Lilburn Lewis Henderson, an Abingdon, Virginia merchant, was born in Campbell County, Virginia in 1786. The son of William Henderson and Lockey Trigg, Henderson had moved by 1812 to Washington County, where he partnered with William Trigg in a mercantile business.

When Trigg died in 1813, Henderson was named guardian of his children, and the property which the partners had purchased for their business would become the subject of a protracted legal battle. (See Pierce's Adm'r &c. v. Trigg's Heirs in Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals and in the General Court of Virginia, v. 9.)

Henderson married his late partner's wife, Rachel, a year after Trigg's death, making him the stepfather of Trigg's young sons, William (born 1807), Daniel (born 1808), Connally (born 1810), and Lilburn (born 1812). As guardian, Henderson succeeded Trigg in managing the saltworks at Saltville, Virginia. Henderson also established a Washington County artillery unit in 1813 and served in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1818. He died on April 19, 1820.