helen l. cowing stoddard

Helen L. Cowing, my great-great grandmother, was born March 22, 1865 in South Scituate, MA. Her parents were George Clinton Cowing and Lydia Helen French.

Helen was the second oldest of four children to George and Lydia.  She had an older sister, Mary and two younger brothers, George and Percy.  Percy was actually born much later than the rest of the siblings.  Helen was fifteen years older than Percy and would only live in the same house as him for about 4 years. 

1870 census

From helen lydia cowing

1880 census

From helen lydia cowing

Helen was 19 years old when she married Arthur T. Stoddard in Weymouth on May 11, 1884.  They probably met when they were young, as they lived only six houses apart, according to the South Scituate map from 1879.  I have written a bit about Arthur and Helen in this blog post; which includes the map of South Scituate for 1879.

After they married, Helen and Arthur lived on High Street in Norwell, MA.  The town of South Scituate changed its name to Norwell in 1888, so they were still living close to home; really in the same town as they grew up in.   Helen's siblings did not stay in Scituate/Norwell, but moved to towns of Malden, Brockton and Hingham in Massachusetts.  They probably did not see much of each other once they married and had families of their own.  Helen and Arthur had three daughters, Nellie, Ethel and Carrie in Norwell.

Helen died at a young age of 49 years, of Acute Bright's Disease. Helen is buried at the Washington Street Cemetery in Norwell with her husband Arthur, her daughter Carrie, and her father George C. Cowing.


Helen was survived by her mother, her husband and two of her daughters, Ethel and Nellie.  As I wrote in another blog post, her daughter Carrie took her own life a year before Helen died.  Her two surviving daughters did marry and had children of their own, all in Norwell, MA.  Helen was alive to see 8 out of 15 of her grandchildren born; although, two of those grandchildren died within a few days of birth.  My grandmother (Helen, probably named after her) never got to meet her grandmother, Helen.  She was born 15 years after Helen died.  She never spoke much about her family, maybe because she did not know all that much herself.