DONALD
HENDERSON, [page 113] a prosperous general farmer residing on Lot 20, 11th
Concession, Dover township, County Kent, owns a fine farm of 150 acres,
which he has occupied since 1848. He was born November 1st,
1844, son of Donald, Sr., and Elizabeth (McKay) Henderson, who like him
were natives of Scotland.
Mrs.
Elizabeth (McKay) Henderson was born in 1817. In her young womanhood she
because the bride of Donald Henderson, Sr., and she died in her native
land at the age of forty-five years. Mr. Henderson married for his second
wife, Mrs. Wilhelmina (Simpson) McKay who with his two sons and a daughter
accompanied him in his emigration to Canada, and to Dover township,
settling on the present farm of our subject, which was then in a wild
condition. He died in 1871, aged sixty-three years. The children born to
the first marriage of Donald Henderson, Sr., were: John, a farmer of
Dover township; Margaret, who married Thomas J. Collop, of Chatham; and
Donald. No children were born of the second marriage.
Donald
Henderson, Sr., was a son of another Donald Henderson, and his wife
Margaret McKay. Both were natives of Scotland, where they lived and died,
the former passing his active years engaged in farming.
Donald
Henderson, our subject, has spent his life upon his farm, with the
exception of six years. He returned in 1875, to Scotland, where he spent
a few months, but came back to Canada, and in 1882 resumed his life upon
the home farm. On January 18th, 1882, Mr. Henderson was
married in Dover township, at the home of the bride, to Jane Dunlop, and
three children have been born to this union: Donald J., Alexandra and
David, twins. Mrs. Henderson was born on an adjoining farm, a daughter of
John Dunlop. In politics Mr. Henderson is a Reformer and for two years
served most acceptably as township collector. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson are
consistent members of the Presbyterian Church, in which they take an
active part, and of which he is a liberal supporter. After many years of
hard labor, Mr. Henderson has come to a point in his life when he can rest
to a certain degree, and enjoy the fruits of his efforts, although he
looks after his affairs and manages everything of importance. Among his
neighbours and friends, he is deservedly popular, and he and his family
are important factors in the social life of the township. |