JOHN HENRY

HENRY

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/21/2020 at 15:24:30

JOHN HENRY is one of the oldest, best known pioneers of Adams county. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1826, and is a son of Joseph Henry, who was a native of Pennsylvania and a son of John Henry, son of Squire Henry. The Henrys were a Pennsylvania Dutch family. The mother of our subject was Ellen (Cunningham) Henry, a native of Pennsylvania and of English ancestry.

John Henry was a lad of ten years when his parents moved to Ohio, where they resided until their death. The father died at the age of sixty-three years and the mother at the age of sixty years. They were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters. The father, Joseph Henry, was a farmer all his life. In religion he was a Presbyterian, and served as an elder in the church. Politically he was a Democrat.

The subject of our sketch was reared on a farm In January, 1852, he sailed by Cape Horn to the Pacific coast, where he remained two years, engaged in mining. He then returned by the Nicaragua route to Ohio, where he remained until the fall of 1854, when he came to Marion county, Iowa. In the spring of 1855 he removed to Union county, Iowa, near Creston. The next summer he came to Carl township, Adams county, Iowa. He was one of the earliest settlers in this locality. Here he has resided for thirty-six years and witnessed the wonderful improvements of the country. Colonel Jim Lane, when on his way to Kansas with 500 men, while his men were camping near, was the guest of Mr. Henry.

Mr. Henry was married in Guernsey county, Ohio, March 21, 1848, to Miss Elizabeth Jane McConnell, a native of that place and a daughter of William McConnell, who, was born on the sea, son of William McConnell, Sr., a native of Ireland. William McConnell, Jr., was married at the age of nineteen years to Miss Mary Miller. She was a native of Kentucky and a daughter of Jonathan Miller. The father of Mrs. Henry died in Ohio, aged sixty-three years, and the mother died in Carl township, this county at the age of eighty. Mr. and Mrs. Henry have three children, viz.: W. L., who is now in the West; Millissa, wife of C. Teneyck of Villisca, Iowa; Mary Useba, wife of Benjamin Hite, of Shelby, Iowa. They have lost one child by death, Vincent, who, at the age of twenty-one years, was killed by accident in the mountains of Colorado.

Politically Mr. Henry is a Democrat. He is a member of the Masonic order. Mrs. Henry is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.