A biosketch reports: [1]
William Henson, Sr. b ca. 1725 in Virginia, lived in Amelia Co., Va., in 1748. From 1755 to 1758 he served in the regiment of Britishers Armies in Virginia Colonial Militia in Albemarle Co., Va. About 1768 he moved his family further west in the Virginia frontier, in the Holston River Valley near the present town of Hansonville, Va. While living there, five of his sons entered the Revolutionary Army to fight against the Indians. In 1758 his fifth son, John Henson, then only 12 years of age, enlisted in the army for one year and was stationed at the fort on Long Island of the Holston River. At the end of the year when John was discharged, William picked up and moved his family to Rutherford, Co., N.C., and settled on land a short distance from his brother, Bartlett Henson, living a few miles inside the Burke Co., N.C., line. During the Revolution, William simply could not turn against his mother country, England, and thus was a Tory or Loyalist, but being elderly took no part in any battle. His sons, all old enough to participate were taking part, with two sons of them serving in both the Tory and American armies at different times. In 1783 …
[1] Genealogy Society of Southern Illinois, Saga of Southern Illinois, Volumes 19-20 (1992), 49, [GoogleBooks].