James R. Henry

James R. Henry, son of John and Martha Henry, was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, March 1, 1822. His father was born in Ireland in 1786, came to America and settled in New Jersey, married Martha Swears, who was born in New Jersey in 1802. His father died in 1852 at the age of sixty and his mother in May 25, 1885, in her eighty-fourth year. James R. Henry is the second of their seven children. His early life was spent on the home farm, up to the age of twenty-two years, when he married Miss Eliza Poyshur. Her parents, natives of Germany, dying in New Jersey when she was but a child. After their marriage Mr. Henry followed farming in New Jersey six years. He came to Illinois in 1851, journeying overland by wagon, the trip lasting six weeks. They purchased land in this township, and there braved the dangers of pioneer life with the wolves and deer for neighbors, and their worst enemies, rattlesnakes, with which the country abounded. On July 1. 1883, Mrs. Henry died suddenly, being then in her sixty-second year. They were the parents of eight children, four of whom died in infancy; those living are: Theodore P., minister in Kansas; Watson C, West Jersey; George W., principal of the Lafayette schools; and Charles W., now Dr. Henry, of Vermont, Ill. After his wife's death Mr. Henry rented his farm, and has since made his home with his son Watson in West Jersey village. Mr. Henry, as was also his wife, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has always been a Republican, and has held several township offices, although he has never sought them. He has spent some time visiting the scenes of his childhood, from which he has recently returned. He is in his sixty-fifth year, and although his locks show the inroads of time, he is quite active.