BIOGRAPHY: Henderschott, Henry Bascom
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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Honorable HENRY BASCOM HENDERSCHOTT was born in Miami County, Ohio, May 15, 1816.  In the Fall
of the same year his parents moved to the then Territory of Illinois, where, upon a farm in
Madison and St. Clair Counties he lived and worked until the Fall of 1835.  Then starting on foot, with
little means, he made his way to Illinois College at Jacksonville, in which institution he 
remained during the college terms, keeping up to his classes until the Fall of 1837.  While 
here pursuing his studies he employed his interesting time in working upon a farm, and in 
a cabinet shop connected with the college, for which labor he received a compensatory 
allowance of twelve and a half cents an hour.

On leaving college, Mr. Hendershott became a resident of Burlington, Iowa, where he arrived 
October 11, 1837.  Here he clerked in the post-office for about a year; then wrote in the recorder's office 
for several months, and meanwhile read law under the instructions of Messrs. David Rorer and M. D. 
Browning.  May 6, 1839, he was appointed Deputy Clerk of the District Court of Des Moines County, 
which office he retained two years, at the same time continuing his law studies under his above 
mentioned instructors.  At the fall term o the District Court, in 1841, held at Burlington, and at which 
the Hon. Charles Mason, afterwards Commissioner of Patents, presided as judge, he was admitted to the 
bar.  The same year he went to Mount Pleasant, Henry County, where he remained until April, 1842, 
then went to Fairfield, Jefferson County, remaining at the latter place until December 1843, when he 
located at Agency City, in Wapello County.  May 16, 1844 he settled u Ottumwa, in the same county, 
where he has since continuously resided.  February 16, of the year last named, Mr. Hendershott was 
appointed by Judge Mason, Clerk of the District Court for Wapello County, which office he resigned in 
September following.  While occupying this position he discharged, pursuant to legislative enactment, 
the duty of organizing the County. 

December 19, 1845, he was appointed by Governor James Clark, District Prosecutor for the 
Seventh District of Iowa.  September 17, 1846, he was further appointed by Governor Clark, Colonel of 
the 2d regiment of the 1st Brigade of the 4th division of the Iowa militia.  April 10, 1847, he was 
commissioned by George W. Jones, Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa, a deputy surveyor, in 
which capacity he sectionized six townships of government land, now a part of Appanoose County.  At 
the December term, in 1848, he was appointed by the Supreme Court of the United States, 
Commissioner for Iowa, to act in conjunction with Joseph C. Brown, Commissioner for Missouri, in 
running and marking the boundary line between the respective states.  Mr. Brown died and Judge Robert 
W. Wells, of Jefferson, Mo., was appointed to succeed him.  The latter resigning, was in turn succeeded 
by William G. Minor.  During the Spring and Summer of 1850, the line was established and the 
Commissioners made their report, which was approved by both states and confirmed by the court.  
January 21, 1851, Mr. Hendershott was elected a member of the Iowa Historical and Geological 
Society.  In August following he was selected to the State Senate, serving four years, during which time 
he was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and the first Iowa code was enacted.  In 1852 and 1853 he 
was Clerk of the City Council at Ottumwa, and in 1855 and again in 1859, was an Alderman of the same 
city. In 1857 he was elected Judge of the District Court, and served till 1860.    

Since 1850, except while in the State Senate and District Judge, Judge Hendershott has 
remained to the present time in the active practice of his profession.  In the various places of trust he has 
held, his versatility and capacity, equally with his scrupulous fidelity and indefatigable energy, have 
every been conspicuous.  At the bar, and in the community with which he has been so prominently 
identified for more than thirty-one years, his exemplary professional and private virtues have justly 
secured to him enviable respect and confidence.

Politically, Judge Hendershott is a life-long Democrat of the old school.  For ten or twelve years 
past, however, he has been wholly our of politics, during that time having uniformly declined any 
official station. His present desire is to lead a quiet, happy life of industry at home, in the enjoyment of 
the means obtained by honest toil, and at perfect peace with all mankind.  In religion, Judge Hendrshott 
is a firm believer in the efficacy of the blood of Christ, in the salvation of the human family.

Judge Hendrshott is the husband of one wife, formerly Miss Mary W. Jeffries, daughter of the 
Hon. Paul C. Jeffries, first Probate Judge of Wapello county, to whom he was united in marriage, June 
8, 1845, and is the father of eight children, all of whom are living.