Helen = Storyteller

Family members that change their name, place of birth, and age with great frequency are the hardest to track down.  In one census they might list their age as 41; twenty years later they say they are 50.  This leads to a lot of frustration and uncertainty.  In my family tree, "lying" people all seem to share a common trait, the name Helen, or Ellen, or Nellie, etc.  For a name that means light, they turn it off.

Helen Blanchard (1849-1927)

Helen was born in May 1849.  She was baptized Roman Catholic, 3 June 1849, St. Simon and St. Jude Church, Tignish, Prince Edward Island.  Her baptismal certificate lists her parents as Stephen Blanchard and Catharine Ferris.  Helen, or Ellen as she commonly referred to herself, lived in Tignish, Prince Edward Island, along with her family in the 1861 Canadian Census.

The next time Ellen was documented was 16 May 1891.  She was listed as the mother of Michael Joseph (abt 1884-1891), on his death certificate from that date. At the time of his death Ellen and her family were living at 81 Avenue C, Manhattan, New York.  She was still living there 9 November 1891, when her husband, Michael Lyons (abt 1850-1891), was admitted to the New York City Asylum for Insane, Wards Island, New York.

In the 1900 United States Census Ellen was living on Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter Helen (abt 1880-1893) and her niece Catherine Blanchard (1896-1965).  In the 1910 United States Census she was living at 83 Third Street in Queens, New York.  She was living with her daughter Helen and Helen's family, as well as Catherine Blanchard.  In 1918 Ellen was listed as Daniel Joseph's (1876- ) mother on his World War I Draft Card.  Her address was 26-84 12th Street.

In 1920 Ellen was living at 912 Crescent Street, Queens, New York.  She was living with her husband, John Ryan.  Ellen died on 30 November 1927 in Wyckoff Heights Hospital from appendicitis.  At the time of her death she was living at 76 McComb Place, Queens, New York.  Ellen was buried in St. John's Cemetery, Queens, New York.

There are so many things I need to do to complete my research on Helen.  My first to do is figure what Ellen was doing between the years 1861-1891.  Obviously she immigrated, married, and had children, but I do not have records on any of these events.