Herford, Helen Brooke, 1887-1972

Helen Brooke Herford (1887-1972) was the daughter of John ("Jack" Brooke Herford and Susan Whitney Herford of Yellowstone County, Montana. Jack Herford (1857-1923) was one of nine children of Rev. Brooke Herford (1830-1903), an English clergyman. Jack's oldest brother, William, immigrated to the United States in the early 1870s where he established a New Mexico sheep ranch. By 1876 the rest of the Herford family temporarily settled in Chicago. Jack soon joined William in New Mexico while two other siblings pursued careers that would bring them national prominence: Oliver Herford became a writer famous for his wit and sarcasm while Beatrice Herford achieved fame as a Broadway actress. Jack and William eventually moved on to Kansas and Nebraska where they continued ranching. By the early 1880s Jack had located in Montana Territory where he established a ranch of his own on the Mussellshell River. He studied for the bar and held several government positions in Montana including: Yellowstone County Attorney, 1894-1896; Yellowstone County Sheriff, 1908; Billings City Attorney, 1911. Jack also served in the Third United States Volunteer Cavalry during the Spanish American War and in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in World War I. He married Susan Whitney, daughter of Billings postmaster Lucius Whitney, around 1885 and the couple had three children; Nye, Whitney, and Helen, the principal creator of this collection. Following her education in Germany and Massachusetts, Helen Herford returned to Montana where she taught school in Carbon County and worked on her parent's ranch. In 1929, she and a cousin, Helen Underwood Wellington, entered into a partnership to establish a dude ranch near Limestone (Stillwater County) Montana. The Swinging H Ranch operated until 1937 when financial pressures forced Helen Herford to suspend operations and sell. She returned to teaching afterwards and died in Columbus, Montana in 1972.

From the guide to the Helen Brooke Herford Papers, 1886-1957, (Montana State University-Bozeman Library, Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections)

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