This is the second article in a series that highlights the owners of Patagonia businesses that advertised in the Santa Cruz Patagonian and other local newspapers in 1918. A. S. Henderson’s ad listed “shoes for every member of the family, canned goods, dried fruits of all kinds, and everything in the line of groceries and general merchandise.” The full text of most of the articles quoted below can be found in the Library of Congress database, Chronicling America. Images of the Santa Cruz Patagonian are available on the Patagonia Museum website.
Alexander Southerland (A.S.) Henderson was born in 1859 on Prince Edward Island, Canada. In 1880 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of Sergeant in the 4th Cavalry; by 1887 he was working as a teamster at Ft. Huachuca. Transportation services were an early occupation; he had “…the mail contract between Crittenden, Harshaw and Lochiel.” [Arizona Weekly Citizen, 6/27/1891].
Henderson became a naturalized citizen in 1895 and by 1900 was ranching near Patagonia; his homestead patent for 160 acres was located in today’s Rail X Estates area. He also took advantage of mining opportunities: “A. S. Henderson…has the distinction of having paid the first money into the coffers of Santa Cruz county. …he sent county recorder…Cummings three dollars U. S. currency, for the recording of two mining claims in Washington Camp.” [The Border Vidette, 4/1/1899].
In the early 1900s Henderson’s long career of civic involvement began. He served as a grand juror and as Justice of the Peace: “Justice A. S. Henderson of Patagonia precinct…stated that the fines assessed to men he put to work on his ranche …were accounted for. Mr. Henderson paid the fines out from his own funds, and got the money back in work done by the petty offenders. He states that they had no money to pay, had been guilty of misdemeanors subject to fine or imprisonment, and by the method employed he put money into the county treasury, instead of having it taken out to feed them, had he sent the men to jail; which was the only alternative.” [The Oasis, 7/6/1907].
On December 31, 1907 Henderson married 36 year old Eva Stevens, a recent graduate of the American School of Osteopathy, Kirksville, MO. The 1910 census lists his occupation as a stock farmer, though “A. S. Henderson and Walter Johnson have opened a new grocery store and meat market in the building.”[The Border Vidette, 12/26/1908]. Mrs. Henderson’s occupation in 1910 is “none,” though she began practicing medicine in Patagonia in 1907.
In 1912 he was elected to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and became chairman. He was especially interested in improving the roads in the county and “devoted a number of days to surveying new roads in the Elgin region … Among other roads they surveyed and will establish is one to connect the station at Elgin with the state highway…about five miles north. The proposed road will give the people of the Elgin country short routesto Tucson or Fairbank.” [The Oasis, 4/20/1912].
The 1920 census lists Judge Henderson’s occupation as merchant and Dr. Henderson’s occupation is still “none.” He continued to actively invest in mining ventures and served another term on the Board of Supervisors. In 1922 he was appointed to complete I.P. Frazier’s term as a representative to the Arizona State legislature. The 1930 census lists the Judge as the proprietor of a general store and Eva can finally claim her occupation as an osteopathic doctor, having received her license from the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners in 1924. A.S. is retired by 1940 and died in 1944.
Eva practiced medicine until her death in 1965. She lived for many years in a house behind the Patagonia Library and taught her neighbor Rita Torres Smith vegetable gardening and how to start rose cuttings. Both A.S. and Eva are buried in the Patagonia Cemetery.