succeeded by Thomas W. Gilmer, of Virginia, on 15 Feb., 1844. Among his publications were " Letters on the Internal Improvement and Commerce of the West" (Boston, 1839). — William's grandson, Daniel, lawyer and journalist, b. in Leicester, Mass., 9 May, 1782 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 9 July, 1863, was graduated at Harvard in 1806, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and practised in Winchendon, Mass., till 1830, then for a number of years at Worcester, and afterward at Lynn. He gave up his professional business in order to undertake the editorship of the Lynn "Record," which he conducted till its discontinuance, a period of fourteen years, after which he resided in Boston. He read many papers before the New England Historic-genealogical society.
HENSLER, Eliza, singer, b. in Boston, Mass.,
about 1835. She was the daughter of a German
shoemaker, possessed a fine voice and a graceful
person, and was educated for the operatic
stage. Her first appearance was at the Academy
of Music, New York, at the age of fifteen. She
afterward went to Paris to complete her training,
and appeared at the Grand Opéra in that city, but
had little success. She then went to Lisbon, and
became a favorite. On 10 June, 1869, she married
the ex-king of Portugal, Ferdinand, Duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who first caused her to be raised
to the nobility with the title of Countess of Edla.
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HENSON, Josiah, clergyman, b. in Port Tobacco, Charles co., Md., 15 June, 1787; d. in Dresden, Ontario, in 1881. He was a pure-blooded negro, and was born and bred as a slave. The story of his life served as the foundation for Mrs. Harriet B. Stowe's novel of “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” When a young man and a preacher, he took all his master's slaves to a relative in Kentucky, to prevent their passing into the hands of creditors. There they were hired out to neighboring planters. He worked most of the time for a good-natured master named St. Clair, whose young daughter read to him. His arms were crippled, like those of Uncle Tom in the novel, the result of a blow from the Maryland overseer. He paid $500 toward purchasing his freedom, but was taken to New Orleans by his master's son to be sold, when the latter was attacked with yellow fever, and the slave accompanied him back to Kentucky and nursed him through his sickness. He finally escaped with his wife, carrying his two children on his back through the swamps to Cincinnati, where he had friends among the colored people, and then across the wilderness to Sandusky, whence they were conveyed to Canada by the benevolent captain of a schooner. “Uncle Si,” as he was called, settled with his family at Colchester, Ontario. He was the captain of a company of colored men during the Canadian rebellion. Subsequently he took up a tract of land on Sydenham river, where the town of Dresden was afterward situated. There he prospered as a farmer, and was the pastor of a church. At the age of fifty-five he began to learn to read and write. He met Mrs. Stowe, and described to her the events of his life. He also wrote an “Autobiography,” which was afterward published, with an introduction by Mrs. Stowe (Boston, 1858). In 1850 he went to England, and lectured in London. He visited England again in 1852, and a third time in 1876, on which occasion he lectured and preached in various cities, and was entertained at Windsor Castle by Queen Victoria.
HENSON, Poindexter Smith, clergyman, b.
in Fluvanna county, Va., 7 Dec., 1831. He was
graduated at Richmond college in 1848, and at the
University of Virginia in 1851. He taught in
Milton, N. C., for two years, at the same time
studying law and editing a weekly paper, and was
professor of natural science in the Chowan female
college at Murfreesborough, N. C., for two years.
After beginning the practice of the law in his
native county, he was ordained as minister of the
Baptist church in Fluvanna in February, 1856.
He also conducted a female seminary while he was
there. On 27 Dec., 1867, he became pastor of the
Broad street church in Philadelphia, which he left
in 1867, to organize the Memorial church, where
he gathered the largest Protestant congregation in
that city. Dr. Henson is also editor of the
“Baptist Teacher.” In 1878 he declined the presidency
of Lewisburg university.
HENTZ, Nicholas Marcellus, educator, b. in
Versailles, France, 25 July, 1797; d. in Marianna,
Fla., 4 Nov., 1856. He studied medicine and
learned the art of miniature-painting in Paris,
emigrated to the United States in 1816, taught
French and miniature-painting in Boston,
Philadelphia, and other places, and in 1824-'5 was
associated with George Bancroft in the Round Hill
school at Northampton, Mass. In 1826-'30 he was
professor of modern languages and belles-lettres
in the University of North Carolina. He removed
with his wife to Covington, Ky., in 1831, and in
the following year they took charge of a female
seminary near Cincinnati. They afterward
conducted various schools in Alabama and Georgia,
and in 1851 removed to Marianna, Fla., on account
of the illness of Prof. Hentz. He was an
entomologist of repute, and the author of a monograph
on the “Arachnides, or Spiders of the United
States,” published by the Boston society of natural
history (Boston, 1875). — His wife, Caroline Lee,
author, b. in Lancaster, Mass., 1 June, 1800; d. in
Marianna, Fla., 11 Feb., 1856, was a daughter of
Gen. John Whiting, and married Mr. Hentz in
1824. While at Covington, Ky., Mrs. Hentz, who
had written a poem, a novel, and a tragedy before
she was twelve years old, competed for a prize of
$500 that had been offered for a play by the
directors of the Arch street theatre in Philadelphia.
The prize was awarded to her for the tragedy of
“De Lara, or the Moorish Bride,” which was
produced on the stage, and afterward published in
book-form. “Lamorah, or the Western Wild,”
another tragedy, was acted at Cincinnati and
published in a newspaper at Columbus, Ga.
“Constance of Werdenberg,” a third, remained unpublished.
She was the author of numerous short
poems, and a voluminous writer of tales and
novelettes that were published in periodicals and
newspapers, and many of them afterward collected
into volumes. She was successful in depicting the
phases of southern social life. Her first two books,
which were the most extensively read of her
productions, were “Aunt Patty's Scrap-Bag”
(Philadelphia, 1846) and “The Mob Cap” (1848).
other tales include “Linda, or the Young Pilot of
the Belle Creole” (1850); “Rena, or the Snow
