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On 21October 2002 Henderson descendant John Nash and his wife
Mary of California were returning from a research trip to Tennessee. They stopped in
Jackson, Missouri and picked up John’s brother, Philip Nash, and sister in-law,
Linda, and brought them along on a visit to their ancestral ground in Caledonia.
The Nash brothers are descended from Mary Goforth and
Samuel Henderson who came from Tennessee and settled in Washington County, Missouri
circa 1810. Esther Carroll, the Nashes Henderson cousin and a resident of Washington
County, and Gene Carroll met the Nashes at Ken’s One Stop and Esther and Gene gave
them the ancestral tour of the area. John Nash and Esther had been corresponding
for several years but had never met in person before.
They first went to
see Lot #44. When
Caledonia was platted in 1819 & the lots offered for sale, Samuel purchased Lot #44
where he resided with his first wife, Mary Goforth and their children. After Mary’s
death in 1825 Samuel remarried in 1827 to Elizabeth Harris and they moved to northwest of
Belgrade.
Next the Carrolls took the Nashes to Bellevue
Presbyterian Cemetery where there are several Henderson graves and where the original
Bellevue Presbyterian Church was located of which Samuel was a member. The church was
organized in 1816 and was
the first Presbyterian Church formed west of
the Mississippi River.
During the 1830’s Samuel Henderson converted to the new Mormon faith. He went
to Nauvoo when the Mormons were forced to flee Missouri in 1839. When the Mormon’s
were forced to abandon Nauvoo in 1846 they traveled 1,500 miles of wilderness trekking
over the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, by foot and by covered wagon, to an unknown
desert land in Utah and founded Salt Lake City. Samuel died there in 1856 and is buried in
Salt Lake City Cemetery.
Esther Carroll is a double
Henderson descendant being descended from Samuel Henderson’s older brother, John
Henderson, who came from Tennessee and settled in Jefferson County, Missouri circa 1802.
She is also descended from Samuel’s younger brother, James Henderson, who was born in
Tennessee in 1791 and settled in St. Francois County, Missouri circa 1814. John
Henderson’s son, John Jr., married James Henderson’s daughter, Mary Ann. John
Jr. and Mary Ann Henderson were Esther Carroll’s third great grandparents. |
