Alexander Henderson | |
Office1: | Virginia House of Delegates (Fairfax County) |
Term Start1: | 1783 |
Term End1: | 1784 |
Office2: | Virginia House of Delegates (Prince William County) |
Term Start2: | 1789 |
Term End2: | 1790 |
Birth Date: | 3 March 1738 |
Birth Place: | Glasgow, Scotland, US |
Death Place: | Prince William, Virginia, US |
Nationality: | American |
Occupation: | merchant and politician |
Spouse: | Sarah Moore |
Alexander Henderson (March 2, 1738 – November 22, 1815) was a merchant and politician in the British colony and American state of Virginia.
Henderson was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He married Sarah Moore . He was the father of Archibald Henderson, the longest-serving Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, who served from 1820 to 1859. He moved to Colchester, Virginia, in 1756.[1]
Henderson served in the Virginia militia during the American Revolution. He represented Fairfax County in the Virginia House of Delegates 1783 - 1784 and Prince William County 1789 - 1790.[2]
He was a Virginia delegate to the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785 which led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He also served as a vestryman at Pohick Church and a magistrate of Fairfax and Prince William Counties.[1]
Henderson moved to Dumfries, Virginia, in 1787, where his home, Henderson House still stands. There he opened a store with additional outlets later opening in Colchester, Occoquan, and Alexandria and leading him to be considered the "father of the American chain store."[3]
Henderson died on November 22, 1815, in Prince William, Virginia. He was buried at the Henderson Cemetery.[1]