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Note: The Robert Berg Rhode collection states she was born in "French Lick, Indiana 2 Sep 1893," but all other sources show a birth place of Minnesota. Minnesota has been used herein. Her gravestone indicates a birth year of 1892, as does the 1900 Census. That year has been used herein.
Extract from the 1900 Census:
Name: Helen E Parks
Age at last birthday: 7
Date of birth: Sep 1892
Birthplace: Minnesota
Race: white
Sex: female
Relationship to head-of-house: daughter
Home in 1900: Duluth Ward 5, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Address: 324 West 2nd Street
Marital status: single
Able to read, write and speak English: yes
Father's birthplace: Wisconsin*
Mother's birthplace: New York*
Occupation: attending school
Siblings living at home: none
Census place: Duluth Ward 5, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: T623 790; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 272
Date: 12 Jun 1900
Note: name listed as "Helen E Park" by Ancestry.com.
*these states are switched on the census; although the line for her mother shows her birthplace as New York, on Helen's line her mother's birthplace is shown as Wisconsin and her father's birthplace is shown as New York.
She may have been adopted by John G Williams after he married her mother [source: Robert Berg Rhode].
Extract from the 1905 Minnesota State Census:
Name: Helen P Williams
Age: 12
Estimated birth year: 1893
Birth location: Duluth, Minnesota
Gender: female
Race: white
County: Saint Louis
Locality: Duluth Ward 2
Address: 931 East 4th Street
Father's birth location: Wales
Mother's birth location: New York
State residency: 12 years
District residency: 12 years
Siblings living at home: none
Census date: 2 Jun 1905
Line: 37
Roll: MNSC_155
Extract from the 1910 Census:
Name: Helen P Williams
Age in 1910: 17
Estimated birth year: 1893
Birthplace: Minnesota
Race: white
Sex: female
Relationship to head of family: daughter
Home in 1910: Duluth Ward 2, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Address: 931 East 4th Street
Marital status: single
Able to speak English: yes
Able to read and write: yes
Father's birthplace: Wales
Mother's birthplace: New York
Occupation: none
Siblings living at home: none
Census place: Duluth Ward 2, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: T624_725; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 158; Image: 115
Date: 15 Apr 1910
Education: St. Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota
Extract from the 1920 Census:
Name: Helen W Tennant
Age: 27
Estimated birth year: 1893
Birthplace: Minnesota
Race: white
Sex: female
Relationship to head of house: wife
Home in 1920: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Address: 2327 East 1st Street
Marital status: married
Able to speak English: yes
Able to read and write: yes
Father's birthplace: New York [sic]
Mother's birthplace: Pennsylvania [sic]
Occupation: none
Census place: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: T625_858; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 95; Image: 148
Date: 10 Jan 1920
Note: name listed as "Helen W Tennaret" by Ancestry.com.
Child living with parents in 1920:
Elizabeth T Tennant age 2 6/12 b. Pennsylvania Also living in the household in 1920:
Clade [?] McNitoch age 19 b. Pennsylvania (servant) [source: 1920 Census].
Extract from the 1930 Census:
Name: Helen Tennant
Age: 37
Estimated birth year: 1893
Birthplace: Minnesota
Race: white
Sex: female
Relation to head-of-house: wife
Home in 1930: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Address: 2221 Second Street
Marital status: married
Age at first marriage: 23
Education: able to speak English
Education: able to read and write
Fathers' birthplace: Wisconsin
Mothers' birthplace: New York
Occupation: none
Census place: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: 1126; Page: ; Enumeration District: 43; Image: 231.0
Date: 3 Apr 1930
Children living with parents in 1930:
Elizabeth Tennant age 13 b. Pennsylvania Jean Tennant age 9 b. Minnesota Robert H Tennant age 11/12 b. Minnesota [source: 1930 Census]. Servant's extract from the 1930 Census:
Name: Mary Sojka
Age: 16
Estimated birth year: 1914
Birthplace: Minnesota
Race: white
Sex: female
Relation to head-of-house: servant
Home in 1930: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Marital status: single
Education: able to speak English
Education: able to read and write
Father's birthplace: Poland
Mother's birthplace: Poland
Occupation: servant
Industry: private family
Salary or wage worker: wages
Census place: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: 1126; Page: ; Enumeration District: 43; Image: 231.0
Date: 3 Apr 1930
Servant's extract from the 1930 Census:
Name: Vera Bieganski
Age: 23
Estimated birth year: 1907
Birthplace: Poland
Race: white
Sex: female
Relation to head-of-house: servant
Home in 1930: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Marital status: single
Education: able to speak English
Education: able to read and write
Father's birthplace: Poland
Mother's birthplace: Poland
Year of immigration: 1923; naturalized
Language spoken in home before coming to the United States: Polish
Occupation: servant
Industry: private family
Salary or wage worker: wages
Census place: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: 1126; Page: ; Enumeration District: 43; Image: 231.0
Date: 3 Apr 1930
Note: Vera Cheslak (her married name) cleaned house for Elizabeth Tennant Rhode for years, into the 1970s. Vera Cheslak was born 22 Nov 1905 and died 7 Nov 1993.
Extract from the 1940 Census:
Name: Helen Tennant
Age: 47
Estimated birth year: 1893
Birthplace: Minnesota
Race: white
Sex: female
Relation to head-of-house: wife
Home in 1940: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Address: 221 23rd Avenue East
Marital status: married
Highest grade of school completed: 8
Living on farm: no
City of residence in 1935: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota
Resident on farm in 1935: no
Occupation: housework
Has other income of more than $50: yes
Census place: Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: T627_1972; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 88-35
Date: 5 Apr 1940
Children living with parents in 1940:
Betty Tennant age 23 b. Pennsylvania Jean Tennant age 19 b. Pennsylvania [sic] Robert Tennant age 11 b. Pennsylvania [sic] Also living in the household in 1940:
Pauline Filips age 23 b. Minnesota (servant) [source: 1940 Census]. She lived to age 76. She lived alone at the family home at 221 North 23rd Avenue East in Duluth after she and her husband separated in the 1940s. She loved to read, but toward the end of her life her vision began to fail - Richard H Rhode.
Robert H Tennant Jr stated on 5 Sep 1998 that he has a painting of Helen Parks Williams Tennant dated July 1896 done by Herbert Conner which he thinks was done from the photo of Stevens Parks, Julia, and Helen, when Helen was about 18 months old. Helen has the same dress on in the painting.
I was never close to my grandmother, as she did not socialize much. She lived in a big old house at 221 North 23rd Avenue East in Duluth; dark, with heavy furnishings. She died when I was 24, and overseas in the Navy, so I was not able to attend her funeral. I remember visiting her in my late teens and twenties, when I would do some chores for her. She was quite plump, and tended to wear a robe around the house while perpetually smoking cigarettes in an ivory holder. Her voice was hoarse and she coughed a lot. She complained to me before I left for the Navy that she could not see her books very well, as her vision was failing. My father inherited a couch from her home; it is the one with the dark turned wood spindle along the bottom - Richard H Rhode 23 Nov 1998.
Extract from the listing of Saint Louis County death certificates:
Helen W Tennant
29 Nov 1968
Death certificate number 1218
Minnesota Historical Society death certificate information:
Name: Helen W Tennant
Cert ID number: 1968-MN-033806
Date of birth: 2 Sep 1892 [sic]
Place of birth: Minnesota
Mother maiden name: Kelly [sic]
Date of death: 29 Nov 1968
County of death: Saint Louis
Obituary from the "News-Tribune" of Duluth, Minnesota dated Saturday 30 Nov 1968:
Mrs. Helen W. Tennant, 76, of 221 N. 23rd Ave. E., daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. John G. Williams, died Friday in a Duluth hospital. She was born in Duluth and was a graduate of St. Mary's Hall. She is survived by her husband, Robert H.; two daughters, Mrs. Robert (Betty) Rhode and Mrs. Richard (Jean) Spicer, both of Duluth; one son, Robert H. Jr., Owatonna, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Burial: Forest Hill Cemetery in Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota, in the Tennant plot. The Tennant plot contains Robert Hamilton Tennant I, Helen Elizabeth Parks Williams Tennant, John Griffiths Williams, and Julia Kiley Williams. 6813816
Gravestone inscription:
Helen W. Tennant
1892 - 1968
The Rhode Family Tree has 10 photographs of this person and has a photograph of the gravestone.
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