[1][2] After graduating from Pleasant Retreat Academy, Henderson enrolled as a law student at the University of North Carolina.

[9] On May 14, 1836, Antonio López de Santa Anna has signed the Treaties of Velasco agreeing to withdraw his troops from Texas.

In December of that same year, Henderson was named by Houston to replace recently deceased Stephen F. Austin[12] as secretary of state for the republic.

In early 1837, Houston decreed Henderson as minister from the Republic of Texas to France at the Tuileries Palace and to England at the Court of St. James's.

During his tenure as minister, he was successful in securing the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Texas and negotiated trade agreements with both countries.

He was sent to Washington, DC, in 1844 to work in coordination with Isaac Van Zandt to secure the annexation of Texas to the United States.

Although the annexation treaty was signed, it was rejected by the United States Senate; Henderson was recalled to Texas.

When the Mexican–American War broke out in April of that year, Henderson took a leave of absence as governor to command a Texas volunteer cavalry division.

Frances Cox Henderson died in 1897 and is buried at Rosedale Cemetery in New Jersey, where she lived with daughter Julia and son-in-law Edward White Adams.