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Hiram Henry’s Father Robert Lewis Henry and grandfather Robert Henry purchased 4 Illinois land patents in Illinois. The land is located at the northeast edge of Versailles Township, which is at the southeast corner of Brown County.

The Illinois river lies to the east with Cass County on the other side. To the north is Cooperstown and La Grange. For an approximate location you can use the following Google Maps locations to orient you:

• Southern-most point of boundary line between section 1 of T 2S, R 2W (contains Robert Henry Sr. parcels) and section 6 of T 2S, R 1W (contains Robert L. Henry and Mary Ann Langdon parcel)
• Point most likely within boundaries of Robert L. Henry and Mary Ann Langdon parcel
• Point most likely within boundaries of Robert Henry Sr. parcel

Family Cemetery

There’s a family cemetery located near the western border of what was Hiram Henry’s parents’ land, called Lavina Henry Cemetery, resting place of many members of the Henry clan. I have not placed all of them in the family tree yet, but the names include:

• Asher Francis Henry b. Jul 1816 in New York; m. Elizabeth Langdon 13 Mar 1844 in Brown County (license #198); m. Lavina Barker 2 Jul 1851 in Brown County (license #115); d. 23 Feb 1863 (aged 46) in Brown County.
• Charlotte Henry b. 21 Feb 1835 in La Grange, Brown County; d. 9 Mar 1835 (aged 16 days) in La Grange (daughter of Robert Lewis & Mary Ann Henry)
• Francis J. Henry b. 1 Oct 1822 in Ohio; m. Elizabeth J. Thacker/Thacher 10 Mar 1844 in Brown County (license #495); d. 4 Nov 1888 (aged 66) in Chambersburg, Pike County, Illinois.
• George W. Henry b. 30 Apr 1851 in La Grange; d. 26 May 1853 (aged 2) in La Grange. (son of Robert L. Henry and Mary Ann (Langdon) Henry.
• Hiram O. Henry b. Feb 1863; d. 13 Feb 1873 (aged 10).
• Jacob S. Henry b. 23 May 1842 in Cooperstown, Brown County; d. 9 Dec 1843 (aged 1) in Cooperstown.
• John M. Henry b. 30 Jul 1835 in Cooperstown; d. 3 Oct 1835 (aged 2 months) in Cooperstown (first born of Orris Martin Henry & Eliza Emrick).
• Joseph H. Henry b. 1846 in La Grange; d. 7 Mar 1848 (aged 1) in La Grange (son of of Robert Lewis & Mary Ann Henry)
• Lavina (Barker) Henry b. 10 Aug 1828 in Ohio; d. 16 Sep 1911 (aged 83) in Brown County (wife of Asher Francis Henry)
• Martin H. Henry b. 26 Apr 1840 in Cooperstown; d. 7 Jul 1842 (aged 2) in Cooperstown
• Mary Ann (Langdon) Henry b. 7 Mar 1818 in Kentucky; m. Robert Lewis Henry 25 Apr 1834 (license #215) in Schuyler County IL. d. 25 May 1865 (aged 47) in Brown County
• Orris C. Henry b. 21 May 1844 in Cooperstown; d. 31 Oct 1844 (aged 5 months) in Cooperstown (son or Orris Martin Henry)
• Robert E. Henry b. 9 Jan 1839 in Brown County; d. 12 Dec 1850 (aged 11) in Brown County (son of Robert Lewis & Mary Ann Henry)
• Robert Lewis Henry Jr. b. 1810 in New York; m. Mary Ann Langdon 25 Apr 1834 (license #215) in Schuyler County IL. d. 11 Nov 1899 (aged 89) in La Grange
• Roxann (Hayward) Henry b. 1783 in New York; m. Robert Henry Sr. 4 April 1809 in New York; d. 18 Oct 1839 (aged 55–56) in Versailles,
• Roxanna J. Henry b. 27 Aug 1834 in Brown County; d. 17 Sep 1839 (aged 5) in Brown County.

Plat Maps

In the Illinois Digital Archives, I found a repository of U.S. Surveyor General’s Federal Township Plats.

U.S. Surveyor General’s Records for Illinois, Record Series 953.012, “Federal Township Plats” consists of official plat maps of all congressional townships statewide; these were primarily drawn from field notes of federal surveys conducted from 1804-1855 in what is now Illinois. Additional plats were created from 1868-1891; these were drawn primarily from new surveys conducted in parts of some townships statewide, as well as those for islands and lakes along the Fox River. The plats were prepared by the United States Surveyor General’s office. In 1957, the Secretary of State received official custody of the plats for deposit in the Illinois State Archives.

Plat maps include information as the township’s legal description; delineation of sections; measurements in chains and acres; and topographical and vegetation features (e.g., prairie, timber, bodies of water, salines, swamps). Occasionally man-made features (e.g., roads, settlements, Native American traces) are noted in the plats, as are additional features such as survey and claim numbers to various lands, and boundary lines (including those delineated in treaties with various Native American tribes).

Illinois Digital Archives collection description

Brown County maps can be found here. I created the image below by merging two of these plat maps and marked the approximate location of the Henry parcels. Robert Henry Sr.’s land is shaded blue and Robert L. Henry and Mary Ann Langdon’s land is shaded red:

Land Patent Details

In 1840, the senior Robert Henry purchased 120 acres at $1.25 an acre, for a total of $150. In 1848 and 1849, Robert Lewis Henry purchased the same quantity of land nearby, for the same price.

There are other members of the Henry clan who purchased land in the same area, such as Oris M Henry, Asher F. Henry, Francis Henry (this page also has Jesse Langdon, which could have been kin to Robert L Henry’s wife Mary Ann Langdon), and Hiram A. Henry. A deep dive into land records will probably help us piece together a few more generations of the family tree.

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Robert Henry (grandfather of Hiram L. Henry) Parcels