Jeanne Hand Henry, widely recognized as a noteworthy historian and Certified Genealogist, died March 22, 2014 at Huntsville Hospital. A native of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, she was born December 2, 1921, the daughter of Preston James Hand and Beulah Cross, both of early Mississippi families. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jesse Grice Henry (Col USAF, Ret.) and son, John Wallace Henry. She is survived by son, James Victor Henry of New Market; sister, Gwen Hand Gollotte of Biloxi, MS; and several nieces and nephews.
Awarded a scholarship from Suqualena High School, she attended the now extinct Mississippi-Alabama Business College and used her secretarial skills during the years as she traveled with her military husband, through World War II and until his retirement in 1965. One particular exciting assignment was when she was with the Special Weapons Command, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was sent on temporary duty with the Atomic Energy Commission to witness from News Knob the drop plane (in which her husband was flying) conduct the drop at Yucca Flats, Nevada, testing a low yield weapon.
Jeanne found music as a communicating source while she gave joy and comfort to congregations by playing piano and organ from age twelve. Even in 1956 as she crossed the Atlantic accompanying her husband in a military vessel (the USNS General R. E. Callan), she played a field organ on two different Sundays for worship service. The sea was rough, requiring a corpsman to provide stability to that musical instrument during the turbulent weather. The family was enroute to Jesse’s new assignment as Assistant Air Attache (Technical) in the Office of the Air Attache, London, where the family enjoyed many historical sites in Ireland, Scotland, and England for the next three years.
Becoming the mother of twin sons in 1955, Jeanne dropped out of the business world. She devoted spare time to genealogical research, utilizing the recourses in Washington, D.C., and earning the title of Certified Genealogist from the Board of Certified Genealogists, Washington, D. C. In 2007, she was awarded the honorary title of Certified Genealogist Emeritus for sustained excellence, being number eleven given this certification out of 2,000 in the then 43 years of the organization. Across her career, she guided many regional lineage societies – including the Daughters of the American Revolution, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Descendants of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge, and Colonial Dames of the Seventeenth Century. She was also a member of the First Families of Tennessee and the First Families of Alabama. In 1994, Jeanne was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Tennessee Valley Commissioners for distinguished leadership and outstanding service to the community where her ancestors had settled when migrated from Jefferson County, Tennessee. This Henry family has lived in New Market since 1965 where they were members of Locust Grove Baptist Church. The children attended Riverton and Buckhorn Schools.
Jeanne was always amazed that her husband’s career brought them to Madison County, Alabama (earlier Madison, Mississippi Territory), from which her great-great-grandfather John Woodward served in Higgins Regiment of Tennessee Mounted Volunteers in the War of 1812 before migrating with his father-in-law, William Johnston (Jeanne’s great-great-great-grandfather) through Alabama to Newton County, Mississippi. John and his wife, Mary Rebecca Johnson Woodward are buried in Beulah Cemetery, Little Rock, Mississippi.
As a “homemaker,” Jeanne published several family histories and reference books, the primary one being 1819-1849, Abstradex of Annual Returns, Mississippi Free and Accepted Masons, 1969. This annual listing of men is an alphabetical list of men (by lodge) who can be located between the ten-year cycle of census records. Jeanne is considered in the genealogical use of freemasonry records.
Another memorable event was when Queen Elizabeth dedicated the American Chapel, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, November 26, 1958. Jeanne occupied one of the twelve stalls in the Chapel. The name of her brother, Victor Gilbert Hand, appears on the wall in the Cambridge Cemetery as one who is missing in action after being shot down in the English Channel while flying a mission from Molesworth Base in England.
Following a heart attack in 1972, Jeanne remarked that if being a homemaker was going to ‘kill’ her, she would return to the business world. This she did. And while working fulltime at Marshall Space Flight Center, she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree, magna cum laude, in 1982 from Athens University. She gave much credit to her husband and sons for assuming many homemaking tasks as she “hit the books.”
As a budget analyst in the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, Jeanne retired in 1988, but continued as a busy genealogist, traveling throughout north and central Alabama and middle Tennessee, researching old courthouse records for clients who lived elsewhere. Her pro bono work in various research areas gave her little time as she researched the Internet facilities. Jeanne determined that her voluminous collection of fine genealogical publications and microfilm were “gathering dust” while she utilized the technological new sources; therefore, she donated her collection to several libraries which had no budget for purchase of such publications (many of which were out of print) and microfilm.
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Locust Grove Baptist Church with Dr. Robby White officiating. A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday in the Pontotoc City Cemetery, Pontotoc, Mississippi, in the Henry family section beside her husband and with her son, John. Here, where aging trees offer beauty and shade, an accordionist will render some of Jeanne’s favorite hymns on this hill near where DeSoto and his men wintered long years.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Locust Grove Baptist Church, New Market, Alabama, or to the Heritage Room, Huntsville Public Library, Huntsville, Alabama.
