Jack -- Thanks for checking your records. The 1880 census for Etowah County, Alabama is pretty clear showing Jim HENSLEY as a son-in-law of Didamy Gilbert (the widow of Pleasant) and his infant daughter, Lillie F., as her granddaughter. In "Abstracts and Extracts of Obituaries from The Gadsden Times, 1867-1899," compiled by J. H. Grimes, it mentions the following.
September 22, 1887. Mrs. Hensley, wife of Mr. James Hensley, died near Gadsden on the 16th inst.
If this is the same James Hensley who married 1) Nannie Gilbert in 1878, possibly he is the same one who marries Mollie Gilbert, 18 Dec. 1887 -- 3 months after his first wife dies.
There is a Mary Gilbert, age 26 in 1870 census, evidently the daughter of Pleasant Gilbert and Didema. Mollie is often a nickname for Mary, so I've wondered if this might be woman that Hensley married secondly. But, I can't find a Nannie Gilbert either and wonder if that was a nickname. The Gilberts had some creative names, didn't they?
James A. Hensley, was one of the younger sons of Randal and Lementine (Johnson) Hensley. Most of this Hensley family removed to Creek Nation, Indian Territory in 1894 after their parents died (sometime after 1880 census).