Henderson County Historical Society

Mystery of the Name: Where did Henderson County get its Name?

By Andrew Postle, The Quill 

Henderson County was formed in 1841 when the western section of Warren County separated from the eastern section. There is little documentation on the reasons for the split, but it is generally surmised that residents desired a more centrally located courthouse than the one in Monmouth.

Alexis Phelps donated the land and played a prominent role in constructing the new courthouse in Oquawka. When choosing a name for the county, one might assume it was named after Henderson Creek, which flows through the northern part of the county and enters the Mississippi River.

Henderson Creek was named after Henderson County, Kentucky, as many early settlers in the area had migrated from that region. Henderson County, Kentucky, in turn, was named for Col. Richard Henderson. Col. Henderson spent most of his life in North Carolina. He was the founder of the Transylvania Company and a friend of Daniel Boone, who served as an agent for Henderson’s land company. His land purchase schemes helped open up regions of Kentucky and Tennessee west of the Alleghenies.

In fact, the Illinois Secretary of State states that the county is named after Col. Richard Henderson. However, some early settlers argued that it was actually named after a different Col. Henderson; one born in South Carolina and described as a “man among men” by those present at the county’s organization. In the March 11, 1891, issue of the Oquawka Spectator, an article titled “Death of the Man for Whom Henderson County Was Named” recounted the life of local pioneer Col. William D. Henderson.

Col. William D. Henderson was born in 1812 in Abbeville District, South Carolina. He moved to Ohio in 1832 and three years later arrived in Illinois. In 1835, he settled on a farm north of present-day Gladstone. When Henderson County was organized in 1841, he was appointed sheriff, a position he held for six years. He later served four years as postmaster at Oquawka under President Taylor. From 1844 to 1845, he represented Henderson and Warren Counties in the Illinois Legislature. He served 12 years as a magistrate in Henderson, Mercer, and Warren Counties (four years in each). In 1857, he moved to Aledo and joined the Republican Party in 1860. Several friends wrote to Abraham Lincoln urging him to appoint William D. Henderson as secretary of state if Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election. Although the position went to William H. Seward, President Lincoln appointed him assessor of internal revenue for the 10th District of Illinois.

He was associated with Wilson Graham in the grain and general merchandise business at Oquawka and later became a grain dealer. He moved to Monmouth in 1862, to Red Oak, Iowa, in 1880, and to Derby in Sedgwick County, Kansas, in 1883, where he died on February 28, 1891.

The Spectator described him as “A man of powerful frame, weighing when in health upwards of 200 pounds; of strictest integrity and morality; a close student of passing events, both local and national, and a mind continually adding to its store of useful knowledge and never losing an item; having an extensive personal acquaintance with leading political and professional men of Illinois, it was but natural that he should occupy a prominent place among its representative men.”

Although official records favor Col. Richard Henderson as the namesake, the local tradition highlights the deep respect frontier settlers held for one of their own.