 15, 1930). Louise married Irvin Frank Foster (b. February 5, 1920 /Died February 6, 1995).

Howard Cortland Henderson married Cordelia Cressie Wilson (b. June 25 1897 /Died October 1969), and they had a daughter, Caroline Beryl (b. December 26, 1915 /Died November 20, 2005) who married Winfield Jess, Jr. (b. December 14, 1918 /Died February 20, 1982).

Seth D. Henderson married Laura Bradway (b. 1908), and they had at least 4 children.

Generation 7:

Henrietta Blizzard married Elwood Fisher Bailey, Sr. (b. October 14, 1887 /Died 1941), and they had two sons, one being Elwood Fisher Bailey, Jr.

Yvonne Magdeline Henderson married Darold Joseph Straitiff (b. June 11, 1916 /Died 1970) and they had a son, John King Straitiff (b. 1947).  John King married Linda Ann Porter (b. 1947) and they had at least one son.

There you have it, a veritable horde of Hendersons! It is amazing how expansive a family line can grow, and I'm pleased to research this part of my lineage that has branched out in so many directions. There's no telling what I'll eventually uncover.