New posts each Monday.

I recently wrote about Evansdale School off Evans Road in Chamblee and promised to research the Evans and Henderson families for future blog posts. This article represents what I discovered so far about the Henderson family. Some of it (just a little) may have been lingering in my brain since this is the area I grew up in and I attended Henderson High School, todays Henderson Middle School.

This history is just a glimpse of the family, a synopsis of what I found. It is a big family with a great deal of history.

The name Henderson can be seen in road and school names; Henderson Road, Henderson Mill Road, Henderson Park, Henderson Mill Elementary School, and Henderson Middle School.

Land acquired by early settlers in DeKalb County was previously home to the Creek Nation of Native Americans, prior to their removal and the subsequent land lottery.

According to ancestry.com. Greenville Henderson was born in South Carolina in 1792. He married Nancy Ann Barnett in 1813 in Morgan County, Georgia. He was also known as Major Greenville Henderson, having fought in the War of 1812. His father fought in the Revolutionary War.

The land of Greenville Henderson extended from the area of Henderson Mill Road and Henderson Road to where Northlake Mall and other commercial businesses are located. He is said to have accumulated 2000 acres.

The Georgia Historical marker for Henderson Mill is located on Henderson Mill Road at the exit of St. Bede’s Episcopal Church parking lot, .1 mile south of Midvale Road. The marker reads: “Some 300 feet NW stood the ante and post bellum grist mill owned and operated by Greenville Henderson (1792-1869) and his son Rufus (1823-1872) The flat, left and right of this road was the mill pond area: the mill was demolished 1911. During the march of the Federal Amy of the Tenn. From Roswell to Decatur, Logan’s 15th A. C. detoured from Shallow Ford Rd. at Rainey’s and moved to Browning’s Court House (Tucker) to support Garrard’s foray on the Georgia R. R. For strategic reasons-and lack of water at Browning’s, the corps withdrew here and camped night of July 18, 1864. Its march to Decatur was resumed the next day.”

There is another Greenville Henderson, born April 28, 1846 and died August 25, 1901 in Calhoun, Georgia. He was a grandson of the earlier Greenville Henderson. He married Mary Akin in 1867 and their marriage license is signed by David Chesnut.  The Chesnuts were another early family in DeKalb, living where Chamblee Tucker Road meets I-285. Chesnut Elementary School in Dunwoody is named for the family.

Henderson family cemetery is on Lavista Road, close to I-285, sitting in front of a shopping center with a Best Buy and next to a gas station. The Atlanta Constitution, August 9, 1991 featured an article about the cemetery titled, “They rest in peace, relatively speaking, to Hendersons saving the past calls for a modern approach.”

The article explains that a billboard was erected to help pay for the costs of saving the cemetery. William G. Henderson, one of the children of Greenville and Nancy was buried there in 1878. William Henderson’s great-great grandson Mark Henderson was preparing in 1991 to refurbish the cemetery and return William Henderson’s grave stone, which had recently been found behind a DeKalb County school.

Greenville Henderson is buried at another family cemetery that carries his name. According to Findagrave, the cemetery is at the top of the Glenrose Subdivision between two houses.

“Vanishing DeKalb,” a book of historic photos, includes a 1903 photograph of the Marion Henderson family, saying Marion was a direct descendant of Greenville Henderson who received 202 ½ acres in the Tucker area during the land lottery.

There is also a Rufus Henderson cemetery (one of Greenville’s sons) on the southern side of Evans Ridge Trail.

As I mentioned, this is just a bit of Henderson family history. Now on to the Evans, and I think Chesnut also. Another David Chesnut, many years later, purchased the Donaldson-Bannister Farm in Dunwoody.