The Henderson family

Dr. Richard Eppes bought David Henderson and Milly Henderson. They were the parents of William, David, Jr., John, Mary Frances, Randolph, Alexander “Aleck”, Matilda, Melville, Rosena, and Annanias. David and Milly had three other children who did not survive very long.

Milly recalled in 1901 that she “became acquainted with the sailor when I was 16 years old.” She said they were married prior to being bought by Dr. Eppes. She recalled “David asked my master for me and he got his consent. We had a supper I remember and the marriage was celebrated just like ‘old timey days’ I don’t know where my husband got the name Henderson but I know he had it when I first met him.”

Dr. Richard Eppes wrote about the Henderson family along with the other enslaved people on his plantation in relationship to the work they did or did not do. In January 1852, Eppes wrote about an overseer who told him that 150 shad had been stolen. Eppes measured the tracks and compared them with the men’s feet on that part of his plantation and he found that the sizes matched two other men and David, Sr. Eppes wrote he gave them “a severe whipping” but failed to get them to confess they had taken the fish. He continued that “David took his whipping without confessing any thing, found him very obstinate & not minding much the lash.” In contrast to Eppes’ thoughts on David “not minding” was David’s own ability to muster the fortitude to display his strength. On another occasion in May 1853, Eppes whipped David Sr. “for turning cattle in damp clover.” When David’s son, William was 10 years old, Eppes whipped him for hitting a cow “on the head & running away.” Despite these occasions, the Hendersons also managed to earn money for extra work on the plantation and received their Christmas gift money from Dr. Eppes.

War's Arrival

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The family got an opportunity to trade in their life in bondage for one of freedom in 1862. The Federal navy and the United States army moved inland from coastal Virginia in the spring of 1862 attempting to capture Richmond. As City Point (now Hopewell, Virginia) lay between the Confederate and Federal armies, Eppes’ wife and children abandoned the family’s home and moved to Petersburg. The Federal forces’ presence in the region between May and August 1862, prompted most of the enslaved residents on Eppes’ plantation to seek their own freedom behind Union lines. For the Henderson family, they were able to escape as a unit. Eppes later recorded that about May 20, 1862 the Henderson family escaped en masse. Milly said years after the war, “I left City Point, staid [spelled incorrectly] at Craney Island a year and reached Hampton about March 1864.”

Milly’s husband served on board the USS Brandywine as did her sons, David, Jr., John, and William. David, Sr. later served on the USS Samuel Rotan before being discharged in June 1865. They all enlisted in June 1862. William later served at the Norfolk Naval Station and ended the war on the USS Constellation. He was discharged in 1865. His brother, David Jr. left the naval service and enlisted in the 36^th United States Colored Infantry on July 13, 1863. He took on an alias as David H. Allen as he stated later that he did so out of fear that Eppes would find him.

William married after the war to Amelia Stith of Norfolk, but their marriage was rocky. The pair eventually separated but never divorced which enabled Amelia to get a widow’s pension. David, Jr. John married Martha Corbin and had three children, but only one son, George survived to adulthood. John apparently suffered during his service and afterwards from coughing and John died in the spring of 1877. Martha was unable to obtain her widow’s pension following the death of her second husband. George was also unable to obtain a pension for his father’s naval service. David, Sr. died February 18, 1885, and Milly obtained a pension.

Alexander worked by 1880 as an oysterman in Hampton, Virginia where the entire Henderson family lived after the Civil War. He married and by 1880 had two sons and a daughter. His mother was living with him at that time. He had learned how to read and write. Matilda married Benjamin Moody, another child who had escaped slavery during the war and relocated to Hampton, Virginia. They had a son, Benjamin, Jr. in February 1880. Milly died on March 30, 1904. Alexander died on January 8, 1933.