Henderson, Thomas J.

Born: 1824-11-29 Tennessee

Died: 1911-02-06 Washington, DC

Thomas J. Henderson, son of William H. Henderson, was a clerk, attorney, state legislator, and Union Army officer. Around 1835, Henderson moved with his parents to Illinois, where they settled in Stark County. He worked as a clerk for the board of commissioners of Stark County, and for the court of Stark County, from 1847 to 1853. Henderson studied law and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1852 and subsequently opened a practice in Toulon. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives, from 1855 to 1856. Henderson won election to the Illinois Senate, serving from 1857 to 1860. In 1860, Henderson owned $6,400 in real property, with a personal estate valued at $3,200. During the Civil War, he entered the Union Army, serving as colonel of the 112th Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, attaining the brevet rank of brigadier general. Following the war, Henderson moved to Princeton, Illinois, where he resumed his law practice. He married Henrietta Butler in 1849 and the pair had four children who lived to adulthood. Politically, Henderson was first a Whig and later a Republican.

H. C. Bradsby, ed., History of Bureau County, Illinois (Chicago: World, 1885), 544; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1199; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Stark County, 29 May 1849, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Stark County, IL, 198; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 10 July 1852, 2:4; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Toulon, Stark County, IL, 113; Gravestone, Oakland Cemetery, Princeton, IL.