Robert Selph Henry was born at Clifton, Wayne County, Tennessee on 20 October 1889, the son of Robert Allison Henry and Jemima Emily Selph. His parents were married 28 Dec 1887 in Clifton. Jemima Emily Selph was the daughter of Dr. Irby N. Selph, noted physician in Clifton.
Not long after his birth, Robert Selph Henry moved to Nashville, Tennessee with his family. He graduated from Vanderbilt in 1911 and did post graduate work at Queens College in Cambridge, England. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1911 and practiced law in Nashville, Tennessee from 1915 to 1921. In 1921 he became assistant to the president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad and remained in that position until 1934.
Henry was a student of the South and the Civil War. His book, “The Story of the Confederacy” published in 1937, was considered for many years to be the definitive history of the rise of the Confederate States of America and the Civil War (or War of Rebellion/ War Between the States).
Robert Selph Henry died in Nashville, Tennessee, 19 August 1970.
List of Books Published:
1. “The Story of the Confederacy”, New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1937
2. “First With The Most – Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest”, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1944.
3. “The Story of the Mexican war”, New York, F. Ungar Publishing Co., 1961.
4. “Headlights and Markers; An Anthology Of Railroad Stories” edited by Frank P. Donovan, Jr. and Robert Selph Henry, San Marino, California, Golden West Books, 1968.
5. “Portraits Of The Iron Horse: The American Locomotive In Pictures and Story”
drawings by Otto Kuhler; story by Robert Selph Henry, Santa Fe, NM, Sunstone Press, 1976.
6. “This Fascinating Railroad Business”. Bobbs-Merrill, about 1943
7. “Trains”, Bobbs-Merrill, about 1934
8. “On The Railroad” (no bibliographical information available)
9. “The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology: Its First Century, 1862-1962” (no bibliographical information available)
Obituary: “Nashville Banner” Wednesday, August 19, 1970
Robert S. Henry, Author, VU Board Member, Dies
Robert Selph Henry, 80, author, historian, retired railroad executive and life member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust, died after a lengthy illness today at his home, 813 Clovercrest Drive, Alexandria, Va. Services will be at the Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home in Alexandria before the body is brought here to the Finley Dorris and Charlton Funeral Home for services. Burial will be in Mt. Olivet Cemetery here. Exact times of the services have not been set.
A native of Clifton, Tenn., he was a son of the late Robert Allison and Emily James Selph Henry and moved to Nashville with his family at an early age. He was graduated from old Wallace University school, and received the A. B. and LL.B. degrees from Vanderbilt.
Mr. Henry was appointed to the Vanderbilt Board of trust in 1940 and was named a life trustee in 1960.
He did post graduate study at Queen’s College, Cambridge, England and later was a reporter for “The Nashville Banner” and for “The Tennessean”. Following his newspaper work he served as secretary to the late Gov. Ben W. Hooper from 1913 to 1915. He also was one of the four founders of the Nashville YMCA Night Law School.
He served as a field artillery captain in France in World War I, and later, was Tennessee chairman of the fund campaign for the late Sgt. Alvin C. York. He retired from the Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel.
Mr. Henry was vice president in charge of public relations for the Association of American Railroads at the time of his retirement in 1958. He went to Washington when he association was formed in 1934, serving first as assistant for public relations to the AAR president. From 1921 until 1934 he was director of public relations and later assistant to the vice president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway in Nashville. An anthority on the Civil war and the railroad industry, Mr. Henry had written and spoken widely on both subjects. He had made numerous addresses here.
His latest publication was a revised edition of “The First With The Most, Forrest”, a colorful biography of the famed Confederate general, Nathan B. Forrest, and a history of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865. It was first published in 1944 and was re-issued in April of this eyar. Among his other books were “the Story of the Confederacy”, “The Story of Reconstruction”, “The Story of the Mexican War”, “This Fascinating Railroad Business”, “Trains”, “On The Railroad”, “Portroits of the Iron Horse”, and “The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology: Its First Century, 1862-1962”.
In 1954, Mr. Henry received the Gold Medal Award of the Washington Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia, for his writings about the Civil War. He was first president and second gold medal winner of the organization.
Mr. Henry had been president of the Southern Historical Association and was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ladies Historical Association here from 1926 until 1934.
He was a past president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association and had been chairman of the Continental Membership Committee of the Railroad, YMCA. Mr. Henry was a life member of the Civil War Round Table of Alexandria, a member of the Alexandria Sons of Confederate Veterans, a member of the board of the Historic Alexandria Foundation and a member of the Alexandria Association.
He was an elder of the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Alexandria and a former member of the old First Presbyterian Chruch in Nashville. He had addressed hundreds of organizations throughout the county and had received many honors, including an honorary doctor of literature degree from the University of Chattanooga.
He was married to the former Lura Temple in 1929. She survives.
Other survivors are two daughters, Mrs. N. Biurkey Musselman, Alexandria; and Mrs. George B. Vest, Jr., Athens, Ga; a brother, Douglas Henry, Nashville; and five grandchildren.
Sources:
1. Crutchfield, James A., “Timeless Tennesseans”, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama,
2. “Nashville Banner”, Wednesday, August 19, 1970, – obituary – Tennessee State Library and Archives, vertical files.
3. Library of Congress, Card Catalog, http://lcweb.loc.gov
4. Virginia State Library and Archives, catalog, http://eagle.vsla.edu
5. Plott, Irma M., compiler, “Wayne County, Tennessee Marriage Records, 1857-1929”, The Byler Press, Collinwood, TN, 1983
6. Brown, Doris R., transcriber, “The 1880 Census of Wayne County, Tennessee”, The Byler Press, Collinwood, TN, 1986
7. Wayne County Historical Society, “Cemetery and Death Records of Wayne County, Tennessee”, The Byler Press, Collinwood, TN, 1987