Title: Waldo-Henderson Family Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1829-1979

Call Number: Green Bay Mss 107; PH 5040

Quantity: 0.7 cubic feet (2 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder) and 0.6 cubic feet of photographs (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Archives and Area Research Center and the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections.

Archival Locations:

UW-Green Bay Cofrin Library / Green Bay Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of the Waldo-Hendersons, a prominent family from Green Bay, Wisconsin, primarily documenting the women of that family. Included are original and transcribed copies of diaries, correspondence, clippings, writings, notes, and genealogical material. Among the individuals represented are Morris A. Waldo (1828-1902) and his first wife Ann Eliza Appleton Waldo (1832-1862); her sister Susan Appleton Brown; their daughter Mary Adele Waldo Henderson (1858-1939); and two of her daughters, Anna Laura Henderson Jackson (1881-1957) and Ruth A. Henderson (1890-1980), and her granddaughter Anne Jackson Foster (1911- ). Of note are the exchanges between Waldo and his wife before she traveled from New York to join him in Wisconsin during the 1850s and during his service in the Civil War with the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry; an autobiography and letters of Susan Brown; and radio talks, student papers, and World War II-era correspondence of Laura Henderson Jackson exchanged with her daughter Anne Jackson Foster primarily concerning child care and family matters. Photographs include snapshots and portraits.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-gb0107

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For many years, the Henderson and Waldo families have been prominently involved in the civic and business life of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The Waldo family was established in the Green Bay area in 1873 when Morris A. Waldo, an employee of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad moved to Fort Howard. Born in Sackett's Harbor, New York, on September 20, 1829, Waldo migrated west and settled in Winneconne, Wisconsin in 1854. Not long thereafter, he was joined by his wife, Ann Eliza Appleton Waldo. In 1861 Waldo enlisted in the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry. While on detached service from his regiment in Bloomfield, Missouri, in 1862, he became ill with typhoid fever. Ann Waldo left their young daughter, Mary Adele (Della), in the care of her sister, Susan Appleton Brown, also of Winneconne, and traveled south to nurse him. There she also became ill with typhoid fever and died on October 24, 1862. After the war, Waldo returned to Wisconsin. In 1868 he married Margaret Lewis Griffith. They had one daughter, Helen Jane Waldo.

Waldo's first daughter, Della, lived most of her life in Green Bay. In 1879 she married James L. Henderson, a master painter with the Green Bay and Western Railroad, who had arrived in the area from New York in 1870. The Hendersons were the parents of four daughters: Anna Laura (1881-1957), who married J.H. Jackson; Alice Diantha (circa 1884-1973), who married Otto Straubel; Ruth Adele (1890-1980), a teacher of home economics at the University of Wisconsin and Helen Jane (1894-1971), an editor of John Martin's Book. Anna Laura Jackson's daughter, Anne Waldo Jackson (1911- ), married Winfield W. Foster. Alice Straubel's daughter, Ruth Christine, married Leo Hartman.

The Henderson family was established in the Green Bay area by Robert Henderson who engaged in trade between Buffalo and Green Bay during the years 1866 and 1868. Later he entered the paint manufacturing business in Fort Howard. In 1870 Robert Henderson was joined by his mother, his brother, James L., and his other brothers and sisters. James L. Henderson married Mary Adele (Della) Waldo in 1879.

Further biographical information about other members of the family is contained in the collection in the folder entitled “Miscellaneous correspondence and clippings.”

The Waldo-Henderson papers were primarily collected by Anne Jackson Foster and Ruth Straubel Hartman as part of their interest in family history. The collection is unusual because it chiefly concerns the women in the family. The collection consists of original and transcribed copies of diaries, correspondence, clippings, writings, notes, and genealogical material. Also, there is a substantial collection of photographs of members of the family and several albums and loose photographs documenting the life of Anne Jackson Foster. The papers are organized alphabetically by name and followed with a combined file of letters transcribed by Mrs. Foster and others and some miscellaneous clippings and biographical information.

Best documented of the family are Morris A. Waldo and his first wife, Ann Eliza Appleton Waldo; her sister, Susan Appleton Brown; their daughter, Mary Adele Waldo Henderson; and two of her daughters, Anna Laura Henderson Jackson and Ruth A. Henderson; and her granddaughter, Anne Jackson Foster. The exchanges between Waldo and Ann Appleton Waldo concern family matters both before and after she migrated from New York to Wisconsin to join him. Later letters document her concern with his health and safety during his service in the Civil War. There is also an autobiography and numerous letters to Susan Brown from Della Waldo Henderson, whom Mrs. Brown had cared for for several years. For Laura Henderson Jackson, there are school papers, copies of radio talks concerning historical and patriotic topics, and correspondence. A large portion of this correspondence consists of World War II letters exchanged with her daughter, Anne Jackson Foster, primarily concerning child care and family matters. For Ruth Henderson, there is a copy of an oral history (also at the UW-Madison Archives) and correspondence written during the 1930s to Della Henderson.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Anne Jackson Foster and Ruth Hartman, both of Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1983-1984. Accession Number: M83-277, M83-297, M83-332, M84-063, M84-091, M84-326

Processing Information

Processed by Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1987.

Green Bay Mss 107	Brown, Susan Appleton
Box   1 Folder   1	Autobiography, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Correspondence received, 1847-1875
PH 5040	Foster, Anne Jackson
Box   1 Folder   1	Scrapbook, undated
Box   2	Scrapbook, circa 1920s
Green Bay Mss 107	Henderson, Mary Adele Waldo
Box   1 Folder   3	Correspondence, 1855-1905
	Henderson, Diantha
Box   1 Folder   4	Correspondence, 1829-1893
	Henderson, Ruth
Box   1 Folder   5	Correspondence and oral history, 1886-1968
	Jackson, Laura Henderson
Oversize Folder	Ancestry chart
Box   1 Folder   6-8	Correspondence and school papers, 1899-1953
Box   1 Folder   9	Radio program materials, 1929-1936
	Waldo, Ann Appleton
Box   2 Folder   1	Correspondence, incoming, 1853-1962
	Waldo, Helen
Box   2 Folder   2	1925-1937
	Waldo, Morris A.
Box   2 Folder   3	Civil War records and copies
Box   2 Folder   4	Correspondence, incoming, 1861-1876
Box   2 Folder   5	Miscellaneous correspondence and clippings
Box   2 Folder   6	Transcriptions of correspondence of Morris and Ann Waldo, Susan Brown, and Della Henderson, 1847-1905
PH 5040	Photographs
Box   1 Folder   3	Family portrait
Box   1 Folder   5	Family photographs
Box   1 Folder   9	Family snapshots
Box   1 Folder   7	Jackson, Laura
Box   1 Folder   8	Henderson/Waldo family
Box   1 Folder   2	Ream, J.D., homestead, Nebraska
Box   1 Folder   4	Waldo family genealogy
Box   1 Folder   6	The Illinois Clubwoman's World, 1927