Dr. Pleasant Littleton Henderson was born in Virginia on January 15, 1866, the son of a Confederate veteran. His family moved to Surgoinsville, Tennessee in 1884. There, at age 20, Henderson became principal of the Surgoinsville school, and a teacher of math and of Latin. He then attended and graduated Emory and Henry College, then studied medicine at the University of Vanderbilt, and interned at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
Returning to Tennessee, he married, in 1896, Bertie Mae Massengill of Hawkins County, and the two moved to Morristown, where he set up practice. For the first 2 years his office was at the Gammon House on East 1st North Street, but he then moved to East Main Street, where he practiced for the rest of his life. In all, he served the community 48 years, never missing a day at the office in all that time. His phone number was 71, and he made frequent house calls day and night.
The Hendersons had the following children:
Dr. Henderson served on the Methodist Church building committee when the present church was built. He was also on the church's board of trustees and board of stewards. He was a mason, a shriner and a charter member of the Rotary Club. He served as President of the Tennessee Chapter of the Sons of the Confederacy. He was one of the organizers of the Morristown General Hospital. He was Mayor of Morristown 1927-1928.
In 1944 Dr. Henderson was injured in a car accident while racing to the home of a sick patient. He spent the next two weeks in the Hamblen Hospital, all the while giving a constant stream of instructions for the care of his patients. Complications due to his accident claimed his life on June 18, 1944 at the age of 78. His death was lamented as the virtual passing of the old breed of doctor, who made house calls and who had brought a good many of his patients into the world.