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Facts and Events
Getting to Wardsville, Canada West From the obituary of Henry’s brother Richard it is known that the family immigrated to North America in 1836 from somewhere near Dublin, Ireland. In that pre steamship era, the Atlantic crossing could have easily taken 60 to 90 days and New York City was their likely port of entry. It is anybody’s guess as to why they settled on a farm in Raquetteville, now Norwood, New York, how they got there or even if they reached there in 1836. Was Henry with the family in 1840? Unfortunately the 1840 USA census only lists the head of the household and the number of males and females. The Henderson family was missing two males which could be interpreted that Henry, age 16, and William, age 18, had left in search of work. The Canadian census of 1861 asked for the year of immigration and Henry declared that he had immigrated to Canada in 1842. If Henry was expected to work off the farm he would have found that jobs were few and far between. In 1842, A. B. Hawke, Chief Emigrant Agent for Canada West recorded in his letter book that he was concerned with the number of persons landing at Canadian ports from the United States and he wrote to his superior on May 9th that “from the almost universal cessation of the public works in the neighboring states I apprehend we shall receive a very considerable addition to our population from there this year.” and on May 21st he recorded “emigrant arrivals at Toronto via Oswego, Rochester and Lewiston, 2,520 of whom upward of 500 were persons landed at New York this year.” Why did Henry eventually stop in Wardsville? It is said that Wardsville had only 12 buildings in 1840 but had a count of 400 persons in the census of 1851, a growth rate which presumably classified it as a boomtown. It is known that Henry was one of those 400 but it is not known if he reached Wardsville in 1842 or at a later date. Perhaps he stopped because Wardsville was the first place where he encountered work. It doesn’t seem likely that Henry disembarked from a Lake Erie sailing ship and walked inland to Wardsville, more likely he went from the western end of Lake Ontario by land, traveling by road to London and from there continuing towards Windsor on the corduroy Longwoods Road, which was started in 1820. In 1842 there were no railways in what is now south-western Ontario. It may be that he was intending to continue west to Michigan but ran into a counter flow of individuals returning from there or he may have been one of the counter flow. A. B. Hawke in a letter of the 21st of May 1842 reported that old country people were crossing from Michigan and Ohio into Canada West because of the “hostile feeling manifested by the native Americans” and that these folks “had made considerable sacrifices in form of property to enable them to reach Canada.” By the 1830s, as a result of increasing number of immigrants, particularly the Irish with their Catholicism, an American nativist movement arose in the USA leading to the creation of the Native American Party in 1835 and later in 1850 a similar group called the Know-Nothing Party. A simpler reason may have been that Henry knew folks from his home county in Ireland who had already settled in the Wardsville area. In 1848 he married Elizabeth Brownlee. The Brownlee family from Cavan, Ireland had obtained land in the Township just west of Wardsville’s Mosa Township from Colonel Talbot in 1832. It is possible that he tracked down his childhood sweetheart, established himself as a blacksmith and then married. Henry’s Profession It has been stated by others that Henry apprenticed, as a blacksmith in Ireland, but that is unlikely. He would have been only a lad of 12 at the time he left Ireland. It is more likely that he apprenticed with someone in Wardsville although he may have picked up some blacksmith experience while at the Norwood home farm. More details on Henry’s business and that of his sons can be found elsewhere. Henry’s First Wife Henry’s first wife, Elizabeth Margaret Brownlee, after suffering two years from heart disease, died January 13, 1894 at age 70 and was buried in the Wardsville Municipal Cemetery. Very little is known about her other than that she bore nine children and was illiterate, always signing legal documents with an “x”. In his Day Book, Henry did mention Elizabeth once in July 1892 when he recorded the cost of a land trip with his wife to Sarnia, then by boat to Sault Ste. Marie and back again. He recorded that he gave $7.00 to daughter Minnie in Sarnia and $15.50 to the children of his son Thomas in the Soo. Henry’s Second Wife After living as a widower for about one year, Henry married Rachel Bevort Ghent on April 18, 1895. Rachel was widowed in July 1891 by William Boyd Ghent of Burford, a town and Township near Brantford, Ontario. William and Rachel had four girls born between 1855 and 1861.The second oldest girl, Alice Eleanor, familiarly called Nellie, married Henry Arthur Wilson on December 23, 1884, a young dentist practicing in Wardsville and went to reside with him. In the subsequent eleven years prior to 1895 Nellie and Henry had five children and, no doubt, mother paid more than one visit to Wardsville upon each birth. By 1891, and probably before, the Wilsons lived in a house next door to Walter L. Henderson, one of Henry’s sons so it is not difficult to explain how Henry may have met a lady from Burford. Rachel died on March 7, 1908 some six years after Henry Henderson and was buried with her first husband William Ghent at a cemetery in Oxford County, Ontario. Henry’s Will The Ontario Archives does not have any death record for Henry but it does have a copy of his Will and court documents with the date of death agreeing with the family bible date. Henry died October 20, 1902 at age 78. It should be noted that Henry’s Will was written on the 9th of October, 1902, only 11 days before he died. The Will gave Rachel all real estate except for the family farm. A 50 acre property in Aldborough Township across the Thames River from Wardsville, given to Rachel, was to revert to his son, James Franklin Henderson, provided he paid his brother Thomas $500 within one year after Rachel’s death. James Franklin received the Wardsville family farm and its contents, except Henry’s buggy and cooking stove which went to Rachel, and he also was required to pay Rachel $50 per year. His daughter, Minnie Morrison, (Maryanne Henderson) was given Henry’s five shares in the Traders Bank. Traders Bank was taken over by the Royal Bank in 1912. James Franklin was also given all bank accounts and required to pay all funeral and testamentary expenses from those funds. The Hall Clock was specifically given to James Franklin. Another daughter, Jane Henderson – Newson had died two years earlier. William Henry and Walter Lewis were probably well enough off that Henry didn’t think it necessary to mention them in the Will. Eder was established as an engineer and land surveyor in Maine and also not mentioned. For $1500 Henry had sold but more likely given to his youngest John Clayton in 1894, fifty acres in Mosa Township, which John then sold in 1901. Henry likely calculated that he had been fair to John and there was no need to give him anything further. Real Estate As well as creating a thriving farm equipment business, Henry also transacted quite a few real estate deals. Nineteen purchases have been identified and there are certainly more to be found. Most occurred in Wardsville south of Longwoods Road (Hwy. 2) and west of Haggarty Street (the street running south over the Thames river bridge). The “Henderson house” was purchased on March 30, 1870 from the Reverend Joel Tombleson Wright who had purchased it February 21st ,1863 from John Davis. Davis bought the property 23 years earlier in 1840 from Wm. Ward who received it from the Crown on April 13, 1825 by Patent. It may have been Davis who built the house. Henry had some dealings with his own children and one has to wonder whether cash actually changed hands or was the land given and a value recorded as having been received. The sale to John Clayton of 50 acres in Mosa Township in 1894 is one example. It was mentioned above that Henry willed 50 acres in Aldborough Township to his son James Franklin. There is evidence that Henry may have bought this property from James Franklin in 1896, possibly to help him financially. This particular acreage was nearby, just across the Thames River and two farms to the west. Where was the foundry? There are a few Deeds which describe lots south of Longwoods Road, west of Haggarty, east of Davis and north of Palmers Lane commonly referred to as Foundry Road. In instrument #135, in 1865, Henry leased a piece of land on lot 20 in the same block “adjoining the foundry lot”. In other words, the foundry was probably at the southwest corner of Wardsville’s main intersection of Longwoods Road and Haggarty Street. The Henderson Home The first photo was taken about 1875 on a fall afternoon. None of the six adults nor the young boy with the tricycle are blurred indicating they were posed by a professional photographer. Probably the crochet game was also staged and used as a prop. As names were not given, only a best guess can be used. On the porch are Henry Henderson with a stovepipe hat and his wife. Of the four crochet players, the one with the bowler hat and beard is probably Peter Charles Campbell and one of the women his wife Matilda Henderson. The other two are likely adult children of Henry. The young lad is unknown but could be one of Henry's youngest either James Franklin or John Clayton. The photo of the Henderson property is from around 1925. Longwoods Road crosses it and, at the left, at right angles to Longwoods, is Davis Street, and further along between the brick posts is the lane back to the Henderson home. The house is indicated by a red arrow. The pine trees seen in the first photo are now much taller and if one looks carefully, the porch now wraps around to the left side of the house. The flat land behind the house stops at a tree line which is the Thames River. Beyond the river the land rises in Aldborough Township in Elgin County. The photo was taken from the hill on the north side of Longwoods Road just west of Haggarty Street.
1842, arrived in Canada. 1851 Census: Wardsville, ON, blacksmith, Ireland, age 25, 2 male, 3 female, 1 1/2 storey frame house. Second male possibly Andrew McLean, "prentice". 1860 Census: blacksmith/wagon maker. 1861 Census: Mosa, MIDDLESEX, ON, line 19, founder, born IRE, emmig. 1848, Episc., age 37. 1871 Census: Wardsville, WEST MIDDLESEX, ON, age 46, born IRE, Church of England, foundry operator. 1881 Census: Wardsville, WEST MIDDLESEX, ON, page 1, line 1, age 56, born IRE, CofE, foundry. 1888-89 Gazeteer, R. L. Polk & Co. page 1130: Henderson, Henry & Sons, foundry. 1885: Ont Arch reel N344 R-4P, Glencoe Transcript, 23 April, 1885: Wardsville; Henderson Brothers shipped one of their brick and tile machines to Messrs. Clements & Winger of Kent Bridge, this week. 1885 Annual Report, Bureau of Industries, Ontario (M21): C.A. O'Malley, Mosa, Middlesex: Very fair progress is made in under-draining considering the hard times. We make more tile here than in any rural section of Ontario that I know of. They are A1 quality. Henderson Bros, of Wardsville, make one of the best tile machines in use. So-called professional ditchers are numerous enough, but very few of them are to be trusted. 1891 Census: Wardsville, WEST MIDDLESEX, ON, 66, IRE, IRE, IRE, CofE, farmer. 1901 Census: Wardsville, WEST MIDDLESEX, page 4, line 11, Feb 28 1824, age 77, IRE, emmig. 1842, Episcopalian, farmer with second wife and son Franklin. Image Gallery
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