Names Detail
First Name
JohnMiddle Name
MotleyLast Name
HensleyBirth and Death
Birth Date
April 24, 1806Death Date
January 1, 1898Age at Death
91 year(s), 8 month(s), 7 day(s)Cemetery Location and Disposition
Cemetery Location
Row 05, Grave 10 | MapDisposition Type
BurialExternal Links
Military Service
Co. I, 30th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Gurley’s Regiment), Confederate States of America
Notes
Many family tree records in ancestry.com list birthdate as 24 Apr 1806 Smith, Tennessee, USA. I find no conclusive date of exact death, including month and day. Birth and death on monument listed as 1804-1898.
2022-01-22: After additional research, I am confident of his birthdate as April 24, 1806 and death date 1898 (exact month and day unknown). I trust that those who buried him would have gotten his death date correct, 1898, and I will to accept that his birthdate was captured wrong on monument.
2022-02-09: confirmed that Motley was alive on Nov. 16, 1887 per Mills County Commissioners minutes, page 22. He was part of a party requesting a road from Goldthwaite to Payne Gap.
On April 24, 1806, John M. Hensley was born to Harmon Hensley and his wife Elizabeth in Smith County, Tennessee, the third child in a family of six sons and three daughters.
Sometime between 1820 and 1828, the Hensley family moved to Arkansas. Also during the time period they were in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where the older sons worked in lead mines owned by the family of Stephen F. Austin, who became a life-long friend of the family. It was at his urging that the family settled in Austin’s Colony, Texas, on November 8, 1828. John M. Hensely and his father, as well as several of his brothers, were each given a land grant of one league of land in the colony. John’s land was on Mill Creek, East Fork, West side, according to the Texas Land Office records. While in the colony, John lived in San Felipe.
When the situation with Mexico began to heat up, John M. Hensley and his brothers, Johnson Hensley and Andrew Jackson Hensley, joined Capt. John Bird’s company of Col. Edward Burleson’s Reg’t. This was in March, 1836, within days of the fall of the Alamo. They were with the company at San Jacinto under the command of Col. Sidney Sherman, 21 Apr 1836. On the morning of the battle, John Motley Hensley woke up with a severe asthma attack, and was ordered to remain behind guarding the mules and baggage. Nonetheless, his name is listed on the plaque of heroes at the San Jacinto Monument. After the war, in 1837 John M. Hensley married Sarah Greer. They had seven children, as listed as I.A. (or J.A.) Hensley (daughter – born 1838 in Washington Co., Texas; Joseph H. Hensley (son – born 1845); Laura Elizabeth Hensley (daughter – born 1847); Elizabeth (Annette?) Hensley (daughter – born 1849); Saphronia Hensley (daughter – born 1852); Wayne D. Hensley (son – born 1859); Tennessee I. Hensley (daughter – born 1861); and Will C. Hensley (son – born 1866).
John Motley Hensley, although already in his 50s, served in the Confederate Army during the War, and his tombstone bears the Confederate War Heroes Cross. On December 21, 1864, near the end of the war, John M. Hensley was appointed postmaster at Waller’s Store (Later renamed Iron’s Creek) Texas. Mr. Hensley worked as a farmer and blacksmith all his life. In 1891 John M. Hensley died in Payne Gap, Mills County. Sarah lost her sight at some time late in life, and for many years was called “Old Blind Grandma.” The 1900 and 1910 federal census for Lampassas Co. Texas, list Sarah Hensley living with her son Wayne & his family at Lometa, where she died on June 20, 1910. She is buried in Center Cemetary, near Lomita [sic], Texas. — ancestry.com, 2021-12-25
See also:
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/60285172/person/34302765241/facts
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/20168859/person/20246288009/fact
See also the following, which give a different, yet more specific death date: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/10301970/person/24678382335/facts Another source, attached, says he died in 1881
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/38447206/person/28431522354/facts
I’m tending to favor the more exact date of 1880-04-26, though I find to source material to prove that date.
Some sources, such as below, show death place as 26 Apr 1880 • Hempstead, Waller, Texas, USA
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/50123348/person/13175832852/facts
Sam: Here is a page with information from the General Land Office on John Hensley which is on their list of original Austin colonists, and at the bottom of the page is information from the Daughters of Republic that shows his date of birth in 1804 and death in 1898. Also is listed the relative that used him for her membership in DRT. Also found a land transaction where he signed a deed on March 8, 1881 in Hamilton Co. for land he had owned in Mason Co., so he probably did not die in 1880. John was granted a league of land in Fayette Co. where Lake Fayette now is located when he came to Texas, and received 640 acres for his service in the Texas war for independence for being at the Battle of San Jacinto where he did not actually fight in the battle, but was part of the detail to guard the waggons and supplies of the army left at Harrisburg just before the battle. He was a member of Capt. Birds Co. in the First Regiment Volunteers (from 18 Minutes by Stephen Moore). Hope this helps. Terry [Smith] email 2021-12-25.
In November of 1870, John M Hensley applied for a Pension for the State of Texas for serving in the Texas Army during the Revolution in 1836. He states that he joined Capt. John Byrd’s company before the fall of the Alamo and became detached from that company and was present and participated in the Battle of San Jacinto under the command of Col.Sidney Sherman.
He was honorably discharged in June of 1836.
His application stated that he lived in Austin Co, TX in 1870.
Johnson Hensley of Austin County and William P Huff, a citizen of AustinCounty since 1825, testified in behalf of John M Hensley.
He was grant an annual pension of $250.
In May 1874, Andrew J Hensley testified that Johm M was still indigent and living in Waller County . Other papers filed over the next few years continue to show his residence in Hempstead, Waller Co.
The Congress of Texas passed a new Pension Act in July 1876 reducing the pension. J
John M Hensley was now drawing $37.50 per quarter. ($150 a year). In Sept1878,
John Hensley received a certificate stating that he was an approved pensioner, but that the appropriation was exhausted and from April 151878 to Sept 15th 1878
$75.00 was omitted.
On July 2nd 1887 in Brown County, John M Hensley now a resident of Hamilton County reapplied for his pension.
https://gw.geneanet.org/ottopalfenier?lang=en&n=hensley&oc=0&p=john+motley
John Motley Hensley – served during the Mexican war from March 5, 1836 to May 1, 1836. Joining Captain Mosley Baker Company and serving with Capt Peter B. Dexter’s Company until his discharge. His name is on the bronze plaque in the San Jacinto Monuments and is listed as auxillary detail due to the fact that he had an asthma attack on the day of the San Jacinto Battle that he was judged to be unfit for combat and left behind to guard the baggage and the spare horses. There are numerous entries for John and John M. Hensley on the Texas Republic Claims 1835- 1846
Capt Mosley’s Baker Company & Capt Peter B. Dexter’s company- Mexican War-March 5, 1836 to May 1,1836 and received a land grant for this service.He also listed was a veteran Served in the Civil War at age 61? (article in Mills County Memories, page 280-281) has headstone – Co one, Thirtieth Reg Texas Cav, CSA –
2022-01-22: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ivyplace/cemspam.html
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