Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Andrew Henderson and Mary Allison




Husband Andrew Henderson 1 2 3

           Born: 1762 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 26 Jun 1812 3 4
         Buried:  - Huntingdon Cemetery, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Co, PA


         Father: Andrew Henderson (      -1762) 1
         Mother: Elizabeth Finney (Abt 1728-1816) 1


       Marriage: Abt 1791 3



Wife Mary Allison 3 5

           Born: 6 Sep 1769 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 21 Mar 1823 3 4
         Buried:  - Huntingdon Cemetery, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Co, PA


         Father: Col. John Allison (1738-1795) 3 5 6
         Mother: Elizabeth Wilkin (1748-1815) 3 5 6




Children
1 M John Allison Henderson 4 7

           Born: 1793 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 15 Sep 1824 4 7
         Buried:  - Huntingdon Cemetery, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Co, PA




General Notes: Husband - Andrew Henderson


From Chester County, Pennsylvania, he was one of the early settlers in Huntingdon County, which was organized September 20, 1787, and was formed from part of Bedford County. He was an officer in the Revolutionary war at the age of seventeen, and belonged to the order of Cincinnatus. He was appointed September 29, 1787, associate judge of Huntingdon County for a term of seven years. At the same time, he was also appointed recorder of deeds and register of wills, and on January 15, 1788, received a commission as justice-elect for the town of Huntingdon. On December 13, 1788, he was appointed prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a member of the convention which framed the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790. After the adoption of that constitution he was re-appointed by Governor Mifflin on July 11, 1791, prothonotary and clerk of the Quarter Sessions, Oyer and Terminer and Orphans' Courts; and on January 13, 1800, Governor McKean re-appointed him to all these offices, which he continued to hold until February 28, 1809. He was elected chief burgess of the borough of Huntingdon for five successive years, from 1803 to 1807 inclusive, and again in 1809 and 1810. He erected a large three-story brick house at the southeast corner of Third and Allegheny streets, in the borough of Huntingdon, about 1810, which was occupied as the Pennsylvania Railroad depot for a number of years, and which was eventually torn down about 1893.

Nothing definite is known of the history of Mr. Henderson prior to his advent into Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, save that he came from Chester County. He became one of the early associate judges of Huntingdon. He was appointed on the 29th of September, 1787, for a term of seven years. His commission as associate judge is recorded on the first and second pages of the first book opened in the recorder's office, Docket A, No. 1.
Mr. Henderson appears to have been one of those fortunate men who had office upon office and office after office thrust upon him. At the same time that he was appointed an associate judge, he was also appointed recorder of deeds in and for the county and register of wills, and on the same day he received a commission Dedimus Potestatem, and on the 15th of January, 1788, he received a commission as justice-elect for the town of Huntingdon. On the 13th of December, 1788, he was appointed prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of 1790. After the adoption of that Constitution, while these commissions were all in force, Governor Mifflin, on the 11th of July, 1791, reappointed him prothonotary, clerk of the Quarter Sessions, Oyer and Terminer, and of the Orphans' Court, and on the 13th of January, 1800, Governor McKean reappointed and commissioned him to all these offices, and he continued to hold them until the 28th of February, 1809, when he was succeeded by William Steel in the offices of register and recorder, prothonotary and clerk of the several courts, the appointing power having changed from Governor McKean to Governor Snyder.
Mr. Henderson was on the bench as late as September term, 1790, but not later. His character as associate judge is not so conspicuous as that of a pioneer in the town and county of Huntingdon. He moulded the offices and shaped the practices in them. The offices of register and recorder he held for twenty-two consecutive years, first under the Supreme Executive Council, and afterwards under Governor Mifflin's and Governor McKean's administrations under the Constitution of 1790, and the offices of prothonotary and clerk of the several courts he held for the term of eighteen years.
Mr. Henderson was popular, not only with the appointing powers of the State, but also with the people among whom he lived and associated. He was five times elected chief burgess of the borough of Huntingdon in five successive years, from 1803 to 1807, both inclusive, and again in 1809 and in 1810, thus being the chief ruler of Huntingdon for seven years. Some of the laws of the borough signed by him were still upon the ordinance-book almost one hundred years later.
He erected a large brick house on the southeast corner of Allegheny and Third Streets, in Huntingdon, long known as the Pennsylvania Railroad depot, prior to its removal a square farther westward. He occupied that large and commodious house with his family down to the time of his death.
In the southeast corner of the cemetery on the hill in Huntingdon is an inclosure surrounded by a massive brick wall, in which rest side by side the mortal remains of Andrew Henderson, and of Mary Henderson, his wife.
Mr. Henderson, like many of the first settlers of Huntingdon, was an Episcopalian.

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Sources


1 J. Smith Futhey & Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1881), Pg 599.

2 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 62, 437.

3 —, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 10.

4 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 62.

5 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 437.

6 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 86.

7 —, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 11.


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