Friday's Photo: Helen Driscoll Staubach

Doris typed the following on the back of this photo:
"Easter Sunday, March 25, 1951 Kay, mother, and I" 
Pictured: Doris Staubach, Helen Driscoll, and cousin, Kathleen Caccavo

Helen Driscoll was born in Cohoes, New York on March 7, 1887 - 138 years ago today. She was the daughter of mill workers and one of at least eleven children. Helen worked in the mills until about 1924 when she and some of her sisters left for New York City. In 1933, she married Charles Staubach Jr., and together they raised a daughter, Doris—my beautiful mother-in-law.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Church records clearly state that Helen was born in 1887, yet over the course of 50 years, various documents record her age differently.

Consider the following:

1900: Helen was 13 years old

1910: Listed as 21

1915: Recorded as 23

1920: Just 27

1933: She was 39

1940: Now 47

1950: Marked as 60

Helen’s records show a woman who may not have aged by the calendar but instead by the circumstances of her life, making her story all the more compelling. 

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Diana

© 2025

Diana Quinn, #1 Diana's Bryan-Quinn Family, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/45260559?cfpid=6334928766: accessed 7 March 2025). 

Easter, photograph, ca.1951; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of D.B. Quinn, 2025.