Elizabeth “Betty” Hoyt Baker Henderson

1912-1999

Elizabeth Henderson, with her husband Dorland, bought and preserved, Newark’s oldest private residence: the Sydenham House, getting so involved that they lived as in colonial times in many ways, she wove cloth and grew her own vegetables. They bought the house in the 1950s and lived their until moving to a nursing home.

The couple threw an annual Christmas party and gala Spring party.

Historian Charles Cummings said they helped launch Newark’s preservation movement, they were honored by the Newark Landmarks Committee.

Mrs. Henderson was born in Michigan and worked as a social worker earlier in life. She married Dorland Henderson, in a pre-Loving v. Virgina interracial marriage in 1955.

Michigan State University yearbook photo, via Ancestry.com

Bibliography

“Elizabeth Henderson, 86, Preserved Best of Newark” Star Ledger Apr 30, 1999

DJ Henderson Papers Digitized | Finding aid

NJIT

Photo credit