ALFRED HENDERSON 
BORN. MARCH 23D, 1852. 
DIED, SEPT. 5TH, 1899. 
W ITH deepest sorrow we announce the death of MR. ALFRED HENDERSON, who passed away 
on Sept. 5th, 1890, after a long illness. Alfred Henderson was the elder son of Peter Henderson. 
He was born in Jersey City, N. J., on March 2jd, 1852. He was educated at Hasbrouck 
Institute in Jersey City and subsequently took a course at Packard’s Business College in New York 
City. After completing his education lie underwent a thorough training under his father at the green¬ 
houses in Jersey City and at the seed store in New York, then Henderson & Fleming. When the 
partnership of Henderson & Fleming was dissolved and the firm of Peter Henderson & Co. was established 
by his father at 35 and 37 Cortlandt Street, he was taken into the lirm as a partner and threw himself into 
business with remarkable energy t displaying ability of the highest order from the start. His won¬ 
derful memory, untiring industry, inherited sagacity, and, above all, his unbounded enthusiasm, were 
potent factors in expanding the business and establishing it upon the firm basis whereon it rests to-day. 
He early showed a marked aptitude for creating and compiling the annual catalogue of the firm, and 
until failing health, in the early part of the past decade, forced him to relinquish it to other hands his was 
the brain and his the hand that conceived and executed its most salient features, but with a modesty 
that was characteristic of him he remained unobtrusively in the background, content with the conscious¬ 
ness of earnest work well done and the knowledge that his efforts were bearing their legitimate fruit in 
the wonderful business growth of the house of Peter Henderson & Co. 
Upon the death of his father, in 1890, he with his brother, Charles Henderson, who was admitted 
to the firm some years before, incorporated the firm of Peter Henderson & Co., an interest being 
given to some leading employees in charge of departments. Hence it was that although for the past 
two years he was through failing health prevented from giving much, if any, time to the details of the 
business, yet so well was it organized that his daily presence was not required. During late years he 
devoted most of his time to devising advertisements and the business of placing them. This work was 
done, like all else he undertook, in a painstaking, finished style and it was freely admitted that he was 
without a peer in the seed and plant trade in this line. 
In private life Alfred Henderson enjoyed a wide popularity. He had a keen, analytical, well-bal¬ 
anced mind, endowed with an unusually sharp and accurate judgment of men, an unfailing wit, pungent 
yet kindly, quick at repartee and fond of the society of men of affairs who, like himself, could drop them 
for friendly intercourse and lively badinage. But he was essentially a domestic man, passionately 
devoted to his wife and family, and he leaves a widow and four children to mourn a fond and devoted 
husband, a loving and indulgent father. 
His tastes were literary in a large degree- He was an omnivorous reader and was endowed with a 
wonderful memory, so that to converse with him was a pleasure. His wide reading and native mental 
power manifested themselves in everything he wrote. His style was terse, yet comprehensive, abound¬ 
ing in rich figurative language, full of poetical conceptions. His passion for euphony in language was 
a pronounced characteristic. This is apparent in the splendid memoir of his father written in 1890. 
When it is considered that even at that period he was suffering intense physical pain it is to be won¬ 
dered at that he could concentrate his mental powers on the work, undertaken, it is true, as a labor of love. 
His last contribution to current horticultural literature was an article on “A Century of American 
Horticulture,” published in “A Century of American Commerce.” 
He was a true friend, a firm and just employer, beloved by his employees, a brave and patient 
sufferer, whose spirit never quailed and whose mind was never clouded, who preserved to the last, 
through vicissitudes of sickness that were calculated to appal the bravest and depress the most buoyant, 
a serenity that was sublime, a philosophy that was exalting and a buoyancy that was contagious. He 
was cast in a heroic mold, a worthy son of a worthy sire, who hands down to his only son, Peter Hen¬ 
derson, a heritage of name and fame of which he may feel justly proud. 
He was an active member of the Society of American Florists, the New York Florists’ Club, and 
an honorary member of The National Rose Society of Great Britain. 
