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I (Marty Grant) am not related to John Hensley as far as I know.
John Hensley was born ca 1831/32 in Yancey Co, NC (actually still part of Buncombe and Burke until 1833)
I don't know who John's parents might have been. By the time of the 1850 census, he was residing with the Hyram and Melissa Ray family. He was 18 then, and could either have just moved away from home and been hired as a laborer for them, or he could have been orphaned from his parents and raised by the Ray family. I don't have enough evidence yet to determine what the story is. John was listed just a few houses from another apparent orphan, Nancy Hensley (c1835), residing with a Riddle family, and they were not far from Blanchey Hensley, who had several children born out of wedlock.
John was probably home with his parents for the 1840 census. Unfortunately, there were too many Hensley's in 1840 Yancey Co, NC census to choose from, and many had sons about John's age, so that route is not helpful in narrowing down possible parents. However, for the sake of completeness, here were the households with a boy in 5-9 (born ca 1830/35) group: G. W. Hensley, Jesse Hensley, Amos Hensley, Charles Hensley, William A. Hensley, William M. Hensley, James Hensley, Levi Hensley, Darcus Hensley, Lawrence Hensley, and Samuel Hensley. However, all of these have been eliminated as possibilities based on one or two factors. In each case, the person(s) in the age 5-9 category have been identified already, or they already had another known son named John, different from this John.
That only leaves Blanchey Hensley as a suspect, barring other unknown possibilities.
The above analysis is not conclusive however, as this John could have been residing with someone else in 1840, just as in 1850. The Hyram Ray family was not listed in 1840 Yancey, but since their children were born in GA around that time, I assume they were somewhere in GA then.
Wherever John Hensley was residing in 1840, he was in Yancey Co, NC for the 1850 census, and living with the aforementioned Ray family. He was listed as a "Laborer", but that didn't necessarily mean he was a hired hand. He could be a relative, or have been bound out to Hyram Ray.
1850 YANCEY CO, NC. Page 385B House/Family # 56/ 56 RAY HYRAM 37 M W FARMER 2500 NC 1812/1813 RAY HENRY 9 M W GA 1840/1841 RAY WILLIAM 7 M W GA 1842/1843 RAY JAMES M 5 M W NC 1844/1845 RAY COOPER L 2 M W NC 1847/1848 RAY MELISSA 26 F W GA 1823/1824 RAY MARY A 10 F W GA 1839/1840 HENSLEY JOHN 18 M W LABORER NC 1831/1832
I don't have any additional data on John Hensley after the 1850 census. There were several John Hensley's close to his age in Yancey County in 1850, and it is very difficult to tell which was which in other records, including the 1860 census. This John would have been approximately 28 years old in 1860. There were a couple close to that age in 1860, (no exact matches though) but I'm not sure if any of them are this same John. He could have moved away from Yancey in the 1850's.
I have not yet attempted to trace the Hyram Ray family to 1860 and beyond, nor to see if they were somehow related to the Hensley family.
At present, I don't know if John Hensley ever married and had children.
Persons researching this family (click here for data on how to get on or off of this list):
Nothing to report so far.
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