Pioneer John Henderson

One of the high points of my trip to Colorado was walking through Rock Creek Cemetery, where my great-great-great-grandfather, John Henderson, is buried. Rock Creek Cemetery is on the western side of the San Luis Valley, in the foothills, and offers an expansive view of the valley.

John Henderson was an early pioneer in the San Luis Valley, arriving a few years before a  wave of settlers would establish the town of Lariat, later known as Henry and Monte Vista. John began his homesteading process in August of 1874, the same year his son Henry arrived in Colorado, so perhaps they came together. We used Google Earth and BLM records to locate their land and then went to see it. It turns out that John's land along the banks of the Rio Grande, was very near Henry's. Since the area remains largely rural, much of the land continues to be used for agriculture. A retired veterinarian who currently lives on part of the land invited us to drive onto his ranch and look around.

Land that John Henderson homesteaded

As I reviewed the historical records, I realized that the Henderson family was a family on the move. John's father, Grove, was born in Connecticut, but as a young man, he moved with two of his brothers to Austinburg, Ohio, which is where John was born. John married Nancy Howard in Linn County, Iowa. I'm not entirely sure how they ended up in Iowa - Nancy was probably also from Austinburg and they may have traveled to Iowa with a relative of hers. Their first son, Henry was born there circa 1844, but then they went to Wisconsin for a few years. In 1854, the Hendersons moved to Blue Earth County, Minnesota, where they lived for about 20 years. During this time, John served in the Civil War, as did his son Henry.

John Henderson, born 1821 in Ohio, died 1884 in Monte Vista, Colorado

John's moves from Ohio to Iowa to Wisconsin and then Minnesota as a relatively young man strike me as fairly typical and he appears to have made a life for his family as a farmer in Minnesota. But John's move to Colorado, probably in 1874 when he was 53, seems unusual. Was he looking for better opportunities than those in Minnesota? Was he seeking the more accommodating climate of the San Luis Valley? Or did he simply cast his lot in with son Henry? Whatever John's reasons, his wife Nancy remained in Minnesota. Perhaps she intended to move west eventually, but in 1880, she was living with her daughter Flora Ballard in Farmington, and she had passed away by the time John wrote his will in 1884.

Nancy (Howard) Henderson, born circa 1823, New York, died before 1884, location unknown.

John worked as a carpenter in Colorado. John Heilman recalled "That frame house on the Peachy Place was built by John Henderson. He did all the carpenter work on it, and did the carpenter work on the stone house, too." (Interview of John Heilman in 1929, recorded in The San Luis Valley Historian, Vol. XVI, No. 2, 1984, page 11)

The death notice for John was succinct: "Died: Henderson - At the residence of his son, Henry Henderson, in Henry (Lariat), on the 22nd last, John Henderson. Mr. Henderson was one of the oldest and most respected citizens of the county." (The San Juan Prospector, April 26, 1884.)

When John died, an appraisal of his property listed these items of value:

• 160-acre ranch, $1500
• one dark red cow, ten or eleven years old, $40
• one light red cow, seven years old, $20
• one red and white cow, eight years old, $45
• one chest of tools, $35
• one grind stone, $2
• one over coat, $8
• one suit of clothes, $1
• cash on hand $11

John's burial in Rock Creek Cemetery made the newspaper and brought to everyone's attention the lack of a local cemetery: "Mr. Henderson, an old resident of Lariat, died last Thursday and the fact that he had to be taken 10 or 12 miles for burial has raised a question in the minds of our citizens of a cemetery here." (The Alamosa Journal, May 2, 1884).

Rock Creek Cemetery, photo taken 2011

John's grave marker, while not ostentatious, is one of the nicer markers at the cemetery and is still quite readable in spite of its age. It is an obelisk with space to add the names of a spouse or other family members, but John is the only Henderson buried at Rock Creek. My current mission is to find out where his wife Nancy (Howard) Henderson is buried.