Helen Brenner Spink was born July 12, 1901 in Slayton, Minnesota, the eldest of two children born to John Henry Spink (1874-1947) and Lillian E. (Brenner) Spink (1877-1968). John Henry Spink was a merchant and the family moved to small towns in Minnesota and Iowa until he owned his own general store in Spring Valley, Minnesota in 1915.
Helen Spink graduated from the high school in Spring Valley in 1919 and then entered Hamline University in St. Paul. After two years at Hamline, she transferred to the University of Minnesota and graduated from the law school in 1925. She passed the state bar exam in September 1925 and began a nominal partnership with John A. Dalzell in Franklin, Minnesota. She continued this practice for almost two years before moving to St. Paul to head the Legal Aid Society. She claimed that in 1927 she was the only woman in St. Paul actively employed in law practice.
She married Robert Beach Henton, a fellow law student, in a private ceremony on September 30, 1929. A public ceremony was held on June 25, 1930 in Morton, Minnesota. At the time of her public marriage Helen Spink Henton gave up her law career and moved to Olivia, Renville's county seat, where Robert Beach Henton was officiating as probate judge. During her marriage Henton was active in the League of Women Voters and in the women's guild of the Episcopal Church.
Following the death of Robert Beach Henton in 1961, Helen Spink Henton took an active role in managing her estate and finances with particular regard for the farm and apartment properties in which her husband had invested. At this time she also expanded her interest in the creative arts. In 1963 she became a charter member of the Renville County Art Center and began to study oil painting. She was a member of the Minnesota Rural Artists Association and placed in many local and statewide shows.
In the 1970s as she began planning bequests from her estate, Henton involved herself with fund raising for the University of Minnesota and the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota. She was also a member of the Minnesota Historical Society's State Council. Helen Spink Henton died April 13, 1986 in Olivia at the age of 85.
Biographical information was taken from the collection.
Robert Beach Henton was born August 14, 1899 in Morton, Minnesota, the only child of Robert Bennit Henton (1869-1947) and Maude Beach Henton (1870-1938). The Henton family was an early and influential Minnesota pioneer family. Robert Beach Henton's grandfather, Robert Bennit Henton (1834-1989), originally resided in Brown County but moved to Morton in Renville County sometime after the Civil War to serve as a Dakota Indian Agent.
Robert Beach Henton graduated from the Morton high school in 1917. Following two years at the University of Minnesota and World War I military service, Henton managed the bank in Franklin, which his father had helped found, then returned to the University of Minnesota and graduated with the law school's class of 1925 where he met Helen Spink. After graduation, he returned to Morton to practice law with John A. Dalzell. Henton campaigned for the office of Renville County probate judge in 1928, a seat he subsequently held until he retired in 1948.
Robert Beach Henton died August 16, 1961, two days after his 62nd birthday from lung complications following heart surgery at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota.
Biographical information was taken from the collection.
The collection contains personal papers of Helen Spink Henton and her husband, Robert Beach Henton, both of whom were lawyers and long-term residents of Olivia in Renville County, Minnesota. The majority of the papers are those kept by Helen Spink Henton. These include her correspondence, diaries, reminiscences, and travel materials which characterize her childhood in Manchester, Iowa, her college years in the Twin Cities, and her adult life in Olivia. A small portion of the papers regard her brief career as a lawyer during the latter portion of the 1920s.
Papers specifically kept by Robert Beach Henton include subject files concerning the Renville County Birch Cooley Memorial Association and the Birch Coulee battlegrounds, a ledger from Henton's early law practice, World War II memorabilia, and a beekeeping record book.
Photographs and genealogical information pertaining to both the Spink and Henton families are also included.
These records are divided into the following seven sections:
An interview with Helen Spink Henton, recorded on Nov. 21 and Dec. 1-2, 1978, is available in the Minnesota Historical Society oral history collections.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should
Until 2036, access to the Jones file will not be permitted. Consult the reference staff for more information.
Accession number: 13,803
Processed by: Bonnie Palmquist, June 1987 and Monica Manny Ralston, June 1998
PALS ID number: 09-00320379
Includes information pertaining to the genealogy of the Spink and Henton families, as well as materials pertaining specifically to Helen Spink Henton, Robert Beach Henton, and Robert Beach Henton's mother. The Henton family were early, influential settlers in Minnesota and this series also includes appointment certificates pertaining to Robert Beach Henton's father and grandfather.
Includes genealogical information on the families of Henry and Esther (Spicer) Thomas, Andrew Michael and Amelia (Koethe) Brenner, Henry Herman and Katherine M. (Kruempel) Klaus, and Robert Bennit and Margaret (Thomas) Henton, as well as information about these families compiled by Helen Spink Henton. Also includes some information specifically about Helen Spink Henton and Robert Beach Henton.
Includes elementary and secondary school report cards, a high school graduation announcement and commencement program, an appointment book kept while Henton was a freshman at Hamline University, her petition for admission to the University of Minnesota Law School, and other miscellaneous materials including a congratulatory booklet with photographs of Sanford Hall at the University of Minnesota, its staff, and graduating women residents of 1925. Compositions Henton wrote while in college are included with the series of Writings and Reminiscences.
Papers pertaining to Robert Beach Henton's mother. Included are a reference letter attesting to Maud Beach's employment as a cashier and bookkeeper, courtship letters from Robert Bennit Henton (1869-1947), and congratulatory correspondence following the birth of Robert Beach Henton.
Arranged chronologically, the correspondence is primarily that of Helen Spink Henton although items addressed to Robert Beach Henton are also included. Both original incoming letters and carbon copies of Helen Spink Henton's outgoing letters are extensive. Portions of the correspondence are grouped as a chronological series. Other portions are arranged according to correspondent. A set of postcards includes items addressed to Helen Spink Henton's mother and younger brother.
Helen Spink Henton's outgoing correspondence was typically lengthy, newsy, and quite candid covering a wide range of topics often accompanied by humorous anecdotes and quips. She expressed her observations and opinions not only about the activities in which she was involved, such as her church guild or the League of Women Voters, but also about the Hentons' business matters, about the places she visited and the people she encountered, about family, friends, neighbors, and the events in their lives and in Olivia, and about national and state politics.
Early correspondence is from her years at Hamline University in St. Paul (1919-1921) and at the University of Minnesota (1921-1923). This early correspondence includes letters exchanged between Helen Spink and Robert Beach Henton both before and after they were married.
Letters beginning in 1945 from Helen Spink Henton's sister-in-law Marian Spink concern her experiences in an Oklahoma City tuberculosis sanatorium. Letters from her nephew John Spink (Jack) in the 1950s concern his experiences in a sanatorium in Clinton, Oklahoma and at the state sanatorium in Arkansas.
Other correspondence from the 1950s regards the Hentons' interest in producing, researching, marketing, and distributing an alfalfa product called GreenLeaf for therapeutic use by persons with arthritis and rheumatism. Additional correspondence and information regarding GreenLeaf, as well as the Northern Drying Company, a dehydration plant started by Robert Beach Henton, may be found in Helen Spink Henton's diaries.
Correspondence immediately following Robert Beach Henton's death in 1961 concerns Helen Spink Henton's settlement of her husband's estate and the management of their farm and apartment properties. Later correspondence covers Henton's extensive travels, the writing of her reminiscences, her painting studies, art shows sponsored by the Minnesota Rural Artists Association, and her experiences with the University of Minnesota, the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Minnesota Historical Society in planning bequests from her estate.
Regular correspondents include both Henton and Spink family
members, Ben S. Parker of the
Picture and seasonal postcards addressed to Helen Spink, her
brother Russell, and her mother by her father and other relatives. Seasonal
postcards include Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Valentine's greetings.
Predominantly pictured on the postcards are views of Chicago and Platteville,
Wisconsin (boyhood home of John Henry Spink). Views of Chicago include street
scenes, buildings, and a view of the
Concerning the purchase of maps, fashion prints, wildlife and botanical prints, and other bibliophilistic items for the Hentons' personal collections.
Primarily concerning the sale of the Hentons' collection of maps, prints, and fore-edge paintings after the death of Robert Beach Henton.
Correspondence from Ben S. Parker, amusements editor of
Contains two original cartoon caricatures drawn in pencil on
newsprint signed "Best Wishes from Pogo & Walt Kelly" and "Best Wishes from
Albert & Walt Kelly." These caricatures were enclosed in a July 17, 1954
letter from Ben Parker at
Correspondence and poems written by the daughter of a family friend.
Regarding sales of the guild's copper handicraft items, a project developed by Helen Spink Henton and discussed further in her correspondence and diaries.
Correspondence between Helen Spink Henton, Bishop Philip F. McNairy, Bishop Robert M. Anderson, and Reverend David C. Parachini (Executive Director of the Minnesota Episcopal Foundation) regarding fund raising, Henton's gifts to the Diocese, and other denominational matters.
Regarding the ordination of women as priests.
Correspondence between Helen Spink Henton, the University's Foundation, the College of Agriculture, and the College of Biological Sciences regarding Robert Beach Henton's estate, the establishment of a scholarship fund, and Helen Spink Henton's participation in a conference where she spoke about her experiences with the University in estate planning.
Regarding Helen Spink Henton's gift of legal documents, books, and objects used in the law practice of Robert Beach Henton to the school's library. Also includes correspondence with Robert Stein, Dean of the School, concerning his work on a history of the law school and Helen Spink Henton's experiences in the school and the legal profession.
Correspondence between the Institute's curator and Helen Spink Henton regarding her gift of furniture believed to have been used by Empress Eug_nie while in exile at Farnsworth Castle.
Regarding Helen Spink Henton's membership on the Society's Council and her gifts to the Society.
Correspondence in response to an Oct. 13, 1974 article by Peg Meier on senior citizens, which featured Helen Spink Henton. Also includes a copy of a 1978 article also written by Peg Meier on the subject of aging and which mentions Henton.
Correspondence generated by Helen Spink Henton's reminiscences about Manchester, Iowa. Harold Hickox, two years younger than Henton, was a next-door neighbor when the Spink family lived in Manchester. The correspondence is primarily concerned with the reminiscences but also covers personal matters and interests. Additional, earlier correspondence between Henton and Hickox is filed with the Letters About Manchester in the series of Writings and Reminiscences.
The subject files include materials on specific topics kept by both Helen Spink Henton and Robert Beach Henton. Included are items from their respective law practices, papers from Robert Beach Henton's participation in an association to memorialize the Birch Coulee battlegrounds of the 1862 Dakota Indian war, a record book containing brief entries regarding the Hentons' apiary, ephemeral items from the World War II era, landscape and planting plans for the Henton residence in Olivia, a campaign poster for John A. Dalzell's senatorial campaign, and papers compiled by Helen Spink Henton related to her husband's estate.
Includes two ledgers, one kept by Helen Spink Henton and one kept by Robert Beach Henton at the start of their respective law practices. Though not particularly detailed, entries list office expenses as well as actions, receipts, and expenditures pertaining to individual clients or cases.
Includes samples of the letterhead used by Helen Spink while in practice at Franklin, Minnesota (1925-1927), as well as an envelope attesting to her partnership with John A. Dalzell. Also includes a sample of an envelope from Robert Beach Henton's practice in Morton.
Concerning the staging of celebratory plans for the 64th anniversary of the battle as well as information concerning legislative efforts in 1927 to turn the battle site into a state memorial park and later efforts to establish a national cemetery at the battle site. Included are a 1922 survey prepared by the commissioner of highways and correspondence with Robert K. Boyd regarding the grading and seeding of the grounds. Robert Beach Henton was chair of the committee that organized a Memorial Day pageant in 1926 and was also secretary of the Association.
Also includes a brief history of the Association.
Includes the manuscript
Kept by Robert Beach Henton. Includes a letter of explanation written by Helen Spink Henton on March 25, 1984 detailing the nature of the Hentons' honey production.
Includes Robert Beach Henton's Selective Service registration certificate and classification notices, U.S. and Canadian gasoline ration stamps, and certificates noting Helen Spink Henton's blood donations and her participation in the War Emergency Board's fur vest project.
This file pertains to the settlement of Robert Beach Henton's estate, his interest in the Northern Drying Company, and claims against his estate by W. K. Jones (Ken), manager of the dehydration plant.
The writings and reminiscences include college essays, short stories, a one-scene dramatic piece, a law school reminiscence, and manuscripts for two book projects, all written by Helen Spink Henton.
Probably written during the 1940s and 1950s, these files contain the drafts and notes that Helen Spink Henton intended to compile as a book about her impressions of Minnesota and Canada's boundary wilderness and the Lake Superior shoreline.
1910 was a proposed autobiographical book about life in Manchester, Iowa, in 1910 when Helen Spink was nine years old and when Halley's Comet made its first twentieth century appearance. The files contain handwritten and typed chapter drafts, notes, correspondence, and newspaper and magazine clippings. Originally intended as a book for her goddaughter (Cynthia Gray of Olivia), the book consists of a foreword and 30 numbered chapters. The drafts appear to have been written in the 1970s and 1980s,
and although some of the typescripts are noted as final drafts, no complete, final manuscript of the book is evident.
Additional, unnumbered sections, which were omitted from Henton's proposed table of contents but which contain drafts, research notes, clippings, and correspondence, are also included. These sections cover the topics of advertisements, butter, cards, church, clothes and clothing, earning money, family stories, food, Halloween, the outhouse, honey, sorghum, bees, popcorn, horse drawn vehicles, porches, postcards, rhubarb, soup, and superstitions.
Also included are excerpts published in
Given as a speech at the 50th reunion of the class of 1925, the reminiscence details Helen Spink Henton's experiences as the only female student in the Law School. The speech also recalls her beginning practice in Franklin, Minnesota, and her work heading legal aid services for United Charities of St. Paul. Brief anecdotes regarding Everett Fraser and others of the Law School's faculty are included.
Helen Spink Henton kept a diary on a fairly regular basis for most of her life. Included in the collection are two volumes covering the first three years of her college education, one volume dating from her law practice, and 20 volumes which chronicle the last twenty years of her married life. Glued or loose within the diaries are photographs, postcards, letters, newspaper and magazine clippings, party favors, ticket stubs, concert and recital programs, and other ephemera which are typically referenced within her entries.
The two diaries from Henton's college years were not kept on any regular basis, indeed many entries were written as recollections of an entire season. The entries begin with her final few months of high school in Spring Valley and end just before she transfers to the University of Minnesota. These entries are fairly detailed and describe her commencement, working in her father's store, various family gatherings, and her summer vacation which included a tour of a lead and zinc mine in Iowa. Entries from college begin with her experiences of moving into a girls' rooming house at Hamline University and characterize her adjustment to a roommate, new friends, classes and exams, sorority rushing activities, rooming house parties, and a clerk's job at Bannon's department store in St. Paul.
The one volume dating from her years as a lawyer begins in September of 1925 when she opened an office in Franklin under the name of Dalzell and Spink. Her partner, John A. Dalzell, also partnered with Robert Beach Henton in opening an office in Morton at the same time. Entries in this diary are very brief and simply provide a record of her case work and court hearings, of meetings with Dalzell and Robert Beach Henton who appear to have consulted on many of her cases, and of a few personal details such as hunting trips and other outings with Robert Beach Henton. Attorney's ledgers kept by both Helen Spink and Robert Beach Henton from this same period are filed with the Subject Files.
Diaries dating 1940-1962 cover the last twenty years of Henton's married life as well as her first year as a widow. Like her correspondence, some of these entries are quite lengthy and candid. Many contain comments about neighbors and acquaintances, particularly about the Gray and Lauerman families, or remarks on the social and business life of Olivia. Many also contain brief observations regarding election politics, war news, and other issues or events current to the time such as her remarks after first viewing television in 1951. Lengthiest entries are those describing annual trips that she and Robert Beach Henton took through the southern and western United States in the winter and summer trips to Crane Lake in northern Minnesota and Lac Croix and Loon Lake just across the Canadian border. Other entries are more a record of housekeeping activities or brief entries noting the progress of a sewing, craft, or decorating project.
All together, the diaries provide great detail about the Hentons' lives and activities. They describe Helen Spink Henton's participation in bond drives and volunteering at the local ration board during the war years, the projects and activities of her church guild, her activities with the League of Women Voters, her problems with the couple's aging parents, events in the lives of her brother's family, her shopping excursions in the Twin Cities, and Robert Beach Henton's business prospects, particularly developments with his Northern Drying Company and GreenLeaf, a therapeutic alfalfa product. The diaries conclude shortly after the death of Robert Beach Henton in August of 1961 and describe how Helen Spink Henton managed his estate and came to terms with her widowhood.
Additional diaries specifically documenting Henton's travels after her husband's death are filed with the series of Travel Materials.
Includes trip itineraries, correspondence with tour sponsors, diaries, and personal correspondence detailing Helen Spink Henton's travel experiences. Trips to the Orient in 1965 and to South America in 1971 were taken in connection with Henton's interest in farm management. Trips to Jamaica, Spain, and Portugal in 1968 and 1969 were to study painting under John Pike. Other travels were primarily excursionary in nature.
Primarily black and white photoprints, the photographs include portraits of Helen Spink Henton, of Robert Beach Henton from infancy through adulthood, of Maud Beach Henton, and of Robert Bennit Henton (1834-1898). Also included are group and individual portraits of the Andrew M. Brenner family, portraits of Spink family members, a group portrait of the women residents of either Goheen Hall at Hamline University (1920-1921) or of Sanford Hall at the University of Minnesota (1921-1925), and a group portrait of the University of Minnesota law school's graduating class of 1925.
The series also contains photographs, including an architectural rendering, of the Henton residence at 802 East Walnut in Olivia, interiors and exteriors of the Brenner and Spink family stores in Alta Vista, Iowa, and in Slayton and Spring Valley, Minnesota, and two interiors of a bank, possibly the Citizens State Bank at Franklin which Robert Bennit Henton (1869-1947) helped found.
Two photo albums containing unidentified black and white snapshots kept by Robert Beach Henton are also included. These albums include pictures of relatives and friends; fishing trips; Henton's uncle, J. Little, and the Little farm in Livingston County, Michigan; World War I servicemen in field training exercises; a Minneapolis parade; and the stone arch bridge and Minneapolis skyline from the Mississippi River. The albums also include postcard views of Green Lake near Spicer in Kandiyohi County and a car ferry crossing the Minnesota River at Morton, Minnesota.