Daniel W. Henderson
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Daniel
W. Henderson, for many years a resident of Greene county, labored
earnestly and effectively for the political and legal status of his
community and for the promotion of its material, social, intellectual
and moral interests. “Not the good that comes to us but the good that
comes to the world through us is the measure of our success” and judged
in this way Daniel W. Henderson was pre-eminently a successful man. He
was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, December 15, 1830, a son of William
H. and Sarah M. (Howard) Henderson, who were married in Kentucky, in
which state William H. Henderson was born on the 16th of November,
1793. His father was John Henderson, who went with Daniel Boone and
others from Virginia to Kentucky during the latter part of the
eighteenth century and assisted in opening up that region for
settlement. Of Scotch ancestry, two branches of the family located in
this country at an early day, one settling in Virginia in 1746 and the
other in North Carolina. To the latter branch belonged Richard
Henderson, who was manager of the Transylvania Company which sent
Daniel Boone into Kentucky and was that gentleman’s partner in
purchasing from the Indians the territory now comprised in Kentucky. He
was a man of more than ordinary ability and a distinguished lawyer of
his day. William H. Henderson, the father of our subject, was in the
battle of the Thames under General Beverly Johnson during the war of
1812.
In the family of this worthy gentleman were nine children. John W., the
eldest, was a member of the Illinois legislature and sheriff of Stark
county during his residence in that state and later made his home in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for forty years. William P., a farmer by
occupation, spent most of his life in Linn county, Iowa, but in later
years was a resident of Jefferson. Thomas J. is a distinguished lawyer,
who has been a member of the Illinois general assembly and of congress
for ten terms. He is now a member of the United States board of
ordnance and fortifications, also first vice president of the board of
managers of the national homes for disabled volunteer soldiers, and
makes his home in Princeton, Illinois. Henry C., deceased, was also a
lawyer by profession and served as district judge at Marshalltown,
Iowa, and as a member of the state senate, representing Greene county.
Stephen H., deceased, was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Daniel W. was the next of the family. James A., deceased, was an
attorney living in Jefferson. Elizabeth died in infancy. Mary Ann
married John Sevier, of Brownsville, Tennessee, a representative of a
noted family of that state and the first and last governor of the state
of Franklin.
Daniel W. Henderson came to Iowa with his father in 1845 from Toulon,
Illinois, and located in Iowa City, where he pursued an academic
course. Later he taught school for a time and then engaged in milling
and merchandising for seven or eight years. At the end of that time he
purchased a tract of land in Johnson county, Iowa, and turned his
attention to farming, which occupation he subsequently followed in Linn
county, where he also bought land. He next came to Greene county, where
in 1873 he purchased a farm near Buttricks creek, to the improvement
and cultivation of which he devoted his energies until the 1st of
January, 1879, when he assumed the duties of district and circuit
clerk, having been elected to that position the previous fall. So
acceptably did he fill the office that he was twice re-elected and
after his third term virtually retired from active life. No trust
reposed in him was ever betrayed in the slightest degree. He was loyal
to every confidence given him whether it was of a public or private
nature and his official service won for him the unqualified approval of
the public. While residing on his Greene county farm he was licensed as
a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church and was later
appointed by the bishop as a local elder. He served as pastor of
various charges in the Boone district, and his work in the church was a
strong element for the upbuilding of Methodism in the localities where
he lived and labored. Feeling that his country needed his services
during the dark days of the Civil war, he enlisted August 14, 1862, at
Iowa City, in Company H, Twenty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and had
attained the rank of first lieutenant when he resigned in April, 1864.
He had been wounded by a minie-ball passing through his shoulder at
Port Gibson while approaching Vicksburg and his health was shattered.
His father, too, was not expected to live and these circumstances
prompted his resignation. He had taken part in all of the important
engagements in which Grant participated up to this time and at the time
he received his wound was in command of his company in a skirmish.
In early manhood Daniel W. Henderson married Miss Susan D. Campbell,
who was born in Rushville, Indiana, in 1832, and is still living at the
old homestead in Jefferson. Her parents, John and Bertha (Smith)
Campbell, were natives of Virginia and of Irish ancestry. In his family
were five children, of whom the eldest died in infancy. Sarah B.
married Sylvanus Emory Coon, a farmer of Washington township, Greene
county. James A. is the next in order of birth. Alice M. married Henry
M. Halloway, a farmer of Kansas. J. Will is engaged in the insurance
and real-estate business in Jefferson.
After a useful and well spent life Mr. Henderson died on the 9th of
August, 1906. He was a man of strong physique, untiring in his
industry, of a very gentle disposition but strong in his convictions.
He was extremely charitable to those in need or distress. His wise
counsel was often sought by his neighbors and friends and he was
universally respected and esteemed. In reviewing his life one cannot
fail to be impressed with the fact that loyalty was one of his strong
characteristics. He was faithful to his duty as a soldier and as a
citizen, to his professions as a member of the church, to the ties of
home and friendship. He held honor as infinitely more preferable than
wealth, fame or position and his exemplification of high ideals of life
made him a man worthy the confidence and honor everywhere given him.
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