John Napoleon “Poly” Henson
Written by Justin D. Lamb
The younger of two children, John Napoleon “Poly” Henson was born on a farm near Olive on October 18, 1869 to John Lewis Henson and Mary Elizabeth Dent. A few short months after his birth, his mother passed away at the age of 25 possibly of typhoid fever. The disease was rampant in the county at the time and was killing off people quickly. It became so bad that parents were disbursing their children to different parts of the county in hopes that their family wouldn’t be wiped out entirely from the deadly disease.
Around 1872, Henson’s father married for a second time to Nancy K. McLeod. Shortly after Henson’s ninth birthday, his father passed away leaving him in the care of his stepmother. Henson attended the one room school at Olive before enrolling at Clinton College in Hickman County, Kentucky.
Henson was raised in a very religious household and he joined the Olive Baptist Church in 1886 at the age of 17. To further his studies, Henson went to Bethel College in Russellville, Kentucky and Union University in Jackson, Tennessee where he graduated. Henson soon returned to Marshall County where he began teaching in the local schools throughout Marshall and McCracken Counties. Henson was elected County Clerk of Marshall County in the 1901 Democratic Primary and was re-elected in 1905. Following his two terms as County Clerk, Henson served as City Clerk for Benton for many years.
Henson married Hattie Fields, daughter of John Fields and Alice Minter, on August 10, 1905 in Hardin. The couple had one child, John Napoleon Henson, who was born in 1906. The year 1907 turned out to be a very tragic year for Henson when on March 1, 1907 his wife unexpectedly passed away. A few months later on June 29, his six month old son died as well. A few years later he married for a second time to Ida Belle Koon.
Henson often cited the tragic deaths of his wife and son as his calling to become a preacher. He became an ordained Baptist minister on May 29, 1910 and was soon selected as pastor at Hamlet Baptist Church and later at Zion’s Cause Baptist. He was also preacher at Newton’s Creek and Springs Bayou in McCracken County, and in the 1920s, he was called to preach in Florida.
After spending several years in the pulpit, Henson retired in the 1940s. On the morning of May 13, 1956 after teaching his Sunday School class at Hamlet Baptist Church, Henson returned to his home on Salem Chapel Road where he passed away at the age of 86. He was buried in the Strow Cemetery in Benton.