Helens book - Blog #2

I hope everyone had a grand, wonderful Christmas! I have been thinking about what to write for days before and after the holiday. I will tell all of you who are still working, for someone my age, every day is a holiday.

Today, I have decided to write about my great-grandmother. My mother loved Helen Stanbro Olmsted. She told me endless stories about her. I cannot remember when Helen became my hero. I think it was around one of the times we visited Mom’s brother, Walter, and his family in the 1950s.

Helen was Mom’s grandmother. Her daughter, Carrie, Mom’s mother, had Helen’s help delivering Mom. I learned that I would not have been born if it were not for Helen’s skill as a midwife.

I always wanted to know more about Helen’s life. Mom obliged me and told me stories that made Helen sound like a perfect wife, mother, and midwife. One of the stories I recorded in the book was about how she lost two fingers on her left hand.

She told my mother a made-up story, which made her seem like a hero. The truth did not come out until I read a newspaper article. It never happened like she told Mom. She was taking some horses to Lexington, Nebraska. The horses tried to get away, she wrapped the reins around those fingers, and the force of trying to get the horses under control caused the fingers to get sufficiently damaged that they needed to be removed.

The accident did not prevent her from knitting, cooking, or delivering babies. Helen lived through many crises in her life. The book explains most of what I discovered. It is a short book, but it has what I knew about her, plus a list of all the babies she delivered and a family genealogy.

The book is available on Amazon in eBook or paperback. It is under: Pioneer Midwife: The Helen Stanbro Olmsted Story. It has a green cover. Check out our website: midwifehelensfamily.com for other books, T-shirts, and original art prints.