George H. Henchman, Building Materials Dealer

Morrison & Fourmy’s General Directory of the City of Galveston, 1888-89, 33.

George H. Henchman was a Galveston building materials dealer during the last quarter of the 19th century. He was born in Massachusetts circa 1835-36, the son of Lewis and Mary C. Henchman.

Henchman was employed by Chas. W. Adams (circa 1815-1887), an early Galveston settler. Henchman enlisted in 1862 in the Texas 20th Infantry and served at the Battle of Galveston on January 1, 1863.

After the Civil War, he was employed by Adams, Vedder & Co., a general shipping firm in Galveston. In 1876, Henchman opened a building supply business, depicted in the accompanying advertisement. The firm carried cement and building materials, including fire brick, tiles, terracotta, plaster, asphalt, and roofing paper.

Henchman married Hattie F. Lyon in Galveston in 1886. He was enumerated as a widower living at 2512 Ball in a GenWeb transcription of the 1900 census. His residence was located in Ward 5, which suffered few casualties in the 1900 Storm.

In 1902, Henchman retired from business and moved from Galveston to Minneapolis, Minnesota. He traveled during 1916 from California to his former city. The Galveston Daily News, April 25, 1916, quoted his comments about the 1915 hurricane. “One of the finest exhibitions of nerve I ever saw in my life is that of the people of Galveston in sending to the world the message they did just after the August storm.”

Henchman went to California during the winter months, He died at the age of ninety in December 1926 in Los Angeles.

By Casey Edward Greene, Rosenberg Scholar