Helen “Nellie” Taft was the wife of President William Howard Taft and First Lady of the United States from 1909 to 1913. During their marriage, she relished travel to Japan, China, and diplomatic missions around the world. As “the only unusual incident” of her girlhood, “Nellie” Herron Taft recalled her visit to the White House at 17 as the guest of President and Mrs. Hayes, intimate friends of her parents. Fourth child of Harriet Collins and John W. Herron, born in 1861, she had grown up in Cincinnati, Ohio, attending a private school in the city and studying music with enthusiasm.