ABSTRACT

Helen Herron was born on January 2, 1861, the daughter of attorney John Williamson Herron and Harriet Collins Herron. Helen-or Nellie, as she was more often called-was one of eleven children, five boys and six girls, born to a prosperous Cincinnati family. Politics and law were familiar topics in the Herron household. Helen's mother was the daughter of New York Congressman Eli Collins. Her father served in the state senate and was appointed a U.S. attorney by his old college roommate and fellow Republican, President Benjamin Harrison. The Herrons lived on Pike Street in an affluent neighborhood not far from the home of William Howard Taft.