My Genealogy Hound

J. N. Henley is a native of Cole County, Mo., born in 1837, and is the tenth in a family of twelve children born to John and Elizabeth (Hoskins) Henley, who were Tennesseans, and emigrated to Cole County, Mo., in 1828, where they entered a large tract of timber land, on which they resided until their respective deaths, August 18, 1878, at the age of eighty-four years, and December 22, 1860, aged about sixty years. J. N. Henley was reared to a farm life in Cole County, and attended the early subscription schools. In 1858 he was married to Miss Mary Jane Simpson, a native of Miller County, who died in 1873, having borne a family of six children: Thomas W., Leona D. (Mrs. James J. Bond); William R., Cordell C., Lillian M., and Isaac N. (who died at the age of six months). The mother of these children was a daughter of Judge Simpson, of Miller County, being one of its early pioneers. His death occurred in the county in 1862. After his marriage Mr. Henley resided in Cole County one year and then moved to Miller County, where he purchased and improved a farm of 320 acres, and by hard work and good management has now 250 acres under an excellent state of cultivation. He deals quite extensively in stock, and raises an excellent grade of horses and cattle, and as he has a good jack he raises an excellent grade of mules. He has always taken an interest in school matters, and is one of the directors of the Miller County Institute. He votes the Democratic ticket, but is not an office-seeker. During his thirty years’ residence in the county he has seen many changes take place, and has assisted in furthering many enterprises which would tend to benefit the same. In 1874 he married his second wife, Julia A. Henley, widow of N. D. Henley, his brother, and daughter of Ivy and Martha (Thompson) Norfleet, who were born in Kentucky and Tennessee. They were married in the former State, and in 1839 moved to Missouri and settled in Cole County, where they engaged in farming. The father died in Miller County June 6, 1883, and the mother in Cole County July 24, 1876, aged sixty-one years. Grandfather Thomason was in the Revolutionary war. Our subject and wife are members of the Baptist Church, and became the parents of one child, born October 22, 1877, who died July 18, 1878, aged nine months.