Early Life and Education
McHenry was born into a Scots-Irish family in Balymena, County Antrim, Ireland in 1753. He attended a school in Dublin for a classical education. Alarmed that he became sick from excessive studying, his family in 1771 sent him at age 17 to North America to recuperate. He lived with a family friend in Philadelphia and had an older brother in the colonies. In Philadelphia, McHenry studied under Benjamin Rush and became a physician.
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