In early 1821, Harry Heth died of consumption in Savannah, Georgia, where he had arrived after a stay in Europe for the improvement of his health. In his will, Harry gave the Black Heath house and surface land to his eldest son, Henry. The subsurface land belonged to the co partnership consisting of Harry's three sons, Henry, John, and Beverly, and his son in law, Beverly Randolph. This partnership was set up to continue the Heth family coal business. Henry Heth was born in 1793/4 probably somewhere around Richmond. Not much is known about his life, except that he married Eliza Ann Cunliffe, the daughter of a neighboring coal mine owner named John Cunliffe (1758-1824), on January 4, 1815, in Chesterfield County, most likely at Black Heath. During the War of 1812, Henry served as a sergeant major under his father in the 1st Regiment (Heth's) Cavalry, Virginia Militia. After the war, Henry probably came to help his father in the coal business and in the 1820 US Census he is recorded as having 44 male slaves and 4 female slaves. In 1821, his father Harry died and Henry inherited the plantation Black Heath. He lived there until he also died, four years later, in 1825. His widow Eliza later married a man named Holden Rhodes.