This collection is comprised of a scrapbook, a diary, and an autograph album related to the family of Elizabeth Henshaw Gaspar Brown. Many items relate to Brown's grandfather, Horace W. Henshaw of Chicago, Illinois; to his parents, Horace and Martha Montgomery Henshaw; and to his daughter, Marguerite Henshaw Gaspar.
The Diary is a partially completed five-year line-a-day volume kept by Elizabeth Henshaw Gaspar from 1930-1934. Her brief diary entries largely concern her education, social life, and other daily activities.
The Autograph Album belonged to Elizabeth Henshaw Gaspar. The entries are dated largely in 1925 and they include contributions from teachers at the Lake View Institute in Chicago, Illinois. Most writers included brief personal messages to "Betty," including one entry in French.
The Scrapbook first belonged to Horace W. Henshaw in the 1880s. The majority of its contents are newspaper clippings, though ephemeral items such as programs, a Christmas cards, advertising cards, stamps, and ticket stubs are also present. The programs concern events held in England around 1880-1881. A group of ephemeral items, several clippings, and some visual materials relate to steamship travel and the St. Clair Tunnel Company. Also included are a copy of Horace W. Henshaw's will, a brief biography of Henshaw, and condolence letters and telegrams regarding his death in 1925. The two card photographs are portraits of Horace W. and Lily Henshaw. Other visual materials include a clipping with an image of a locomotive, clippings with printed drawings of animals, and a comic strip set on a golf course.
The scrapbook's newspaper clippings date from the early 1880s to 1958. Many are obituary notices, birth announcements, and similar articles regarding members of the Henshaw, Gaspar, and Brown families. Several items relate to Horace W. Henshaw's business career in Chicago, Illinois, and to the American Farm Products Company. A copy of the W. F. Roos Company's Daily Trade Bulletin is laid into the volume (July 22, 1905). Among the items that relate to the Civil War are a reprint of the Gettysburg Address and a facsimile reproduction of a letter from General Ulysses S. Grant to General Simon Bolivar Buckner (original dated February 16, 1862).
Horace Henshaw was born in Buffalo, New York, on October 12, 1811, and married Martha Montgomery (d. 1877) on May 1, 1831. The couple lived in Stow, Ohio, from 1837 until 1857, when they moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. They had eight children: Lydia Ann, Byron (d. 1882), Henry H. (d. 1919), Charles, Ursula, Hattie, Horace William (1852-1925), and Martha. Horace Henshaw died on December 1, 1898.
Horace William Henshaw was born on August 20, 1852, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, as a teenager. He married Lily H. Roos (1858-1931), the daughter of William F. Roos and Sarah Ann Tucker, on December 28, 1875. While in St. Louis, Henshaw worked for the W. F. Roos Company, which exported butter and cheese; the company later became part of the American Farm Products Company. Horace W. and Lily Henshaw lived in Chicago, where Horace served on the board of managers for the American Farm Products Company. They had one son, Charles (d. 1899); a daughter who died young; and a surviving daughter, Marguerite (1885-1972). Following her husband's death on January 29, 1925, Lily Henshaw moved to Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Marguerite Henshaw married Vernon Moore Gaspar (1883-1958), a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Gaspar was a member of the county board of supervisors for much of his adult life. Elizabeth H. Gaspar (1913-1998), the daughter of Marguerite and Vernon Gaspar, received degrees from Rockford College and the University of Wisconsin Law School. She worked as a research associate at the University of Michigan Law School from 1951-1993. Her husband was Douglas Stewart Brown (1914-1956). The couple lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with their daughter Louise.
