On August 2, I received a nice letter from Jerry G. Henderson who lives in Celina. Jerry Henderson looks forward to his weekly mail which contains his copy of The Town Charter. He is looking for information about the Hendersons who lived in Aubrey from the beginning of the town’s origination in the 1850's, which was at least twenty years before the name was changed from Onega to Aubrey. Jerry is the son of Grover Gene Henderson; his grandfather was also named Grover Gene Henderson.

The email letter that I received from Jerry G. states that he is interested in learning more about the Hendersons who lived in Aubrey. Samuel C. Henderson and his wife, Lillie N. were early settlers of the town. Samuel L. Henderson was born around 1872 in Texas. His father too was born in Texas and his mother was born in Missouri.

Jerry’s grandfather, Grover G. Henderson was born in Texas in 1886. He was a general farmer in the area and his wife Lona B. was born in 1890. Her mother and father were born in Alabama. Grover and Lona had a family that consisted of three boys and one girl in 1930. The oldest boy was named Len and he was born around 1913, another boy named Gene who was born in Texas around 1918. Homer was born in 1922 and Mary J. was born in 1925. I don’t have too much information about Newt Henderson.

I know they were prominent businessmen in Aubrey, and either they built the IOOF Building or were real close because they were in the hardware and implement business some 30 years before the 1900's.

The Henderson’s owned land very near what is now known to be Belew Cemetery and was known as the Belew Settlement. There was a first a school and then a Baptist Church in the Belew Settlement.

While Pilot Point had been settling for about ten years prior to the Belew Settlement, the Belew Settlement was however, a good sized group of people that were active in the Onega businesses. Most of the settlers in the Belew Settlement were from Missouri and Kentucky area. I seriously think that they were Cherokee descendants and were more inclined to trade with the other Cherokees in Onega.

The Plunks were located to the west of the cemetery and were already paying taxes to the local district and county. They possessed land that was closer to the Elm Fork of the Trinity.

The old part of Belew Cemetery is on the West side. Many of the graves are not marked. There are other smaller abandoned Indian graves in this area. The graves are scatted due to transportation difficulties.

I have family members before me that were not buried in the same location. When the wife or mother went first, then the husband had to be buried in a more local area because of long rainy conditions or other weather that required a change in burial plans due to timing.

I will talk more about the Plunks and Hendersons next week.