Henderson, David P.

Born: 1810-05-18 Fayette County, Kentucky

Died: 1897-02-11 Missouri

Henderson was a lawyer, pastor, evangelist, editor, and educator who helped pioneer the Restoration Movement (Christian Church, Church of Christ) in Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky. Fayette County, Kentucky, was a hotbed of restoration activity, and Henderson came under the influence of Barton W. Stone and the Restoration Movement during his formative years. He initially planned a career as an attorney, reading law and earning admission to the Kentucky bar. In 1831, Henderson moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, to start a law practice, but illness forced him to return to Kentucky in early 1832. In July, Henderson responded to Stone's message and received baptism. When Stone moved to Morgan County in 1832, Henderson and his family followed. Henderson helped Stone organize the first Christian Church in Jacksonville, and in 1833, he established another church in Antioch, seven miles east of Jacksonville. He opened a law practice in Jacksonville, and served four years as probate judge. He also served as clerk of the Morgan County Circuit Court, where he met Abraham Lincoln. In 1837, he married Eliza Smedley, with Stone officiating. With his law practice flourishing, Henderson could devote the weekends to evangelism. He largely restricted his work to Morgan County and Western Illinois, although his evangelistic work did take him as far as Kentucky, Washington, DC, and Baltimore. He preached at churches in Lynnville, Mount Sterling, Winchester, and other towns. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, he was also the main evangelist of the movement in Chicago. A devoted abolitionist, Henderson published the Statesman in Jacksonville, according to him the first abolitionist paper west of the Appalachian Mountains. In the early 1840s, he also became co-editor of the Christian Messenger with Stone, continuing the paper for a time as editor after Stone's death in 1844. A strong advocate of education, particularly for women, Henderson encouraged the creation of Eureka College, and in the fall of 1848, he held a protracted revival at the Walnut Grove Christian Church that resulted in numerous converts and increased support for the school. After the Walnut Grove meeting, Henderson and his family moved to Columbia, Missouri, to assumed work at the First Christian Church. Henderson's interest in education was soon felt. From 1849 to 1851, he worked with others to establish a "Female Collegiate Institute" in Columbia. In January 1851, the Missouri General Assembly incorporated the school, and in the fall, classes began. In December 1851, Henderson became president of the board of trustees, a position he would hold until 1865. Henderson also recognized the need for a Christian co-educational institution in the area, and in 1852, he convinced the citizens of Canton to establish Christian College. In 1853, the Missouri General Assembly chartered this school as Christian University (later Culver-Stockton College), the first co-educational institution west of the Mississippi River. In 1855, Henderson moved to Louisville, Kentucky to assume the pastorate of the Christian Church at Fourth and Walnut Streets. During the Civil War, Henderson held strong Unionist views, but remained conciliatory toward those in his congregation with sympathy toward the Confederacy.

Gravestone, Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville, IL; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Morgan County, 19 January 1837, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Nathaniel S. Haynes, History of the Disciples of Christ in Illinois 1819-1914 (Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 1915), 35, 118, 152, 334, 339, 385, 448, 529; Charles M. Eames, comp., Historic Morgan and Classic Jacksonville (Jacksonville, IL: Daily Journal Steam Job Printing, 1885), 133; A History of Eureka College (St. Louis, MO: Christian, 1894), 19-20; "An Act to Charter a Female College," 18 January 1851, Laws of the State of Missouri (1851), 310-12; I. M. E. Blandin, History of Higher Education of Women in the South Prior to 1860 (New York: Neale, 1909), 206-208; "An Act to Incorporate Christian University," 28 January 1853, Laws of the State of Missouri (1853), 293-96; Sugg v. Morris, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=140888; History of the Restoration Movement, David Patterson Henderson, accessed January 22, 2019, http://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/illinois/henderson.htm.