Ann Wood Henry

Who was Ann Wood Henry?

Ann Wood Henry was the wife of William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a gunsmith, inventor, and patriot in the American Revolution.

Born Ann Wood in Burlington, New Jersey on January 21, 1734, she married William Henry in 1756; the couple had thirteen children, including John Joseph Henry, a judge; William Henry, who moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and carried on his father's gunsmith business; and Benjamin West Henry, a painter, named after the famous painter who had, in 1756, lodged in the Henry home. Benjamin West 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.

The Henry household during the Revolutionary War was an important military and intellectual center. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, David Rittenhouse, then Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, stayed in the Henry home, as did Thomas Paine, who wrote his fifth Crisis there. According to John Joseph Henry, who was in Lancaster recuperating from injuries suffered while serving with Benedict Arnold in Quebec, Paine's indolence and irreligion disgusted Ann Henry.