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The Henderson Conundrum

 

The Henderson Conundrum Text of the Will Henderson / Darwin Relations: Model 1 Henderson / Darwin Relations: Model 2 UPDATE: 19 April 2007

 

The two primary sources available to us for establishing the family of William Darwin ^1.1 are the 1837 Darwin - Bland "Bible" Record, which provides the names and birthdates for his first 6 children, and the 1785 Will of William Darwin, which provides the names (but no dates) for his other sons, Jesse ^2.7 and John ^2.8. The 1785 Will additionally provides the name of one further family member, "my Grand Daughter Fanny Ward", who is designated to inherit "1 Young Heifer."

 

We made the natural assumption that one of William Darwin's daughters -- Agnes ^2.1, Jane ^2.2 or Keziah ^2.3-- had married a Ward by whom she had a daughter named Frances. Finding documents such as the 1773 Dickenson - Ward Land Deed, which names a "William Ward and Agness his wife", appear to confirm this supposition. And further research by the late Gayle Blankenship (kindly communicated to us by Christopher B. Darwin) strengthens the assumption that Agnes Darwin, wife of William Ward, is the mother of the Fanny Ward named in William Darwin's Will, and this remains the most likely case.

 

But a chance finding in 2003 of a document we had not previously known appears to be at odds with the above assumption, and presents a formidible puzzle. The document is the 1794 Will of Thomas Henderson, who was born in a portion of New Kent County, Virginia, which was later to become a part of Louisa County, where he married prior to his migration to South Carolina. We reproduce an extract from the will here, with bolding of names added for clarity:

 

Text of the Will

 

 

The reference to a "Durvin", presumably back in Louisa County from whence Henderson had migrated, is at once striking, all the more so for naming, as a sister of a grandchild of that 'Durvin', one Fanny Ward. And, given the ages of William's children at the time he drafted his Will in 1785, it is perfectly possible for him to have had a granddaughter of an age to have recently married. The Fanny Ward mentioned in Henderson's Will would have been 21 in 1785.

 

But it is something of a challenge to untangle all the relations in this document, as both Thomas and his unnamed wife appear to have been married to others prior to their own nuptials. Thomas distinguishes between his wife's children and "my children" without indicating which, if indeed any, of "my children" are "our children." Of course, it is a possible reading that by specifying "my children," Thomas is indicating that he and his current wife have no children in common.

 

With that additional difficulty in mind, the following individuals appear to be indicated in Thomas Henderson's Will:

 

• Self: Thomas HENDERSON

 

• Wife (unnamed)

 

• Wife's children from previous marriage (number, sex, and names unspecified)

 

• Jincy: Wife's youngest child from previous marriage, not yet of age.

 

• Self + current or previous wife's five youngest children: Elizabeth, Polley, Fanny, Cissley, Nancy. Only Fanny is married at this time, to unknown WARD, the four named sisters here are unmarried Hendersons.

 

• Three of Self's granddaughters (presumably by Fanny Ward): Nancy, Jincy, and Peggy WARD

 

• Two sons of Self + current or previous wife: Nathaniel and William

 

• Self's daughter Judy Hall, a granddaughter of DURVIN

 

Discussion here must necessarily carry a "Health Warning": the following models are conjectural! We began with the following diagram as one possible representation of the apparent relationships, and have used some unfortunately unsourced notes from a researcher for the circa dates of birth noted (all births said to have been in Louisa County, Virginia):

 

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Henderson / Darwin Relations: Model 1

 

 

This at first seems plausible, in that it demonstrates Fanny Ward and Judy Hall as granddaughters of William Darwin ^1.1. However, it does not explain why Judy Hall should (uniquely) be indicated as an inheritor of her "grandfather Durvin's estate", which fact suggests that Fanny and Judy are only half-siblings of the other named sisters in this Will.

 

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Henderson / Darwin Relations: Model 2

 

 

In this model, Judy Hall might be reasonably taken to be the sole legatee of her "grandfather Durvin's estate" via her deceased mother: her sister Fanny Ward may be excluded from any further inheritance as she had previously been named as an inheritrix in William Darwin's will.

 

The hypothesis that Jane Darwin married Thomas Henderson does not directly exclude the assumption that her sister Agnes Darwin married William Ward; indeed, the similarities in the names of some of their offspring (Cicely, Ann, Elizabeth -- and indeed, Frances) might even be taken as circumstantial evidence for kinship between the two families. Further, there may be a relationship between Fanny Ward's husband and William Ward, and/or between Judy Hall's husband and other Halls in Louisa who subsequently married Durvins. But in this case we find that, where we had originally set out to find one "Fanny Ward," we have in fact found a surfeit!

 

Clearly, further documents need to be unearthed if this particular puzzle is to be resolved; unless and until more evidence either way can be established, these proposed models remain highly conjectural and unproven.

 

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UPDATE: 19 April 2007

 

We have found an interesting piece of this puzzle. Although the full sourcing is not available (an independent researcher no longer contactable), the details are intriguing.

 

First, we have examined the 1790 Federal Census Return for Union County SC and found an entry for Thomas Henderson. One household away in the ennumeration is that of one Thomas Word. On the supposition this is could be the husband of Frances (Henderson) Ward, we searched user-submitted trees on Ancestry.com, which revealed the following family group:

 

 

There can be no doubt this is indeed the family of Thomas Henderson's daughter Fanny Ward, and the naming of a child John Durvin would seem to strengthen the possibility this is the same Fanny Ward named in the 1785 Will of William Darwin. If "Werrington" (otherwise unknown) refers to "Warrington", then this record would seem to establish that the family was in Virginia in 1785, when William Darwin drafted his Will. We are attempting to run down the sources for this information!

 

Considering the family of Agnes (Darwin) Ward ^2.1, we had noted the odd absence (alone amongst her sisters) of their daughter Frances from the 1799 Will of William Ward. However, the identification of Frances as their daughter appears established by a marriage record secured by Gayle Blankenship, to wit:

 

 

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