Hendricks, Aaron L. (1822-1895)

HENDRICKS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/22/2019 at 22:59:43

Aaron L. Hendricks
July 22, 1822 - Feb 20, 1895

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.707)
A.L. HENDRICKS, Justice of the Peace, Council Bluffs, has been identified with the interests of Pottawattamie County since 1872. He is a native of West Virginia, born on a farm in Russell County, July 22, 1822, the youngest son of Aaron HENDRICKS, who also was born on the same farm. Aaron's father was Thomas HENDRICKS, who settled with an English colony in what was called the Elk Garden, and received a crown right or patent from King George for 400 acres. He here improved his land and reared a family of nine children. The father was the youngest, and Thomas A. HENDRICKS, the father of the late Vice President, was one of the older sons. Later the father of our subject purchased the interests of the other children in the home farm, which eventually passed into the hands of our subject, and was retained in the family until 1872.

The mother of our subject was nee Rachel FULLEN, a daughter of Colonel WHITLEY, who figured conspicuously in the War of 1812, said to have killed Tecumseh, and assisted Daniel BOONE in the settling of Kentucky, and the descendants now reside in the vicinity of Crab Orchard, Kentucky. The father of our subject was an Adjutant during the Revolutionary War, and died in his seventy-first year; his mother in her fifty-first year.

Mr. HENDRICKS' youth was spent on a farm, receiving his education in a select school, and completing it at the University of Charlottesville, Virginia. After this, he engaged in the mercantile business in Lebanon, Virginia, which he followed until after the death of his father, when, in connection with which he took charge of the estate his father left, and he purchased his brother's interests. That estate he managed until 1869, when he, with his family, removed west, and in 1872 located in Council Bluffs, and has since been engaged in collection and insurance.

He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1884 and has served ever since in that capacity. He was married first in September 1845 to Miss Mary E. BOYD, a native of Virginia, and they had four children, three of whom still survive: Robert, now living in Council Bluffs; Thomas, in Virginia, and Henry, in Council Bluffs. He was again married May 2, 1855, to Martha M. FULLER, a native of Russell County, Virginia, and a daughter of Abraham FULLER, who was one of the six colonists who first settled that section. By this marriage, there are four children, viz.: Matilda F., Ira F., Frank C., and Manuel L. Mrs. HENDRICKS is a member of the M.E. Church and politically Mr. HENDRICKS affiliates with the Democratic Party.