E. W. HENDERSON
At the regular election in the autumn of 1858, E. W. Henderson was chosen by the ballots of the qualified electors to fill the position of clerk of the courts of Cass county, and entered upon the duties of the office, January 1, 1859. He served one term of two years, when he made way for a successor.
E. W. Henderson was one of the prominent if not successful merchants of Lewis. He came from Connecticut in 1858, and on arriving in Lewis, embarked in the dry goods and hardware business. For a time be enjoyed a good trade, but his business was not profitable, and in 1859 he failed. In 1859, he and Amos Gridley went to the Colorado mines; they bought a claim from a man named Gregory out there, and after working it profitably for three years, they sold it to a New York company, through an agent, for $l00,000. This agent defrauded them of most of this sum, but they succeeded in getting several thousand dollars out of [the] transaction. Mr. Henderson still remains in Colorado, and has been advanced to office there. He has been treasurer and recorder of the county in which he resides. Amos Gridley is now farming a mile and a half from Pacific Junction.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 360-361.
