 Helen Rhind Rathbun was born in Petaluma, California on July 1, 1870, the daughter of Edwin Rathbun and Katherine Donaldson.While in the Normal School, from which she was graduated, Helen R. Rathbun showed such decided talent that Frederick O. Sylvester, her instructor, urged her to devote her undivided time to this branch of art.A short course in the St. Louis Art School was of much value, but she then mainly trained under Edgar J. Bissell (1861-1928), and later married him.