HENDERSON, THOMAS STALWORTH (1859–1937). Thomas Stalworth Henderson, lawyer, son of Thomas S. and Harriet (Red) Henderson, was born on his father's farm near Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, on January 12, 1859. After attending Washington Academy until he was fourteen years of age, he entered Waco University, from which he graduated as the youngest student and valedictorian in 1877. He read law in Bryan in the office of his brothers, Samuel Red Henderson and John Nathaniel Henderson, and in the office of James Turner of Marshall before he entered St. Louis Law School. He was licensed in Missouri and Texas and began to practice at Calvert, Texas, in 1879. In that year he moved to Cameron, where he was appointed county attorney of Milam County. As he was only twenty, he had to have his disabilities as a minor removed before he could receive his license or assume his office. Henderson was a practicing attorney at Cameron for fifty-eight years. He participated in Texas political campaigns for fifty years, attended all the state Democratic conventions, and was a delegate to the national Democratic convention that nominated Woodrow Wilson. He was district attorney for the Twentieth Judicial District, 1882–86, a member of the Texas legislature in 1893, and a member of the Texas Board of Control and Water Erosion and Water Conservation. He belonged to the State Bar of Texas, the National Council for Defense, the National League to Enforce Peace, and the Texas State Historical Association. From 1895 to 1911 he was a member of the board of regents of the University of Texas; he served as chairman from 1900 to 1911. Henderson married Minnie Agnes Burnes at Marshall on December 10, 1884; six children were born to them. He died at Cameron on February 17, 1937.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Who Was Who in America, 1943.
