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Local figure

Pleasant Henderson

Pleasant Henderson moved to Chapel Hill in 1797 and on 9 December was chosen steward of the University of North Carolina. He built a large home on Franklin Street for his family and student boarders, gave up the stewardship in 1802, and kept living in Chapel Hill while clerk of the House of Commons from 1807 to 1830.

Source: NCpedia: Henderson, Pleasant

2 works about Pleasant Henderson are indexed here.

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Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineFreedom and free people of color in the county court, 1791–18171791–1817 · 13 events · Freedom from slavery in Orange County passed through the county court, which granted it under wills and petitions and judged the claims of free Black people held as slaves or runaways. In May 1791 it let Anne Hooper, widow of William Hooper, free John for his meritorious service. Over the next two decades it decreed freedom under the wills of James Armstrong, William Freeman and Major Absalom Tatom and on Pleasant Henderson's petition, often with new names such as Samuel Freeman and Tatom. It ordered Jethro Pettiford, a free boy offered for sale, returned to his mother in 1797, and discharged Joseph Lantorn and George Simms, jailed as suspected runaways, once they satisfied the justices they were free. StorylineBridging Morgan Creek: McCauley’s and Merritt’s mills, 1793–18181793–1818 · 10 events · Where the road from Hillsborough to Fayetteville crossed Morgan Creek, the county court had to get a bridge sited, built and paid for, and the record shows how a county did public works through its court. The court fixed a site at Matthew McCauley's public mill in 1794 and named commissioners and inspectors, and after a nine to nine vote in 1797 it paid the builder, Tobias Rogers, 94 pounds in 1798. Henry Merritt later built a mill and a bridge, which the court made a toll bridge in 1811, and in 1818 it paid Merritt 195 dollars for a bridge across the creek. StorylineStudent disorder and the trustees' discipline, 1799–18191799–1819 · 15 events · In its first twenty years the University's students repeatedly defied its faculty and trustees, and the board answered with expulsions, new ordinances and in 1817 the courts. Students beat principal Gillaspie in 1799, about forty-five left in 1805 over an oath for monitors, an 1811 outbreak left no graduates, and in 1816 a forbidden oration brought expulsions and a powder bomb at a tutor's door. Duels, a stabbing at the 1804 ball and an 1818 beating of an enslaved man ran alongside, until in 1819 students had to hand in six pistols and two dirks. StorylineChapel Hill grows from a college village to a town, 1800–18191800–1819 · 14 events · Between 1800 and 1819 stores, houses and shops went up on Franklin Street, and in 1819 the General Assembly named commissioners for the town of Chapel Hill. Along the way John McCauley opened one of the first stores by 1803, James Hogg built a ten-room house in 1804, and Thomas H. Taylor, Christopher Barbee, Thompson and Trice and Edward Robson added a shoe store, a smithy, a store and the post office. The county court licensed stores to retail spirits in 1817 and 1818, and a student of the class of 1818 remembered about a dozen houses on the main street. StorylineRobert H. Chapman’s presidency of the University, 1812–18161812–1816 · 8 events · Robert H. Chapman led the University from 1812 to 1816, years that began with his push for Bible study and ended in a student revolt. He was credited with organizing Chapel Hill's Presbyterians, but in 1814 night raiders struck his stable, cart and gate. In September 1816 he struck Republican passages from a senior's oration, and the revolt that followed brought expulsions, suspensions and a powder bomb at a tutor's door. Chapman resigned that November, and the trustees returned the presidency to Joseph Caldwell from January 1, 1817.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 12 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Pleasant Henderson is chosen steward of the university Pleasant Henderson moved from Mt. Pleasant to Chapel Hill in 1797 and was chosen steward of the University of North Carolina, following John Taylor in the post. A UNC Libraries exhibit records that he owned nineteen enslaved people. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: John Taylor · Also mentions: UNC LibrariesSearch the index · NCpedia: Henderson, Pleasant
  2. Students stone steward Pleasant Henderson's house Complaints about the food at Steward's Hall under stewards John Taylor and Pleasant Henderson helped fuel the student uprising of 1799. In 1801 Henderson's house was stoned, and he did not reapply for the stewardship. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: John Taylor · Also mentions: Steward's HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Steward's Hall
  3. Pleasant Henderson gives up the stewardship and opens a store Henderson gave up the university stewardship in 1802 and declined the trusteeship he was elected to. About this time he went into business as Henderson and Searcy, and he kept his Chapel Hill residence while serving as clerk of the House of Commons from 1807 to 1830. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Henderson, Pleasant
  4. The court orders a bridge over New Hope Creek on the road from the University to Raleigh The court ordered a bridge built over New Hope Creek on the road from the University to Raleigh. It named Robert Campbell, John Taylor Jr., Pleasant Henderson, John Bragg and Christopher Barbee, or any three, to contract for it and to take a 500-pound bond from the builder to keep the bridge in repair for seven years from its acceptance. People: Pleasant Henderson, Christopher Barbee Place: New Hope Creek, on the road from the University to Raleigh · Also named: Robert Campbell, John Taylor Jr., John BraggSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1802
  5. Pleasant Henderson writes to trustee Walter Alves about a student secession at the university Pleasant Henderson wrote to Walter Alves that about 45 students had left the university in protest over the trustees' rule requiring student monitors to take an oath, and urged Alves and the board to act. People: Walter Alves, Pleasant Henderson Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Letter from Major Henderson to Walter Alves, September 3, 1805
  6. The court names commissioners to contract for a bridge over Ben's Creek on the Raleigh road The court appointed John Taylor Sr., Pleasant Henderson and William Barbee to contract for a bridge across Ben's Creek at or near where the road from the University to Raleigh crossed it, and to report to the next court. People: Pleasant Henderson, William Barbee Place: Ben's Creek, on the road from the University to Raleigh · Also named: John Taylor Sr.Search the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1807
  7. The court frees Abram, who is to be known as Abraham Manso On the petition of Pleasant Henderson, the court ordered Abram, a Black man of about forty-one, emancipated and set free, and ordered that he be called and known as Abraham Manso. People: Pleasant Henderson Place: Orange CountyMark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1809
  8. Caldwell takes students before a justice of the peace over attacks on President Chapman's property After night raids on Chapman's stable, cart and gate, and tar and feathers on his gatepost, Caldwell asked justice Pleasant Henderson for a general warrant. Refused, he named five students, and a hearing questioned the student body under oath. People: Joseph Caldwell, Pleasant Henderson, Robert Hett Chapman Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 233
  9. The court names commissioners to repair the bridge over Ben's Creek near Mrs. Sears's The court appointed John Taylor Sr. and Pleasant Henderson commissioners to contract with a suitable person for the repairs needed on the bridge across Ben's Creek near Mrs. Sears's. People: Pleasant Henderson Place: Ben's Creek near Mrs. Sears's, on the road from Chapel Hill to Raleigh · Also named: John Taylor Sr. · Also mentions: Ben's CreekSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: November Term 1815
  10. The court names a committee to contract for a Morgan Creek bridge near Merritt's mill The court appointed Pleasant Henderson, John Taylor, Bryant Kittrell and William Barbee a committee to contract for building a bridge across Morgan Creek at or near Merritt's mill and to report to the next term. People: Pleasant Henderson, William Barbee Place: Morgan Creek at or near Merritt's mill · Also named: John Taylor, Bryant KittrellSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: August Term 1817
  11. General Assembly appoints commissioners for the Town of Chapel Hill The General Assembly named Joseph Caldwell, Pleasant Henderson, Thomas Taylor, Ezekiel Trice and William Barbee commissioners for the town of Chapel Hill, with power to fix its boundaries and make bylaws. Elected commissioners and a corporate charter followed in the 1850-51 session. People: Joseph Caldwell, Pleasant Henderson Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William Barbee, Ezekiel TriceSearch the index · The Laws of North-Carolina, Enacted in the Year 1819, pp. 61-62: An act to appoint commissioners for the town of Chapel Hill, in Orange county
  12. Pleasant Henderson leaves Chapel Hill for Tennessee Still deep in debt, the former steward and storekeeper moved west. His son Dr. Alexander Martin Henderson secured the family home on Franklin Street, and the store on the property was advertised that year as Norfleet and Henderson's. Place: Henderson house and store, Lot #12, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Alexander Martin Henderson · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 63

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Pleasant Henderson, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Pleasant Henderson. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Plan of the Village of Chapel Hill on a scale of 200 yards to an Inch--Copy from a Plot in the Possession of William Pannill which was taken from the Plot of John Craig, Esq.

1817

Hand-drawn plan of the village of Chapel Hill in 1817 at 200 yards to the inch, copied from a plot owned by William Pannill that was itself taken from John Craig's survey. It locates the University of North Carolina and names neighboring landowners, among them Joseph Caldwell, William Hooper, Pleasant Henderson and James Hogg.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA

Henderson, Major Pleasant: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Photograph of a drawn likeness of Major Pleasant Henderson, the first steward of the University of North Carolina, undated. From the UNC Faculty and Administration binder in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

CH Historical Society

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 1 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Records of enslaved people

One record of 1828 name Pleasant Henderson as a party to the sale, gift, trust or other transfer of enslaved people. Each record lists the people named in it, with their ages and family ties.

Search all records of enslaved people in Orange County →

Deeds

11 deeds, 1799 to 1829, in the county’s deed books name Pleasant Henderson as a party, from Mark Chilton’s published abstracts. Each links to the deed-book page at the Register of Deeds.

Search every historic deed →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Pleasant Henderson Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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