James Henderson1

(25 September 1813 - 19 August 1892)
FatherArchibald Henderson2,3 (cir. Aug 1779 - Feb 1826)
MotherMargaret McEwan (W)2,3 (cir. Dec 1782 - aft. Mar 1828)
Relationship2nd great-grandfather of Lorna Henderson
James & Amelia (nee MILLAR) HENDERSON, Oamaru, NZ c 1896

BMDB data

     James Henderson was born on 25 Sep 1813 Bridge of Allan, Lecropt, STI, SCT, (erroneously given as Sep 1814 in the Maxton "letter" 28 Nov 1875.)4,3,5 He was christened in 1813 Par. of Lecropt, PER, SCT; witnesses: Archibald Galloch (?possibly Garnock), Peter Dewar (no date given in OPR.)3
     James Henderson married Amelia Millar, daughter of James Millar and Margaret Chrystal (T2e), on 2 Dec 1836 St Ninians, STI, SCT, Banns Proclaimed 13 Nov 1836 James Henderson Logie, Amelia Millar St Ninians.6,7,2,8,9
     James Henderson died on 19 Aug 1892 Coquet St, Oamaru, OTG, NZ, at age 78; cert. reads: On 19th Aug 1892, James Henderson, blacksmith, aged 77 years, of apoplexy of 3 days duration. Last seen by A I Garland, surgeon on 18th Aug 1892. Father Archibald Henderson, blacksmith, mother Margaret m.s. McEwen. Buried 21 Aug 1892 at Oamaru cemetery by Alexander B Todd, Presbyterian minister. Born Bridge of Allan Stirlingshire; in NZ 18 years. Married Stirling, Scotland at age 22 to Amelia Millar. Surviving children: 5 M:55 Archibald, 52 James, 49 David, 47 William, 37 John. 7 F: 53 Margaret, 45 Elizabeth, 41 Amelia, 39 Mary, 35 Janet, 35 Isabella, 33 Agnes. Informant Falconer, undertaker, Oamaru.
     Dth notice in the North Otago Times and his obit in the same issue notes: "Another old identity, ripe in years, and respected by all, passed away yesterday morning at the age of 78. Mr James Henderson came to Port Chalmers 18 years ago in the Wild Deer and has resided in this district every since. He was a native of the Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, and previous to coming to the colony was well known in the parishes of Carnwath and Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, where he resided for many years. He has enriched the colony by the fact that eleven sons and daughters are settled in NZ, and their offspring and their children's offspring add considerably to our industrious population. His grand-children alone number nearly 80, and the tree has therefore borne many branches. Nine of his children are settled in this district, and are well known, one resides in Timaru (this is James), and another (Mr David Henderson) is settled in the North Island. The latter was a well known settler of Oamaru in his early days. Mr Henderson Senr, made himself respected by all with whom he came into contact, and the regret at his death will be widespread and sincere. He leaves a widow to mourn her loss. Some time ago Mr Henderson met with an accident at Ngapara while on a visit to his son there. The shock to the system of one so advanced in years had evidently been severe, for although he seemingly was mending, yet he never quite recovered, and on Tues morning had an apoplectic seizure, from which he eventually died. The funeral will leave his late residence, Coquet St, to-morrow , at 2:30pm, for the Oamaru Cem.2,10 He was buried with Amelia Henderson Block 49 plot 3, Oamaru, OTG, NZ, H/Stone: Oamaru stone with squarish urn on top 7 feet: Erected by a loving wife I.M.O. her husband James Stuart Campbell (son-in-law of James and Amelia) of Ngapara, native of Muckert (sic), Scotland, died 19 March 1881, aged 39 years, death being the result of an accident. "In the midst of life we are in death." Also James Henderson, died at Oamaru, 19 August 1892, aged 78 years. Also Amelia Miller Henderson died 29 April 1894, aged 78 years.2,8,11
     According to Amelia's grddtr Millie Harbour nee Henderson: the 12 children of this family (that of James and Amelia) "were all privately educated" but this to be taken with a grain of salt - the school was probably miles away. Aunt Millie was fond of exaggerating her ancestry a tad saying eg that her mother had been a lady in waiting to the Queen Mother (Refer to this blog posts for that story!12

Migration

     James and Amelia Henderson immigrated from Greenock 5 Dec 1873 on the 'Wild Deer' arriving 8 Mar 1874 Port Chalmers,Dunedin,OTG,NZ they then transferred to the 'Samson' to Oamaru, "they" including 5 of their children (Amelia, John, Janet, Isabella & Agnes), David having begun the exodus in 1863, followed by Elizabeth and Mary 1867, James and wife in 1868, then William 1872. Margaret and husband Robert didn't follow until 1880, and Archibald stayed behind.13

Census/Where lived/Occupations

     James appeared on the census of 7 Jun 1841 Cleuch (Cleugh) Burnfoot, Forth, Par. of Carnwath, LKS, SCT, with Amelia Henderson, as HENDERSON: James, 25, blacksmith; Amelia 26; Archibald 4; Margaret 2 (all not born county); James 4 mths born county (NB instructions to the enumerators for this census were to round ages to the nearest multiple of 5, children tended to have their ages accurately recorded - or at least as accurate as such things can be. These instructions were not always followed.)14
     James and Amelia Henderson appeared on the census of 30 Mar 1851 Village, Forth, Par. of Carnwath, LKS, SCT, as HENDERSON, James, head, mar, 35, blacksmith b Lecropt, STI; Ameliaa (sic), wife, 34, b Kippen, STI; Children: Archibald, 14, smith's son b Logie, STI; Margreat (sic) 12, b SantNinians (sic); David, 7; William, 5, both scholars b Carnwath, LKS; Elizabeth, 3; Amelia 7 mths, both b Carnwath; Visitor John SMITH, unm, 18, wright b Carnwath, LKS (may possibly be a relative of Margaret's future husband?)
(Prior households had a hand hewer and a range maker in them, so I assume that by 1851 the family had moved from Cleuch Burnfoot into the actual village, rather than the census page "Village" also including the vicinity of Forth.)15,16,17
     The census of 1861 showed James with his wife Amelia, their sons James, David, William and John, their dtrs Margaret, Elizabeth, Amelia, Mary, Janet, Isabella and Agnes in the Village of Forth, Par. of Carnwath, LKS, SCT, household enumerated as HENDERSON: James 46 smith b Bridge of Allan, Stirling; wife Amelia 44 b Kippen, Stirling; Children: Margaret 22 b St Ninians, Stirling; James 20 smith, David 18 wright, William 15 smith, Elizabeth 13, Amelia 10, Mary 8, John 6 all scholars, Janet & Isabel 3, Agnes 1 all b Carnwath.18
     James Henderson was described in the Henderson booklet as a blacksmith and horse veterinarian cir. 1866 Stonebyres House, LKS, SCT, to 1873. This has subsequently been disputed. In a 1957 letter from Amelia Harbour, nee Henderson to her nephew Earl Henderson, Milly says: "I have mentioned before that Grandfather never worked at Stonebyres. He had a business at Forth in the vicinity of Stonebyres and quite a lot of the estate work of Stonebyres was done in his shop". "Shop" seems a rather grand name from the little buildings at Cleuch Burnfoot I (Lorna) found in 1995, and I seem to remember that Stonebyres and Cleuch Burnfoot were quite a distance apart (memory is a faulty thing, looking at a map, they seem to be about 12 miles from each other, Stonebyres being about 2.5 miles west of Lanark.)19,20
     The census of 1871 showed James with his wife Amelia, their dtrs Amelia, Janet, Isabella and Agnes, their son John Beatons, Par. of Lesmahagow, LKS, SCT, household enumerated as HENDERSON: James, 56 blacksmith b Lecropt, PER; wife Amelia 55 wife of blacksmith b Kippen STI; Children (all b Carnwath, LKS): Amelia 20 dom serv; John 16 blacksmith; Janet 13 dom serv; Isabella 13 dom serv; Agnes 11 scholar (the next entry was Woodgate, then "Livery Stables", then Bothie.)21

All the other info

     When William Henderson married Helen Sinton Wight on 21 Apr 1876 it was at the house of James; Married at the house of Mr James Henderson by (Presbyterian22 Minister) Rev A B Todd. The St Paul's Parish index shows Helen as 27 and William as 30. (BDM Folio #1040) cert shows: William Henderson as 30, blacksmith and Helen Wight as 27. Minister: Alexander B Todd Witnesses: John Henderson, blacksmith, Oamaru, Agnes G White (later John's wife), Oamaru, marr. at the house of Mr James Henderson (William's father), Coquet St, Oamaru
As Helen appears to have emigrated to NZ on her own (there were no familiar names on the passenger list to indicate she travelled with a relation) I had assumed that her marriage to William was a blind date. Given that they were married by the Rev Alexander Todd, who was himself from Maxton, is it possible that their introduction might have been arranged by him? Or, as I subsequently found one of her Richardson 2nd cousins (Andrew) living in the same street in Oamaru, perhaps that's how the "date" was arranged?23,22,24,25,26
     James and Amelia Henderson celebrated their golden wedding on 3 Dec 1886 Oldfellows Hall, Coquet St, Oamaru, OTG, NZ, the hall was alongside their home. The occasion was reported (at least as printed in the History of Oamaru27) as "Mr & Mrs John (sic) Henderson, of Coquet St, old and respected residents of Oamaru, celebrated their golden wedding on 3rd Dec 1886; their ages were respectively 72 and 70 years. They had 5 sons, 7 dtrs, all living, 58 grandchildren and 4 ggchildren."28,27 Given we've been having so much success on James' siblings of late, I felt it really was long past the time for me to put at least some of my data on him on the web! Some year I'll have to go back through all my notes and tidy them up enough, but in the meantime, these are the basics of my 2xgreat grandfather's life. Descendants are numerous, I know of at least 1388, and I haven't contacted members of all branches of the family as yet. They are spread far and wide throughout New Zealand, and further afield. If you're reading this, can claim relationship to James or Amelia and we've not been in contact, do get in touch, I'd love to "meet" you - and update my records.29

External links

     Click here to see James's page on WikiTree, a (free) collaborative on-line tree.30
     Click here to see James and family on the FamilySearch FamilyTree.31

Family

Amelia Millar (Feb 1817 - Apr 1894)
Children
  • Archibald Henderson+32,33 (cir. Mar 1837 - Apr 1911)
  • Margaret Henderson+34,35 (Jan 1839 - Aug 1923)
  • James Henderson36,37 (Jan 1841 - Sep 1912)
  • David Henderson38,39 (Dec 1843 - Aug 1906)
  • William Henderson40 (Oct 1845 - Jul 1931)
  • Elizabeth Henderson41,42 (Nov 1847 - Dec 1935)
  • Amelia Henderson43 (Sep 1850 - Nov 1937)
  • Mary Henderson44 (Aug 1852 - Feb 1929)
  • John Henderson45 (Dec 1854 - Jun 1925)
  • Janet Henderson46 (Jun 1857 - Sep 1927)
  • Isabella Henderson46 (Jun 1857 - Oct 1945)
  • Agnes Henderson47 (Aug 1859 - Nov 1920)
ChartsMy pedigree chart
Ancestors & siblings of Les Henderson
Paternal ancestors of Lorna
Paternal timeline
HENDERSON
Descendants of William McEWAN and Margaret GRAY
Last Edited5 Oct 2022

Citations

  1. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth Sep 1814 James HENDERSON, extracted c 1972, (year incorrectly given as 1814 instead of the 1813 in the parish records).
  2. James HENDERSON, DC: HENDERSON, James 1892, Folio #1636/1892 Inspection p/copy held, dated & rcvd Aug 1993.
  3. Births marriages: Lecropt, PER, Bap. 1813 James HENDERSON, extracted Sep 1994.
  4. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth Sep 1814 James HENDERSON, extracted c 1972, (year incorrectly given as 1814 instead of the 1813 in the parish records).
  5. Letter, Helen Sinton HENDERSON nee WIGHT (43) to family, 28 Nov 1875.
  6. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Marr. 1836 Amelia & James HENDERSON, extracted c 1972, (Aunt Isabel's copy annotated Amelia as nee Miller).
  7. Birth marriage death: St Ninians, STI, Marr. 1836 James HENDERSON and Amelia MILLAR, extracted Sep/Oct 1994/5.
  8. Amelia HENDERSON nee MILLAR, DC: HENDERSON, Amelia, Folio 1100/1894: Inspection p/copy dated 1993 held (gives father as James MILLAR, no mother stated).
  9. Ian Aitken-Kemp, "EMail Corres. re HENDERSON/AITKEN between Ian A-K & LornaHen," e-mail to Lorna Henderson, Banns 13 Nov 1836 James HENDERSON (Logie) and Amelia MILLAR (St Ninians), copy rcvd Jan 2009.
  10. North Otago Times, Dth and Obit 1892 James HENDERSON, pages 2 & 3 of edition dated August 20th 1892, extracted Jan 2006.
  11. Oamaru Cemetery transcriptions S01.15, 488-495. , Fiche 489 # 752, extracted pre 1990.
  12. Letter, Amelia Jane HARBOUR nee HENDERSON to Earl HENDERSON, 22 Jul 1957, updated Mar 2019.
  13. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Immigration data for James, Amelia & family, extracted c 1972.
  14. 1841 Census, Carnwath, LKS, SCT, Dist 632 EnumDist 6, hsehold of James & Amelia HENDERSON, extracted Sep/Oct 1994/5.
  15. 1851 Census, Carnwath, LKS, SCT, Village, Forth, Carnwath, LKS, EnumDist 8 Entry #38, hsehold of James & Amelia(a) HENDERSON, extracted Sep/Oct 1994/5.
  16. Census image, SCT, 1851 Village of Forth, Carnwath, LKS 632/00 008/00 011, hsehold of James & Amelia HENDERSON, copy d/loaded Aug 2011.
  17. "Lorna's Family History Musings", Aug 2011.
  18. 1861 Census transcripts, Scotland, via Ancestry.com, Village of Forth, Par. of Carnwath, LKS, Reg 632 ED 9 Pg 8 Sched 37, hsehold of James & Amelia HENDERSON, extracted Aug 2007.
  19. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family.
  20. Letter, Amelia Jane HARBOUR nee HENDERSON to Earl HENDERSON, 22 Jul 1957.
  21. Census image, SCT, 1871 Census: Carnwath, LKS SCT Dist 632 ED 2 Page 19 Schedule #59, hsehold of James & Amelia HENDERSON, copy d/loaded May 2005.
  22. Letter, Amelia J HARBOUR nee HENDERSON to (possibly Earl HENDERSON), 15 Jun 1957, Marr. 21 Apr 1876 Helen Sinton Wight married William Henderson "at Oamaru by Rev A B Todd (born at Maxton)."
  23. Certificate, William HENDERSON and Helen WIGHT marriage of 21 Apr 1876 BDM #1040 Ref 105 Certified copy held, dated and rcvd Sep 1993 (bride indexed as Ellen WRIGHT, although clearly shown on cert as Helen WIGHT).
  24. Presbyterian Archives, NZ online at https://pcanzarchives.recollect.co.nz/, Marr. 21 Apr 1876 Helen WIGHT (27) & William HENDERSON (30), 2/236, from St Pauls Parish, Oamaru Marriages 1869 to 1920, extracted Aug 2007.
  25. NZ births deaths marriages (index on fiche), Marr. 1876 William HENDERSON & Ellen WRIGHT (sic), folio 1040.
  26. "Lorna's Family History Musings", Sep 2003, updated Jun 2007.
  27. W H S ROBERTS, The History of Oamaru and North Otago, p436 (reported as Mr and Mrs John Henderson instead of James).
  28. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, (p6:In 1886 their golden wedding was celebrated in the Oddfellows' hall alongside their home, and there was a large gathering of the family and friends.).
  29. "Lorna's Family History Musings", Sep 2006.
  30. WikiTree online at http://WikiTree.com/, Oct 2011.
  31. FamilySearch Family Tree online at https://familysearch.org/tree/, Mar 2013.
  32. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1837 Archibald HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.
  33. Ian Aitken-Kemp, "EMail Corres. re HENDERSON/AITKEN between Ian A-K & LornaHen," e-mail to Lorna Henderson, Bap. 8 Mar 1837 Archibald s/o James HENDERSON & Amelia MILLAR, in Craigmill, by Min of Dunblane, Logie, PER, 374/00500049, copy rcvd Jan 2009.
  34. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1839 Margaret HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.
  35. Birth marriage death: St Ninians, STI, Bap. 1839 Margaret HENDERSON, extracted Sep/Oct 1994/5.
  36. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1841 James HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.
  37. BDM: NZ Certificates, Dth 1912 James HENDERSON, Folio 2941/12, inspection p/copy dated and rcvd Feb 1995.
  38. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1842 David HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.
  39. BDM: NZ Certificates, Death 1906 David HENDERSON.
  40. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1845 William HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.
  41. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1851 Elizabeth HENDERSON, extracted c 1972, (Mary Dewar nee Miller's copy, from Aunt Isabel, annotated Nov 12 1847, which is born out by parish records).
  42. Birth/baptism: Carnwath, LKS, Birth 12 Nov Bap. 20 Dec 1847 Elizabeth d/o James HENDERSON & Amelia MILLAR, Cleuch Burnfoot, p/copy held.
  43. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1851 Amelia HENDERSON, extracted c 1972, (1 year later than actual).
  44. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1853 Mary HENDERSON, extracted c 1972, (1 year later than actual).
  45. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1854 John HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.
  46. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1857 Janet & Isabella HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.
  47. Isabella Chittock nee Howden, James Henderson and his family, Birth 1859 Agnes HENDERSON, extracted c 1972.

E. & O. E. Some/most parish records are rather hard to read and names, places hard to interpret, particularly if you are unfamiliar with an area.