Henry A. House papers

Captain Henry A. House was the son of Mr. Francis Edwin House and his spouse Mary V. McCracken House. Mr. and Mrs. House married in 1878 at Des Moines, Iowa and came to Duluth, Minnesota in 1901 upon the formation of the United States Steel Corporation. Their home was at 519 Hawthorne Road in Duluth. F. E. House, a civil engineer, was the general manager of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Company (D&IRR) until his death in 1926. Mrs. House died in 1942. Their son, Henry Arthur House was a member of the 350th Infantry during World War I. He was captured by the Germans on 12 October 1918 and held as a prisoner of war. After being assigned to “Casual Camp” from 24 November to 19 December 1918, he was discharged and returned home to his “Civil Profession” of farmer. Henry A. House married Swedish-American actress Martha Hedman in his parents’ Duluth home. The two collaborated on at least one stage play, Lydia Vane, with Martha Hedman in the leading role in a New York production. Martha Hedman House (August 12, 1883 – June 20, 1974) retired from the theater in 1922. Hedman had a daughter with a fellow actor in 1904: the actor died in 1905. She was married to Henry House in 1921 with whom she co-wrote a play What's the Big Idea in 1926. Martha Hedman wrote a book Uncle, Aunt and Jezabel (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York: 1949). The dedication reads: "To Henry Arthur - the winter of our discontent was turned into glorious summer". She subsequently wrote Mathias and Mathilda (Chapman & Hall. 1951) written under the name, Martha Hedman House. She died in Florida. Henry A. House died in Duluth March 17, 1947.