After a series of failed business ventures in Michigan and Louisville, Kentucky, Henry married Eliza Broadstreet and moved to Springfield, Illinois in October 1832.

[9] Later than year on June 24, 1850, Henry received an appointment as an Indian agent for the Oregon Territory, however he did not leave until April 6, 1852, taking his wife and five children.

[8] The family arrived in Lafayette, Oregon in October, where he began practicing medicine and accepted an appointment as deputy surveyor of Yamhill County.

[10] In 1853, he successfully ran for a seat representing Yamhill in the Oregon Territorial Legislature, serving in the 6th Legislative Session from December 1854 to February 1855.

[12] "I found that very little preparation had been made for the comfort or successful treatment of the large number of naked diseased Indians, who had been collected together suddenly from all parts of the territory.

[16] Following the 1864 United States presidential election, Henry returned to Washington, DC in anticipation of a high political appointment in the Interior Department.

Mary Todd Lincoln and Noah Brooks considered him an ally and sought his appointment as Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

[18] Henry stayed in the White House for the next six weeks, acting as physician to care for the distraught Mary Todd, eventually accompanying her back to Chicago.

On August 30, Mary Todd wrote Henry's widow, "We have both been called upon to resign, to our Heavenly Father, two of the best men & the most devoted husbands, that two unhappy women, ever possessed.