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Martin Van Buren Henderson

Prominent among the representative business men of Fayette county is the gentlemen whose name introduces this sketch. He comes of stanch old Revolutionary stock, and, inheriting to a marked degree the sterling qualities for which his ancestors were long distinguished, he has acted well his part in life and the honorable standing which he has attained in business circles and the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow men speak much in praise of a career which from the beginning has been characterized by success and continued advancements such as few achieve. Martin Van Buren Henderson, Sr., father of the subject, was born August 24, 1836, in Madison county, New York, and was one of the early settlers of Fayette county, Iowa, where he still resides. His wife previous to her marriage was Clara C. Hall, a native of Camden, New Jersey, where her birth occurred on September 26, 1839, the fathers of both having served with distinction in the war for independence, the subject’s great-grandfather Henderson living to the remarkable age of one hundred and four years.

Martin Van Buren Henderson, Jr., was born August 5, 1874, in Westfield township and has been a life-long resident of the county of Fayette. At the proper age he entered the public schools of Hawkeye, where he made substantial progress, later pursuing his studies for some time in the schools of West Union, the training thus received being afterwards supplemented by a full course in the commercial department of the upper Iowa University, where he fitted himself for the responsible position which he has since held. At the early age of sixteen Mr. Henderson entered the old Bank of Hawkeye as first assistant cashier, and in 1894, when the First State Bank of that town was organized, he was made cashier of the institution, being but eighteen years old at the time and the youngest cashier of a state bank in Iowa.

Mr. Henderson has held the above honorable and responsible position to the present time, discharging the duties incumbent upon him with ability and credit, also manifesting a lively interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the institution and gaining more than a local reputation as a capable official and wide-awake, farseeing business man. He is a thorough student of monetary questions, has broad and intelligent views of finance and its relations to the other interests of the country, while his practical experience in the position he has so long and so creditably held has made him familiar with every phase of banking and an authority on all matters to the business. Mr. Henderson has not only been active and influential in the financial circles of his town, but also has been a local leader of the Republican party and judicious adviser in its councils. Notwithstanding his indifference to official honors, his fellow citizens of Hawkeye some years ago elected him mayor of the town, which office he held with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public for one term and a position for which his business experience peculiarly fitted him.

The domestic life of Mr. Henderson dates from June 3, 1894, when he was united in marriage with Jessie E. Hull, of Hawkeye, Iowa, daughter of J. A. and L. J. Hull, the union resulting in the birth of two children, Dolly G. and Josephine H. Mrs. Henderson dying May 20, 1902, Mr. Henderson subsequently, on January 17, 1905, took a second wife in the person of Margaret Riley, of West Union, who has borne him three children, namely: Kenneth R., Martin V. and Anna Laura Henderson.

In closing this brief review of the career of one of Hawkeye’s prominent and respected business men suffice it to state that he has succeeded admirably in all his undertakings and honored every position to which his fellow citizens have called him. Of unimpeachable integrity, public spirited in all the term implies, liberal in his benefactions and popular in the social circle, he fills a large place in the public eye and all who know him pronounce him an affable and courteous gentleman who has worthily earned the high esteem in which he is held.

~transcribed for the Fayette Co IAGenWeb Project by Ann Borden