┌── Daniel Henshaw
                                              │    1701-1781 
                        ┌── William Henshaw ──┤
                        │    1735-1820        │
                        │                     └── Elizabeth Allen Bass
                        │                          1703-1774 
William Henshaw, Jr. ───┤
B: 1767                 │                     ┌── Jonathan Sargent
D: 1772                 │                     │
No Issue                └── Ruth Sargeant ────┤
                             1743-1769        │
                                              └── Deborah Richardson

William Henshaw, Jr.     [ID 04583]

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Born Feb 17 1767, Leicester, Worcester County, Massachusetts.^1,2,3,4  

William Henshaw, Jr. died Jun 9 1772, Leicester, Worcester County, Massachusetts; buried Rawson Brook Burial Ground, Main Street, Leicester, Worcester County, Massachusetts.^1,2,3,5  Per Leicester, Massachusetts, records: William was killed carelessly by a boy who put a gun loaded with shot near to William's head and fired same.^5,6  

William's death was reported in a Boston newspaper on Thursday, June 11, 1772:⁷

At Leicester, Mass., on Tue. last a six-year-old son of William Henshaw was accidentally shot and killed by another lad.

The "Massachusetts Spy" reported on June 18, 1772:⁸

We hear from Leicester that on Tuesday last a very melancholy accident happened in that town.  A son of Mr. William Henshaw, about 5 years of age, and another lad being in a chamber playing with a gun, which they thought was not loaded, the lad put the muzzle of the gun to the ear of Mr. Henshaw's son, when it went off with a whole charge of partridge shot, which tore his head to pieces and killed him instantly.

There is mention of William's death in the book "The Orderly Book of Colonel William Henshaw":⁹

The third child, William, a sprightly, promising boy, -- his constant companion in the employment of the field and elsewhere, -- he took an especial delight in teaching, as, with a father's fondness and pride, he looked hopefully to the child's future.  His sudden and shocking death, at the age of six years, in the father's absence, and by the shot of a gun, caused an anguish not to be relieved by words.  He long remained speechless on this occasion, and for many years he mourned over such a loss.  This took place June 9, 1772.

Photo: William Henshaw, Jr. death record Town records of Leicester, Massachusetts ⁵

Photo: William Henshaw, Jr. gravestone Rawson Brook Burial Ground ³

Sources

1. "History of the Henshaw Family", a handwritten manuscript identified as a copy of a letter written August 16, 1829 by Daniel Henshaw of Boston (probably #4588 to Joshua Henshaw Hayward of Boston (probably a son or grandson of Sarah Henshaw Hayward); part of the manuscript collection titled "Henshaw family Papers, 1757-1892" archived at the American Antiquarian Society, Manuscripts Department, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609-1634.
2. Contribution from Lizbet119 () citing:
   Henshaw family bible archived at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
3. http://www.findagrave.com.
4. Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988; http://www.ancestry.com.
5. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988; http://www.ancestry.com.
6. Henshaw genealogical chart, author unknown; Contributed by Donald Craig Henshaw.
7. "Genealogical Data from Colonial New Haven Newspapers", By Kenneth Scott, Rosanne Conway; http://books.google.com.
8. Posting Oct 15 2012 by Pauline Merrick () to MAWORCES-L.
9. "The Orderly Book of Colonel William Henshaw"; http://books.google.com.

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