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Family Group Record 0037
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Husband's Name John Henry (Reverend)
Born: 1779 Place: North Carolina
Died: 17 Sep 1872 Place: Center Point, Sevier, Arkansas
Married: Place: North Carolina
Married: 1824 Place: Hempstead County, Arkansas
Spouse: Elizabeth (Betsy) Ward
Father:
Mother:
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Wife's Name Ann Alexander
Born: 12 Nov 1786 Place: Lincoln County, North Carolina
Died: 30 Nov 1823 Place: Hempstead County, Arkansas
Father: John Alexander
Mother: Mary (Price) Morisson (Morrison)
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Children Five children identified
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1. Sex Name
M John Henry (Reverend) junior
Born: Place:
Died: 30 Aug 1830 Place: Batesville, Arkansas
Married: Place:
Spouse:
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2. Sex Name
F Mary Caroline Henry
Born: 18 May 1809 Place: Kentucky
Died: 15 Sep 1846 Place: Pike County, Arkansas
Married: 1826 Place: Hempstead County, Arkansas
Spouse: Isham Prewitt Latimer
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Moved to Missouri
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3. Sex Name
M James Henry
Born: 14 Nov 1810 Place: Bellevue, Washington, Missouri
Died: 26 Mar 1895 Place:
Married: Place: Arkansas
Spouse: Mahala (Mahalee-Mahalie) Emily Shook
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4. Sex Name
M William Henry
Born: 14 Mar 1814 Place: Bellevue, Washington, Missouri
Died: 08 Aug 1861 Place: buried ... Pike County, Arkansas
Married: Place: Arkansas
Spouse: Martha Ann Ward
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Moved to Arkansas in 1817
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5. Sex Name
F Lucetta Henry
Born: Abt 1822 Place: Hempstead County, Arkansas
Died: Place:
Married: Place: Arkansas
Spouse: John Washington Green
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Sources of Information: Family Group Record: Rev. John Henry & Ann
Alexander, Nora Garrett, Newkirk, Oklahoma (27 May 1993); Census Records:
Hempstead County, Arkansas 1830, 1840; Pike County, Arkansas 1840, 1850;
Sevier County, Arkansas 1850; Tombstones, inscriptions of: Center Point
Cemetery, Howard County, Arkansas (Rev. John Henry, Mary Caroline Latimer);
Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Pike County, Arkansas (William Henry); "The Crowe
Family" by Reverend John Finley Crowe (about 1855); Howard County Heritage,
Howard County (Arkansas) Heritage Club, 1988, page 277-278: The Arkansas
Gazette, December 23, 1823, Volume IV, No. 53, Whole No. 207, page 3,
column 3.
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Died. In Hempstead county on the 30th ult. Mrs. Ann Henry, wife of the Rev.
John Henry. The Arkansas Gazette, December 23, 1823, Volume IV, No. 53,
Whole No. 207, page 3, column 3. (William Woodruff, Printer to the
Territory, and publisher of the Laws of the United States, Little Rock,
Arkansas Terrtiory).
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John Finley Crowe, Hanover, Indiana: "... John Alexander ... emigrated to
Pennsylvania where he married. He had (five) children by his first wife,
his second wife was Mary Price ... Until the death of Mr. Alexander about
the year 1800, they lived in Lincoln county, (North Carolina). He left a
family of four sons and six daughters. The sons were Alexander, John, James
and Reese, the daughters, Violet, Jane, Elizabeth, Ann, Esther and Elvira
... Ann married John Henry in North Carolina. They first moved to Bellevue
and afterwards to Arkansas. Brother Henry was a man of ardent piety and was
licensed as a preacher in the Methodist Church and although he continued to
labor as a local preacher he seemed to be extensively useful. He probably
is still living in Hempstead County, Arkansas. His eldest son John was also
a preacher in the same connection, a young man of great promise, but he
died young. His mother (Ann) also died a comparatively young woman leaving
five or six children. "The Crowe Family" by Reverend John Finley Crowe, DD,
Presbyterian Minister, Founder of Hanover College, Hanover, Indiana (about
1855).
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William B. Nance, of Alabama Township, Nevada County, Ark., ... was married
to Mrs. Caroline Edmundson, widow of William D. Edmundson, and daughter of
James and Mahalie Henry, natives of the State of Missouri. James Henry
moved to this country and State in 1818, and his father was the first
Methodist preacher who came to Arkansas, and one of the pioneers of
Hempstead County. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas,
Nevada County, Arkansas, 1890, page 579-580.
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Chapter XXIV. A Pioneer Church. (Revs. John Henry, J. Reed, Salmon Ruggles,
and others.) The Missouri Conference was organized in 1816 ... (and William
Stevenson was appointed to the Hot Springs Circuit) ... which included all
the country from the Arkansas River to the Louisiana line ... (and) this
was all in the Missouri Territory, as the Arkanasas Territory was organized
in 1819. In 1817 William Stevenson and John Harris were appointed to (the)
Hot Springs Circuit ... Largely through the influence of Stevenson there
came from Bellevue, Missouri a colony of Methodists who settled in 1818,
and the next few years on Mound Prairie, a very fertile district five miles
northwest of Washington, in Hempstead County. A company of them crossed the
Arkansas River where Little Rock is now; but there were no settlers there
then, only one or two huts. They brought their families with them, also
live stock, some farm implements and tools, to plant a settlement in the
wilderness. They fearded God, and religious worship came with them. The
same year they organized a society and built a church. It was built of
hewed pine logs and was in size about twenty-eight by thirty feet. A door
in one side faced the pulpit and (a) large fireplace with (a) chimney at
one end of the house. The Negro slaves worshiped in the same congregation
and enjoyed all the religious privileges of the whites. This was the first
Methodist church in Arkansas and was called Mount Moriah. Within a year
this site was abandoned, and a new church was built near the old site,
about a mile away. I think difficulty about a deed to the land was the
cause. It was practically the same church, but the name was changed to
"Henry's Chapel," which name it bore for fifty years. It was on Mound
Prairie (not Mount Prairie). It is abandoned now, but the site out to be
determined and a mounument with proper inscription be erected there. The
centennial of Methodist history is near at hand. Let this be done, and let
there be a great gathering of Methodists from all the State to commerate
the occasion and give glory to God. Of Rev. John Henry, the leader of this
devoted colony, let me speak somewhat. He was born in North Carolina in
(1779). He was reared in a Presbyterian home by parents who worshiped God.
He established a family altar in his own home. He lived for a while near
Columbia, Tenn., then a few years in Missouri. He was licensed to preach
before 1810, and elected to deacon's orders before coming to Arkansas. He
labored much in preaching the gospel, a local preacher indeed, but a chief
factor in establishing Methodism among the incoming Colonists, who peopled
the State. He lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years, and died in
Center Point, September 17, 1872. This was the first Methodist Church
built in Arkansas, built indeed before Arkansas Territory was organized.
Some of the names of these pioneers have been preserved. Rev. John Henry,
Rev. J. Reed, Rev. Salmon Ruggles, James Alexander, Reece Alexander, Rev.
Gilbert Clark, and the circuit preachers, William Stevenson and John
Harris, probably made their headquarters among them while they traversed
the country hundreds of miles in every direction. It was not only a colony
of Methodists, but largely of Methodist preachers. The Church flourished,
and soon produced and licensed many more, such as Thomas Tennant, John
Henry, Jr., Lemuel Wakely, John Props, John Carr, Louis Props, Benjamin
Bland, Daniel Shook, Nathan Shook, Rice Shook, Gilbert Alexander, and
others. A son of John Henry, Mr. James Henry, married Mahalee Shook. Their
son, H.B. Henry, is a member of the West Texas Conference, and his
daughter, Miss Willie May Henry, is a deaconess of Crossett. She is the
great-granddaughter of the founder of the first Methodist Church in
Arkansas ... Lest We Forget, or Character Gems Gleaned From South Arkansas,
Rev. J.H. Riggin, D.D., Rev. W.F. Evans, collaborator; (Pine Bluff, Ark.):
Norton-Vail Printing Company, (no date), reprinted from an original
edition, private library of Mary Woodward Lewis, Magnolia, Arkansas;
Southern Historical Press, 1978, page 72-73, (revised & edited).
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Pike County, Arkansas Census 1850
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Schedule 1. Free inhabitants in Brewer Township in the County of Pike,
State of Arkansas enumerated by me, on the 8th day of November, 1850.
William H. Preston, Ass't Marshal.
128-128 Isham P. Latimer 44 m Saddler Kentucky
Mary A.J. Latimer 36 f South Carolina
John A. Latimer 17 m Farmer Arkansas
Merica J. Latimer 16 f Arkansas
James M.C. Latimer 14 m Arkansas
Isham P. Latimer 13 m Arkansas
Lafayette F. Latimer 11 m Arkansas
Lousette E. Latimer 9 f Arkansas
William R. Latimer 7 m Arkansas
Washington P. Latimer 5 m Arkansas
Charles C. Latimer 1 m Arkansas
Nancy Meers 12 f Georgia
William F. Meers 10 m Georgia
Mary A.E. Meers 8 f Georgia
Sarah E. Meers 5 f Georgia
Isham P. Latimer and Mary A.J. (unknown) Meers married, 02 Jan 1849,
Montgomery County, Arkansas Deed Book A (1845-1849), page 148.
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Sevier County, Arkansas Census 1850
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Schedule 1. Free inhabitants in Blue Bayou Township in the County of
Sevier, State of Arkansas enumerated by me on the 18th & 19th day of
Noember, 1850. H.G. Rind, Ass't Marshal.
353-353 William Henry 36 m Farmer Missouri
Martha Henry 33 f Missouri
Jasper Henry 13 m Arkansas
William Henry 11 m Arkansas
Margret Henry 8 f Arkansas
Emily Henry 5 f Arkansas
Lucetta Henry 4 f Arkansas
James Henry 1 m Arkansas
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Schedule 1. Free inhabitants in Blue Bayou Township in the County of
Sevier, State of Arkansas enumerated by me on the 19th day of November,
1850. H.G. Rind, Ass't Marshal.
366-366 John Henry 71 m Mth preacher North Carolina
Elizabeth Henry 46 f Kentucky
Samuel Henry 21 m Farmer Arkansas
Greene Henry 18 m Farmer Arkansas
Littleton Henry 16 m Farmer Arkansas
Martha E. Henry 12 f Arkansas
Sarah Henry 7 f Arkansas
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Schedule 1. Free inhabitants in Blue Bayou Township in the County of
Sevier, State of Arkansas enumerated by me on the 19th & 20th day of
November, 1850. H.G. Rind, Ass't Marshal.
369-369 Washington Greene 30 m Arkansas
Lucetta Greene 28 f Arkansas
John Greene 8 m Arkansas
Ann E. Greene 7 f Arkansas
Margret Greene 6 f Arkansas
William B. Greene 4 m Arkansas
Benjamin Greene 2 m Arkansas
National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microcopy T-432: Arkansas, Sevier
County, Roll 30.
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Update 03.08.00 David Kelley 2000 FGR-0037.HTM
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