John Henry (Maryland politician)

Template:Short description Template:Other people Template:Redirect Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder John Henry (November 1750Template:Spaced ndashDecember 16, 1798) was the eighth Governor of Maryland and member of the United States Senate. He was born at his family's estate (Weston), located near Vienna in Dorchester County.<ref name="JHbioguide">Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

John Henry was born in November 1750. He was the son of Dorothy Rider and Col. John Henry and the grandson of Rev. John Henry, a Presbyterian minister who came to America in the early 1700s.<ref name="Capace1999"/> His grandmother, Mary King, has been claimed without proof to be the daughter of an Irish baronet.<ref name="Capace1999"/> His mother was a descendant of one of the early settlers of Dorchester County.<ref name="Capace1999"/>

Henry attended West Nottingham Academy in Cecil County, Maryland and graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1769; he then studied law at the Middle Temple (one of the Inns of Court where English barristers are trained) in London.<ref name="Buchholz1908">Template:Cite book</ref> He returned to the United States in 1775 and practiced law in Dorchester County.<ref name="JHbioguide"/>

Career

He was a member of the Episcopal Church and the United States Democratic-Republican Party. Originally, he was a member of the Federalist Party.

Henry served as a member of Maryland House of Delegates from 1777 to 1780 and a member of the Maryland State Senate from 1780 to 1790. During that time he was chosen as a delegate to the Continental Congress from Maryland from 1778 to 1780 and from 1785 to 1786; during his service, he was a member of the committee that prepared the ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory.<ref name="Capace1999">Template:Cite book</ref> He was elected as an inaugural Senator from Maryland, serving 1789 as a Federalist till his resignation on December 10, 1797, to assume the Governorship.<ref name="JHbioguide"/>

In the 1796 election, Henry received two electoral votes for President of the United States.<ref name="White1899">Template:Cite book</ref> He served as Governor of Maryland from 1797 to 1798.<ref name="JHbioguide"/> In this capacity, he exchanged letters with then Vice-President, Thomas Jefferson.<ref name="McDonald2016">Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

On March 6, 1787, Henry was married to Margaret Campbell (1769–1789), the daughter of John and Elizabeth (née Goldsborough) Campbell of Caroline County.<ref name="Capace1999"/> Her sister married Philip Francis and was the grandmother of Gov. Philip Francis Thomas. Margaret died, aged 20, shortly after the birth of their second son. Their two sons were:<ref name="Henry1904">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Jones1902">Template:Cite book</ref>

• John Campbell Henry (1787–1857), who married Mary Nevett Steele (1789–1873), the daughter of James Steele (1760–1816) and a sister of U.S. Rep. John Nevett Steele and Isaac Nevett Steele, a Baltimore lawyer.<ref name="Henry1904"/>
• Francis Jenkins Henry (b. 1789), who died unmarried soon after becoming of age.<ref name="Henry1904"/>

He died in Dorchester County, at Weston, the same estate where he had been born. Henry is buried in Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery in Cambridge.<ref name="Jones1902"/>

Descendants

Henry was a grandfather to John and Mary's eight children,<ref name="Jones1902"/> John Francis Henry (1813–1847), Dr. James Winfield Henry (1815–1889), Francis Jenkins Henry (1816–1902), Catherine Henry Lloyd (1818–1886), Daniel Maynadier Henry (1823–1899), Isabella Elizabeth Henry Steele (1825–1912), Mary Henry Goldsborough (1828–1911), Rider Henry (1828–1900), and Charlotte Augusta Page Henry Goldsborough (1834–1908).<ref name="Henry1904"/>

External links

Notes

Sources

• Henry’s Congressional biography
• John Henry – Delmarva Heritage Series