Joseph Henderson - Ann Hill Family Group

What We Know About This Family

An Overview of Their Lives

Joseph Henderson immigrated from Tyrone County, Ireland with his mother, Hannah (father's date and place of death unknown) and the three siblings Hannah, Guy, and Elizabeth) who were named in his mother's will when she died in 1824. He was married to Nancy (Anna) Hill of Philadelphia in 1798. His trade was a "house carpenter," and his name was listed in many land transactions. The couple's first nine children were born in Philadelphia. In about 1817, they bought a large tract of land for farming in Monongalia County, West Virginia. Their oldest son, our direct ancestor, Joseph, who was about 20, remained in Philadelphia, but their six surviving children relocated with them. They had three additional children in West Virginia.

Proof of Relationship

This family was very difficult to trace until a genealogical article written in 1899 was published Online in 2018. We did not know the name of his wife. Family history related that he lived in West Virginia. We did know that his son, James, was granted guardianship of Joseph's son, Samuel Ruggles Henderson, in Philadelphia after Joseph and his wife Catharine died, and we were able to trace the localities of his life from census records.

About the Children

Our direct ancestor, Joseph, married twice and late in life had seven children with his second wife, Catharine. His youngest sibling, James, and his wife lived and farmed in West Virginia, having five children, four of whom died young. He and his wife, Isabelle, retired to Philadelphia and had been living there at least five years when his brother and his sister-in-law died within two years of each other. Five of their children, outlived him, and three, all minor teen-aged sons, survived her. James assumed custody of the two youngest, James and Samuel. Custody of James was later transferred to the cousin where Joseph, the oldest son, had gone, but Samuel lived with his uncle James until he married at age 20. James and Isabelle remained in Philadelphia a while longer. At the end of his life, he had returned to West Virginia and was living as a widower with his daughter's family. It appears that the remainder of Joseph and Nancy's children remained in West Virginia. We don't know anything more about them except what appears in the Family Group table. John Guy, Samuel, Ann, and James are buried with their parents in Fairview Cemetery.

What Else We Need to Learn

The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information for each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line. We need to discover the name and at least the death date and place of Joseph's father and most information about Ann's parents, We've discovered that Joseph had an uncle Samuel Hill in Philadelphia, and his death record shows his father was Adam Hill. Samuel bequeathed his real property to two daughters of his brother, Robert. We have hints, but that's all to date (2018).

The research on this family is not complete. We need to find the first name of Joseph's father, his mother's maiden name, and her mother's name.