Ann Wood Henry
Encyclopedia
Ann Wood Henry was the wife of William Henry
William Henry (delegate)
William Henry was an American gunsmith from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1784, 1785, and 1786.-Biography:...

 of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...

, a gunsmith, inventor, and patriot in the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

.

Born Ann Wood in Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 9,920....

 on January 21, 1734, she married William Henry in 1756; the couple had thirteen children, including John Joseph Henry
John Joseph Henry
John Joseph Henry was a private soldier from Pennsylvania in the American Revolutionary War.Henry, the son of William Henry of Lancaster and Ann Wood Henry, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His father, an important gunsmith, apprenticed him at age 14 to an uncle, also a gunsmith, who moved...

 (1758-1811), a judge; William Henry, who moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Nazareth is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The population was 6,023 at the 2000 census.Nazareth is located seven miles northwest of Easton, four miles north of Bethlehem and twelve miles northeast of Allentown...

, and carried on his father's gunsmith business; and Benjamin West Henry (1777-1806), a painter, named after the famous painter who had, in 1756, lodged in the Henry home. Benjamin West
Benjamin West
Benjamin West, RA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence...

 painted portraits of both Ann and William Henry, as well as the precocious "Death of Socrates", which was passed down in the Henry family until 1989 (when the will of Mary Henry Stites bequeathed it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...

).

The Henry household during the Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 was an important military and intellectual center. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, David Rittenhouse
David Rittenhouse
David Rittenhouse was a renowned American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman and public official...

, then Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, stayed in the Henry home, as did Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...

, who wrote his fifth Crisis there. According to John Joseph Henry, who was in Lancaster recuperating from injuries suffered while serving with Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...

 in Quebec, Paine's indolence and irreligion disgusted Ann Henry.

After the death of her husband, Ann Wood Henry assumed his duties of Treasurer of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...

. She was appointed to serve out the remainder of his term, and served for several additional years. She died on January 8, 1799, and was buried two days later in the Moravian cemetery in Lancaster.
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