Title: Helen L. Pray Correspondence
Inclusive Dates: 1880-1924

Creator:

• Pray, Helen L.

Call Number: M2000-195

Quantity: 1.2 c.f. (1 record center carton and 1 archives box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

Correspondence to and from Helen Pray principally from her fiancé and husband Henry Sheldon concerning their courtship, contemporary literature, current events, and popular music. Additionally there is correspondence from family and friends to both Helen and her sister, Katherine, as well as the music notebooks of Katherine and Kenneth Pray and Henry Sheldon’s Harvard Law School scrapbook.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-m2000195

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Theron B. Pray became the first president of Stevens Point Normal School in 1894, serving in that capacity until 1906. Upon accepting the position at Stevens Point, Pray moved his wife Ellen and five children from Whitewater (where he had formerly been teaching) to Stevens Point. Katherine (“Kitty”) was their oldest child followed by Helen (b. 1874), Florence (“Fawn”), Allan (b. 1877) and Kenneth (b. 1882).

In 1895, Helen and Katherine went to the University of Wisconsin in Madison for graduate studies in teaching. Helen graduated from the University in 1897, while Katherine had to drop out that same year due to illness.

Henry T. Sheldon, the son of Shepard and Anna Sheldon, graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1895 and then went into private practice. Henry met Helen in the spring of 1897, and they were engaged later that year. After graduation, Helen accepted a teaching position in Marshfield, where she taught from the fall of 1897 to the spring of 1898. After her year in Marshfield, Helen returned home to live with her parents, while in September of 1898, Henry, who was active in the Madison Republican party, was elected the Assistant U.S. District Attorney. Henry married Helen on June 13th, 1899, in Stevens Point. Henry carried out his term as Assistant District Attorney and then after going out east for a few years, came back to Madison and settled into private practice. The couple had two children, Eleanor and David (who eventually settled in Milwaukee). Henry Sheldon shot himself in his office on March 1, 1932, presumably due to legal and financial difficulties.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Milwaukee County Historical Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Accession Number: M2000-195

M2000-195	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1-22	To Helen L. Pray, 1893-1899, undated
Box   1 Folder   23	To Helen and Katherine Pray, birthday and Christmas cards
Box   1 Folder   24-27	To Katherine Pray, 1881-1905
Box   1 Folder   28	From Helen and Katherine Pray, 1895-1896
Box   1 Folder   29	To Theron B. Pray
Box   1 Folder   30	To other Pray family members, 1895-1905
Box   1 Folder   31	Autograph books - Katherine and Helen Pray, 1880-1881
	Music notebooks
Box   1 Folder   32-33	Katherine Pray, 1903-1905, undated
Box   1 Folder   34	Kenneth Pray, undated
Box   1 Folder   35	Notebook - Katherine Pray, 1903-1905
Box   1 Folder   36	Academic paper by Helen Pray, undated
Box   1 Folder   37	High school diploma and graduation speech - Helen Pray
Box   1 Folder   38	Fraternity minutes book - David Sheldon, 1923-1924
Box   1 Folder   39	Memorabilia
Box   2	Henry T. Sheldon's Harvard Law School scrapbook, 1892-1893