The Mott Letters: The Case of Mary Henderson

Manuscript collections often contain information which is not located in official records. For instance, deaths in the family or community. While we know from tombstones, church records, or death certificates some of the information, there will be a hole in the picture from the information provided. Mainly if the documents are not complete or extant. This is shown clearly in the Mott collection through the case of Mary Henderson. 

Mary Henderson was the daughter of Richard H. Henderson and, presumably, his wife, Orra Morre.[i] Richard was one of the guardians assigned to Armistead Randolph Mott and his sister Mary Eleanor Mott after the death of their father in 1826.[ii] Also, Mary Henderson was a childhood friend of Virginia Bentley, Armistead’s future wife.

 

The Henderson Family

 

The Mott Family

Both Armistead and Virginia received letters while at school informing them of the death of Richard Henderson, Mary’s father, in February 1841.[iii] However, Virginia’s mother Catherine continued to recount the illness to her over the next year.

The first letter concerning Mary’s declining health was dated 2 March 1841:

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"your school mate Mary Henderson has been perfectly deranged for the last ten days - they have put a jacket on her now such as they use in Hospitals with maniacs"

Less than a month later, on 20 March, Virginia’s mother once again wrote her about her friend’s condition:

"Poor Mary has been in a state to which death would be far preferable ever since her Father's death. Reason seems to have deserted her completely"

The final letter in the collection concerning Mary’s health was written on 18 December 1841:

"Mary Henderson's health is at a very precarious state her friends scarcely have any hopes of her surviving this winter."

Death certificates were not required in the state of Virginia, or by the United States, in 1842 and as such there are no official records on why Mary Henderson died. The only records which do exist are the tombstone[iv] in St James’s Episcopal church at Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia and the burial record from the said church.[v] However, this information does not tell us why, or how, she died. Plus, unlike her father, there was no newspaper announcement for her death, possibly due to her mental state.

Monumental inscriptions. USA. Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. 13 February 1842. HENDERSON, Mary Garnett. Photo added by Betty Frain. Find A Grave Memorial: 9541946. https://findagrave.com : accessed April 2019.

The letters, with the burial records and tombstone, now complete the information on the death of Mary for researchers. Without this information, a researcher could assume she died of a common illness or possibly an accident. Descendants of the Henderson family, however, have a valuable family medical history data as instances of mental illness can run in families.

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[i] Burials (PR) United States. St James’s Parish Church Graveyard, Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. 14 February 1842. HENDERSON, Mary. p. 389.

[ii] Testamentary records. United States. 4 March 1826. MOTT, Thomas. Will. Loudoun County Will Book Q, p. 150.

[iii] [Bentley], Robert. (1841) Letter to Virginia L. Bentley, 13 February. Weeks, J. Thos. (1841) Letter to Armistead R. Mott, 16 February.

[iv] Monumental inscriptions. USA. Saint James Episcopal Church, Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. 13 February 1842. HENDERSON, Mary Garnett. Photo added by Betty Frain. Find A Grave

Memorial: 9541946. www.findagrave.com : accessed April 2019.

[v] Burials (PR) United States. St James’s Parish Church Graveyard, Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. 14 February 1842. HENDERSON, Mary. p. 389.