Richard Henderson
Henderson, Richard (1735–1785), an American land promoter and judge. In 1774 he founded the Transylvania Company and bought the land between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers (much of the present state of Kentucky) from the Cherokee Indians. He hired Daniel Boone in 1775 to cross the Cumberland Gap and establish a colony there. (Boone founded a fort and settlement, Boonesborough, on the Kentucky River.) Henderson's plan to establish a separate Transylvania Colony was a failure, however, mainly because of the hostility of Virginia and North Carolina, who claimed the land. The two states reimbursed him with large land grants in what became northwestern Kentucky and northeastern Tennessee.
Henderson was born in Hanover County, Virginia, and grew up in North Carolina. He became a lawyer and was appointed a judge in North Carolina in 1768. In 1781 he served in the North Carolina legislature and in 1782 on the council of state.