HENDERSON, John Brooks, senator, born near Danville, Virginia, 16 November, 1826. He removed with his parents to Missouri in 1836, spent his early years on a farm, and taught while receiving his education. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1848, and in that year and 1856 was elected to the legislature, originating the state railroad and banking laws in 1857. He was a presidential elector in 1856 and 1860, and opposed Pierce's administration after the president's message on the Kansas question. Mr. Henderson was a delegate to the Charleston Democratic convention of 1860, and to the State convention of 1861 to determine whether Missouri should secede. In June, 1861, he equipped a regiment of state militia, which he commanded for a time. On the expulsion of Trusten Polk from the United States Senate, in 1862, he was appointed to fill the vacancy, and in 1863 was elected for the full term ending in 1869, serving as chairman on the committee on Indian affairs. He was one of the seven Republican senators whose votes defeated the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. He was a commissioner to treat with hostile tribes of Indians in 1867, and in 1875 was appointed assistant United States district attorney to prosecute men that were accused of evading the revenue laws, but reflected on President Grant in one of his arguments and was removed from this office.--His wife, Mary Foote, author, born in New York about 1835, is a daughter of Judge Elisha Foote (q. v.). She was married to Mr. Henderson in Washington, D. C., removed with him to St. Louis, Missouri, and has taken a wide interest in woman's suffrage, serving as president of the State suffrage association in 1876. In that year she organized in St. Louis the School of design, or Industrial art school, and in 1879 the Woman's exchange. From 1881 till 1885 she studied art in the Washington university, St. Louis. She has published "Practical Cooking and Dinner-Giving" (New York, 1876), and "Diet for the Sick " (1885).