What was Mathew Hensons family,hometown,obstacles,major event in his life?

Answer 1

Is this the Matthew Henson you mean? LOTS of info at the two sites below:

An excerpt from the 1st site:

"Matthew Henson, Explorer

Born: 8 August 1866
Birthplace: Charles County, Maryland
Died: 9 March 1955 (cerebral hemorrhage)
Best Known As: The first man to reach the North Pole
Name at birth: Matthew Alexander Henson

Matthew A. Henson was the longtime assistant to Robert E. Peary on his expeditions to the North Pole. Henson is believed to be the first man to actually reach the pole, some 45 minutes ahead of Peary, on 6 April 1909. Henson, an African-American, ran away from home at the age of 11 and went to sea as a cabin boy. An able and intelligent seaman, he was hired by Peary in the late 1880s and accompanied him on his 1891 Greenland expedition. An expert with sleds and dogs and fluent in the Inuit language, Henson joined Peary off and on for nearly two decades in the quest to reach the pole. Although Peary was celebrated for the achievement, he was also criticized in that era for not taking along a white man. Peary frequently praised Henson as the best man for the job, but Henson's role was largely unrecognized for years. After reaching the pole he earned a living as a customs clerk in New York and occasionally lectured on his experiences. In 1947 Henson published his story, A ***** at the North Pole (with a foreword by Booker T. Washington) and toward the end of his life he received many awards and tributes. On 6 April 1988 his body was moved from Woodlawn Cemetery in New York and re-interred next to Peary's tomb at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D. C.

Here's an excerpt from the 2nd link:

"Matthew Henson was only twelve when he walked from his home in Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland to get a job as a cabin boy on the three-masted merchant ship Katie Hines. At first Captain Childs, a square, tall 60-year-old man with flowing white hair, was reluctant to bring such a young lad on-board. When Henson told him that he was an orphan, Captain Childs relented and made the young man his cabin boy.

Henson had been born on August 8, 1866, in Maryland. His parents were freeborn black sharecroppers. When Henson was four, his family moved to Washington D.C. where more jobs were available. When his parents died, he and his siblings moved in with a nearby uncle. Henson was fascinated by stories about life at sea, so when he saw a chance to become a cabin boy, he took it.

Captain Childs was kind to Henson and under his tutelage Henson became an able-bodied seaman. Childs also instructed him in math, history, geography and the Bible as they traveled to such exotic locations as China, Japan, North Africa and the Black Sea. When Captain Childs died Henson gave up the sea, and eventually found a job as a clerk at a furrier back in Washington, D.C..

Fateful Meeting

It was here fate brought him into contact with Robert Peary. Peary, an officer in the U.S. Navy Corps of Civil Engineers, had already made one exploration trip to Greenland. Peary's next naval assignment, however, would take him in quite a different direction. He was being sent to the jungles of Nicaragua to study the feasibility of digging a shipping canal there that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Peary (left) had brought back some Arctic furs to sell to the furrier and while there met Henson. Henson seemed to share Peary's interest in adventure and Peary decided to offer Henson a job as his personal assistant during the Nicaraguan trip. Henson, eager to resume traveling, accepted and spent two years in Central America with Peary. During this time Peary found Henson's skills as a mechanic, navigator and carpenter extremely valuable.

Peary, who was interested in becoming the first man to reach the North Pole, decided after the Nicaraguan trip to offer Henson a job as a messenger at the League Island Navy Yard in Philadelphia with an eye to having Henson come along on future ventures. Henson accepted. Two years later, in 1891, Peary, who had been granted a leave from the Navy to do more exploration in Greenland, asked Henson join him. This was the chance Henson had been waiting for and he accepted without hesitation, though it caused friction with his fiancee, Eva Flint, and her family."

Answer 2

First real trauma, watching my hub caught in a riptide and then drowning, with an 8 month old son in my arms. Getting a late night call from the police saying my dad had been murdered--he was not murdered but in another state and my little daughter was only 5 weeks old in the middle of the winter with snow on all the roads and ice. Then there was my mom and my stepdad both having heart attacks in the same week. A divorce from a man I really loved that was unfortunately beyond help. The loss of 5 wonderful friends all in the space of 6 months. guess that will do, there are more. If moving was a stress to me I would be dead as a door nail. I have moved 16 times in 16 years.