JOSEPH HENDERSON was born in 1770 in Montgomery County, Virginia. His parents were JOHN HENDERSON and MARY "Polly" O'BRIAN DOWNARD and he was the first born of their ten children.

JOSEPH HENDERSON was among the early settlers of the North Fork of the Roanoke River in Montgomery County, Virginia where he was deeded 257 acres on Ingles Mill Creek.

On 4 March 1794 JOSEPH HENDERSON was married to JANE McGEE in Montgomery County, Virginia and they settled in Montgomery County, Virginia where their first ten of twelve children were born. In about 1810, JOSEPH HENDERSON took his family to Kentucky "taking the Wilderness Road carved from Indian Trails by DANIEL BOONE and other woodsmen and they settled briefly in Pulaski County where their remaining two children were born. Their children:

1. WILLIAM HENDERSON, born 22 December 1794 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married JEMIMA NEWKIRK on 31 December 1817 in Jackson County, Indiana and died on 4 July 1863 in Jackson County, Indiana.

2. ROBERT HENRY HENDERSON, born 14 February 1795 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married first ELIZABETH TAGGART on 22 March 1821 in Lawrence County, Indiana and after she died married second PERMELIA NEWKIRK on 26 August 1826 and they moved to Brown County, Indiana where he died on 3 March 1885.

3. MARY (POLLY) HENDERSON, born 1797 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married HENRY NEWKIRK on 20 April 1819 in Jackson County, Indiana and died there in 1834.

4. DELILAH HENDERSON, born 1800 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married JOSEPH WHITE on 21 August 1820 in Jackson County, Indiana.

5. JOHN HENDERSON, born 3 April 1801 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married ANN REID on 8 January 1829 in Indiana and died on 6 May 1878 in Bedford, Lawrence County, Indiana.

6. JANE HENDERSON, born 5 August 1802 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married LEWIS LINEBARGER on 2 February 1822 in Jackson County, Indiana and died 23 December 1875 in Salem, Marion County, Oregon.

7. ELIZABETH HENDERSON, born 1804 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married ALEXANDER HAUSON.

8. JOSEPH HENDERSON Jr., born 8 July 1808 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married PHOEBE WHITE on 5 December 1836 in Jackson County, Indiana and died 13 August 1872 in Lawrence County, Indiana.

9. SAMUEL HENDERSON, born 1810 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married RHODA

10. SARAH HENDERSON, born 1810 in Montgomery County, Virginia; married HIRAM CRAIG WEDDEL on 22 June 1829 in Jackson County, Indiana and died in Brown County,Indiana

11. HARRIETT HENDERSON, born 1812 in Pulaski County, Kentucky; married NELSON T. ROBERTSON on 9 January 1836 in Jackson County, Indiana.

12. MATTHEW HENDERSON, born 1814 [probably in Kentucky].

In about 1815, JOSEPH HENDERSON moved his family to Lawrence County Indiana and he also cleared land for a farm in nearby Jackson County, Indiana and a year later died in either Jackson or Lawrence County, Indiana.