The below photo is of the Hensley home in Hensley Arkansas. I will also add notes from my data base below the photos to explain to whom this home belonged.
Hi, to all Hensley researchers of Arkansas Hensleys:
This information is not my own research. It will be a direct quote from a manuscript written by Ruth Salmons Nassar called My Begetters Volume II The Hensleys. Ruth was the gr-grandchild of my Bird Hensley of Cabell County (now WV) and Clay County Illinois. Bird's daughter, Lucinda, actually died in the household of Ruth's family. Ruth was quite fascinated with her grandmother, Lucinda Hensley Salmons. (If you are interested in Columbus Hensley, skip to the very end of this recital) Here is what Ruth said about William:
Perhaps the most dashing member of the family was William B. Hensley, born in 1839 in Clay County, Illinois, who married Mary McKendree, sister of his friend George McKendree, in Cabell County. They had one child, Willa May who married Austin Lee Wigal in Cabell County in the 1880's. Mary my have died at the time of Willa May's birth or possibly shortly after. William B. joined the Confederate ARmy. Military papers describe him as being 5'3", dark complexioned, blue eyes, dark hair, age 22 in 1863. Perhaps he had some military training, because he was elected Captain of Company F, 45th Infantry Batalion, Virginia in October 1863 (Later his was designated Company H, same batallion). He enlisted a namesake, William B. Hensley, into Company H late 1863 or 1864 as private. I theorize that this was his uncle William, son of Solomon, who was 20 years older than Lucinda's brother William. The elder Hensley appears as a prisoner of war held by the Union Army at Camp Chase, Ohio, after being captured January 18, 1865. The older Hensley was described as being 5'10", dark complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, farmer by profession from Wayne County, Virginia (now WV).
Lucinda's brother, Capt. William B. Hensley, evidently served bravely and was seriously wounded and hospitalized near Fisherville, VA. in 1864 and was removed to a hospital at Staunton, Va where he may have remained until the war's end.
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We do not know whether Capt. William B. Hensley returned to Cabell County immediately after the war, but we do know that not long after the war's end he was settled in Pulaski County, Arkansas where he acquired a rather large plantation. Of course, the economy of the South was in shambles and property could be purchased at distressed prices; nevertheless, one wonders how a defeated Confederate soldier happened to have enough Union dollars to make the purchase. Perhaps he merely leased the plantation from owners who had lost their menfolks and slaves, later earned sufficient profits to purchase. Perhaps he had some special source of good funds. We will probably never know. Also, we do not know how or when he met Rose Campbell, the daughter of a once-prosperous and highly respected southern family. Nor is there a date of his marriage to Rose Campbell (I found Arkansas records to be scant), but the family Bible held by Mrs. Hilda Adams of Hensley, Arkansas, records the birth and death date of their infant son December 20, 1870. Again the young mother was shortly to follow her infant, and Rose Campbell Hensley, who was born in 1849, died May 16, 1871.
About one year later, Capt. Hensley married Nora Dell Harris, the niece of Rose Campbell, granddaughter of William S. Campbell (Rose's father). Her mother was Harriet Arkansas Campbell and her father was Forman Harris. Nora's parents both died in 1863 and she was reared by her Grandmother Campbell.
William Hensley remained in contact with his Cabell County family and his father and sisters frequently visited his plantation. His daughter by first wife Mary McKendree also was welcomed in Arkansas. As a matter of fact, she spent most of her adult life in Arkansas with her husband, Austin Lee Wigal and their son Fred Lee Wigal who died in Arkansas in 1953.
Captain Hensley continued to acquire land as well as to manage the rather extensive plantations inherited from William Campbell. Nora had not children, thus Willa May was his only surviving child. He was highly regarded in Saline and Jefferson Counties, wherein much of his property was situated, and the town of Hensley, Arkansas was named in honor of him.
He died August 12, 1891 at age 51 and is buried in a bridk mausoleum on Hensley Plantation. The plantations he had acquired he left to Norah for her lifetime then to be divided up between the heirs of his brother and sisters. Nora lived to her late 90's dying in 1953. The Campbell plantations which William had owned with Nora passed to her heirs.
I laud William for his loyalty to his family. Seven daughters had been born to Byrd and Nancy Hensley. It would have been a chore to find husbands for them even in the best of times. The Civil War had taken its toll of the nation's manhood and Southern Sympathizers were especially ....Willam and Nora had the girls and Byrd visit the plantation, they were no doubt feted and introduced to Arkansas society, and the youngest, Tavin (Fanny) married a Dr. Lindsey and lived in Little Rock Ark. They had two sons.
Byrd's daughters Mary Ann and Sarah remained unmarried and were quite impoverished in their old age. Mary died in Barboursville, WV. Both girls, of course, were heirs under William's will, however since Nora outlived them they received nothing from his estate. Being destitute, Sarah worked out an agreement with my brother Henry to leave her share of the William Hensley estate to him in return for his purchasing a lifetime care package for her at Foster Memorial Home in Huntington, WV. She was the only member of Byrd's family that I ever met and she was adorable old lady dresesed very properly in black who pulled from her dresser drawer an ornate perfume bottle she had saved from some long-ago extravagance. I cherished the gift for many years.
Elizabeth, third daughter of Byrd and Nancy, married Samuel Kelley, son of Adam and Betsy Kelley of Kanawha County and had a large family. At the time, the Bird Hensleys lived in Cabell County on Swanch (I believe this to be a mispelling) and he shot a turkey for the wedding feast, according to legend.
This is the end of Ruth's recital. I would be glad to try to clarify anything here if you have questions....Marsha in WV
Columbus Hensely, Lucinda's youngest brother, may have followed William to Arkansas and died there. He and his wife Muscilla had a large family but I have found no record of them or their names.
There are also photocopies of documentation in Ruth’s manuscript
