An agricultural-and-mining township along Mahoning Creek and the Big Run valley, with families often described simply as living “near Big Run” in early 1900s records.
Tip: Add nearby place names like Big Run, Spruce, or Oliveburg, and regional markers like Punxsutawney to catch records that mention only the closest post office or rail stop.
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When searching, combine Henderson Twp. with Big Run, Spruce, Oliveburg, and regional anchors like Punxsutawney or Reynoldsville. Many residents are indexed only under the post office or railroad locality.
Strategy: if you do not find a family in “Henderson” for pre-township years, search under Gaskill, neighboring townships, and the Big Run or Punxsutawney post office localities.
Henderson Township occupies rolling farmland and wooded hills in the Mahoning Creek and Big Run watershed. Nineteenth-century county histories describe its earliest Euro-American settlers as farmers and lumbermen who pushed up the creek valleys from older settlements closer to Punxsutawney and the county’s first townships ⓘ.
As roads improved and later rail lines and tramways spread through Jefferson County, Henderson developed a mixed identity: part rural agricultural district, part feeder area for nearby coal and coke operations. Residents often did day work in mines or on railroads while maintaining small farms, appearing in records both as “farmer” and as miner, laborer, or railroad hand in different years ⓘ.
School and church centers clustered near crossroads neighborhoods and along the roads leading into Big Run and toward Punxsutawney. A hewed-log schoolhouse in the township is mentioned among the early Jefferson County schools, with later reports listing multiple frame schoolhouses for the rural districts ⓘ.
By the late 1800s and early 1900s, newspapers and county directories show families in the Henderson countryside interacting daily with Big Run merchants, physicians, and churches. Many records simply say “Big Run, Jefferson Co.” for people who technically lived in Henderson Township but relied on the borough for their mail, trade, and social life.
Historical summary adapted from Scott (1888), McKnight (1917), and Pennsylvania township-formation and school-history guides. Refine page citations as you work through the Henderson Township chapters.
The borough of Big Run lies along the creek of the same name, with Henderson’s rural districts on its fringes. Residents of the township often used Big Run as their mailing address, and borough-based churches, schools, and businesses served the surrounding farm neighborhoods.
Research tip: check both the Big Run borough and Henderson Township sections of atlases, tax lists, and cemetery listings when a record simply says “Big Run, Jefferson Co.”
Spruce appears in township-level references as a small rural locality with farmsteads and timber activity. It may be named in school reports, road petitions, and occasional newspaper items rather than having a full town sketch.
Research tip: look for Spruce on the 1878 atlas and later highway maps, then correlate nearby family names with Henderson tax districts and church memberships.
Oliveburg itself lies in a neighboring township, but its churches, stores, and social life drew families from the Henderson side of the line. Some Henderson residents are buried in Oliveburg-area cemeteries or appear in church rolls kept there.
Research tip: when a family is “of Oliveburg” in an obituary or church record, verify whether their land actually fell within Henderson Township by checking atlases, deeds, and township boundary notes.
Some Henderson burials are in township-level cemeteries; others lie in Big Run or Oliveburg cemeteries that drew families from several townships. Use the county cemetery page for exact locations, alternate names, and transcription links.
Early Henderson schooling began in simple log buildings; later reports list multiple frame schoolhouses scattered across the township, with graded schools developing in nearby Big Run for larger populations ⓘ.
Look for school board minutes, teacher contracts, and attendance registers in county archives and historical societies.
Denominations serving Henderson residents include Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and other Protestant groups, often sharing pastors and circuits with congregations in Big Run, Punxsutawney, and neighboring townships ⓘ.
Anniversary booklets, membership rolls, and Sunday-school records can help place families in specific school and church neighborhoods within the township.
For sacramental registers and congregational records, contact the Jefferson County Historical Society and the appropriate denominational archives (Catholic diocesan archives, Methodist conference archives, Presbyterian historical society, etc.).
Henderson residents frequently used post offices in Big Run and nearby localities. Use these listings to understand when a family’s mailing address shifts between a township name and a borough or rural post office.
These cards summarize villages, crossroads, and named neighborhoods connected to Henderson Township. Use them with historic atlases, highway maps, and newspaper references to track families who appear under changing place names across censuses, deeds, and church records.
Use historic atlases and modern GIS to locate Henderson farms and neighborhoods relative to Big Run, Oliveburg, and nearby townships, and to confirm which side of the township line your family lived on.
Cross-check Henderson burials across USGenWeb, Find A Grave, and FamilySearch, especially where families used Big Run or Oliveburg cemeteries rather than a small local burying ground.
Look for deeds, mortgages, and tax assessments that describe land “in Henderson Township, near Big Run,” as well as probate and guardianship cases involving Henderson families who later moved into boroughs or coal towns.
Newspapers based in Big Run and Punxsutawney report school events, farm news, accidents, and social visits involving Henderson residents. Military service in the Civil War through World War II often lists men from the “Big Run” area who technically resided in Henderson Township.