PVT Eli Henderson
c. 1809 – c. 1890
Co. C, 141st Illinois Infantry
CW
Eli Henderson was born in about 1809 in Vermont. He emigrated to Illinois in the 1830’s, and was one of the earliest settlers in McHenry County, building a log hotel in Algonquin, and serving as County Sheriff for several terms.
Henderson married Cornelia Thomas about 1833; they raised 5 children.
He was one of the “Hundred Days Men” drafted into Company C, 141st Illinois Infantry Regiment on June 16, 1864, and mustered out on October 10, 1864 at Chicago. These short-term, lightly trained troops freed veteran units from routine duty to allow them to go to the front lines for combat purposes and accelerate the Union victory.
Professionally, Henderson was a farmer and later owned a meat market; he and his wife moved to Barrington in 1884 when he retired.
Private Eli Henderson died before September, 1890 when wife Cornelia filed for his Civil War pension from Minnesota (where she resided with a married daughter and died in 1891). He is buried with his son – also a Civil War Veteran - in Evergreen Cemetery in Barrington.
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Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
