My Genealogy Hound

J. M. Henry, present assessor of Hot Spring County, is a native of Rhea County, Tenn., and was born in 1837, being the son of Henry and Martha J. (Montgomery) Henry, both natives of Tennessee. Mr. Henry moved from Tennessee to Georgia, remaining there until 1858, and then emigrating to Hot Spring County, Ark. In 1879 the entire family removed to Cass County, Tex., where Mr. Henry’s death occurred the following year, at the age of sixty-five. His first wife, the mother of the subject of this article, died when J. M. was a small boy. Mr. Henry then married Malinda Cook, also a native of Tennessee. By his first wife he became the father of six children: Elizabeth (now the widow of Jonathan Austin, of Northern Alabama), Matilda (wife of A. H. Rodgers, of Alabama), Francis M. (lives in Texas), Marquis L. (now deceased, and who was a soldier in the Sixth Georgia Infantry, Confederate army, killed at the battle of Seven Pines), J. M. (our subject) and Andrew J. (deceased, also a soldier in the Confederate army.) By his second wife he became the father of three children: George W. (a resident of Hot Springs), Malinda (a resident of Texas) and Ellison C. (also of Texas.) Mr. Henry was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was a soldier in the Seminole War. J. M. Henry was reared on a farm, obtaining an education in the common schools, and at the age of about twenty-one, or in 1858, came to Pike County, Ark., where he engaged in farming. The following year, 1859, he went to Hopkins County, Tex., and in 1860, came to Ouachita County, Ark., where he was occupied as a farm hand. In 1861 he farmed for himself in Polk County, and also enlisted in Company H, Fourth Arkansas Infantry, in which he served through the war, taking part in the battles of Pea Ridge, Jackson, Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Nashville. He was twice slightly wounded. After the close of the war he was employed as a watchman at Nashville, Tenn., for one year. Returning to Arkansas and settling in Magnet Cove Township on a farm, he rented the same for two years, at the end of which time he bought a partially improved place of 240 acres, and here he still lives, having added to it until he now has a fine farm of 640 acres, mostly improved, and a quarter section of land in Jackson County. Mr. Henry was married in June, 1866, to Mrs. Susan Miller (nee Chamberlain), a native of Lincoln County, Tenn., and a daughter of W. P. Chamberlain, a pioneer of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Henry are the parents of five children: Elizabeth (wife of W. C. Garrett, of this county), Francis M. (now a student at Fayetteville, Ark.), Alice (now a student at Ward Seminary, Nashville, Tenn.), Jennie (also a student at the same place) and Samuel (who is at home). Mr. and Mrs. Henry are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The former is also a member of the A. F. & A. M. He has been justice of the peace two years, and county assessor for the last twelve years (except during the service of James H. McCammon, 1882-83), which office he now holds. He has acquitted himself in a most creditable manner as one of the county’s officials, and is recognized as a faithful, painstaking incumbent of this office.