Searching for Roots in Scotland
Robert Henderson was born in Scotland, probably before 1801. In 1826, in Edinburgh, St. Cuthbert's parish, he married Margaret Macrae, daughter of Alexander Macrae, a farmer in Dunkeld in Perthshire. At that time, Robert was working as a joiner and living at No. 3 Saunders Street, Stockbridge. They were married by Reverend James Henderson, possibly a relative. Robert and Margaret had five children: Margaret, born 1827; Isabella, born 1830; Janet, born 1832; Robert, born 1834; and Alexander, born 1837. The children's birth entries give Robert's occupation as joiner, and the family was living at No. 20 Bedford St., Stockbridge.
Our next record of the family is in the 1851 census, fourteen years later. Margaret appears as a fifty year old house proprietor, a widow, with children Janet, age 18, and Robert, age 16. Janet was working as a milliner and Robert as an assistant teacher. On March 16, 1852, Janet married Patrick McHugh. Robert did not marry for another fourteen years. At the time of his marriage, Robert had become a teacher of English.
In 1866, July 26th, Robert Henderson, son of Robert and Margaret (Macrae) Henderson, married Elizabeth Davidson, daughter of Thomas Davidson, an auctioneer, and Mary Johnston. They were married at Elizabeth's address, No 2 West Lauriston Place, by Walter Davidson, probably Elizabeth's brother.
Elizabeth was born July 7, 1838, in Barry, Angus. She was at least the third child. Her parents had a daughter, Alison, born about 1834 in Edinburgh, and a son James, born in 1836, in Dundee, Angus. There are no other entries in the Barry parish register for Thomas and Mary, and it may be that soon after Elizabeth's birth they moved back to Edinburgh. In 1846, they had a son, Thomas James, born in St. Cuthbert's parish, Edinburgh. They also had a son Walter, birth date unknown.
The death record for Thomas Davidson shows that he died at No. 2 West Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, January 15, 1865, at the age of 72. His parents were Walter Davidson, a gardener, and Helen Mathison.
Thomas Davidson died the year before his daughter Elizabeth's marriage, but both Margaret Macrae and Mary Johnston were still living in 1866. According to an insurance policy taken out many years later by their grandson Alexander Henderson, Margaret died at age 84 and Mary at age 90. So far I have not been able to find their death records in Scotland.
Robert and Elizabeth had eight children: Mary, b. 1867; Margaret, b. 1869; Robert, b. 1870; James Robertson, b. 1871; Thomas Davidson, b. 1872; Alexander, b. 1874; Elizabeth Davidson, b. 1875 and John, b. 1877. Margaret and John both died in infancy.
Elizabeth died September 25, 1877, in Edinburgh, due to an internal abscess formed after childbirth. She had given birth to eight children in ten years. After Elizabeth's death, Robert made plans to leave Scotland for America. In the 1881 census, (taken April 4, 1881), all the children are still in Edinburgh, being cared for by their aunt Isabella, but their father is missing, probably getting a place ready for them across the ocean. Later that year the family embarked on the Circassia. Mary, Robert Jr., James, Alexander, Elizabeth, and possibly their aunt Isabella went to live with Robert Sr. in Iowa. They moved to Chicago by 1893.
Robert Henderson and surviving children, perhaps about 1893, the time
they moved to Chicago from NW Iowa. L to R: Thomas Davidson Henderson,
Alexander Henderson, Robert Henderson, Elizabeth Davidson Henderson,
James Robertson Henderson.
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