Multiples - Helen Maye and Howard Ray Hankins - Week 9 of #52Ancestors

Growing up, I heard stories from my Dad about his Call cousins on his mother's side and visiting her family in Genesee County, New York. I wondered why I never heard about any cousins on the Hankins side. And then I realized there weren't any. 

I thought it was because his father, Francis William Hankins (1897-1983) was an only child. Then I learned that he had a sister and brother - twins - who died young. 

My great-grandparents William Lucas Hankins (1872-1930) and Mary Jane Kellam (1874-1944) married in 1896, and soon settled in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York. Their families were both from the Sullivan County, New York/Wayne County, Pennsylvania area. 

Their first child, my grandfather, Francis William Hankins, was born in Auburn on September 8, 1897 

Two and a half years later, twins Helen Maye and Howard Ray, were born on March, 7, 1900, also in Auburn. 

An undated family record, probably from a family bible, records three children's births, and the deaths of Helen and Howard. The original record is still in the family. 

Mary Jane Kellam Hankins may have had a difficult pregnancy, a difficult delivery or significant health problems after the twins were born. In 1907, she sent a postcard with an image of the City Hospital in Auburn on the front, to an unknown fellow postcard collector, with the notation

"I was a patient here 12 weeks seven years ago so it looks natural to me." Mar-21-'07  Mrs. Hankins

I purchased this postcard, along with a few other my great grandmother sent on Ebay. When it arrived, and I looked at the dates, I realized she was referring to the time her twins were born for her hospital stay. 

On June 4th, all five members of the Hankins family were listed in the 1900 Census - living at 23 1/2 Maple Street in Auburn, New York. 

By late summer, Mary Jane was well enough to visit her parents with her children. According to a note in the September 6, 1900 Tri-States Union Newspaper published in Port Jervis, New York. 

"Mrs. Wm. Hankins and children, of Auburn. N.Y. are sojourning for a time with her parents, Mr and Mrs J.R. Kellam"

Sadly, just a week later on September 13, Helen Maye died in Hankins, Sullivan County, New York - probably at the home of her maternal grandparents. 

Mary Jane appears to have stayed with her parents for some time, or returned for another visit in mid-October. On October 15, according to the Tri-States Union - "a child of Mrs. Wm. Hankins, of Auburn, N.Y., who is visiting her parents here [at Hankins] has the same affliction [cholera infantum]

Sometime after the 15th, Mary Jane returned to Auburn, where Howard died on October 27th. 

Helen and Howard are buried in Riverside Cemetery, Long Eddy, Sullivan County, New York, possibly in the Kellam family plot. Their grandfather, John Ross Kellam was buried in the same cemetery three years later in what his obituary described as a family plot. 

Photograph from FindAGrave at  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96572574/howard-hankins#view-photo=66664366  Used with permission of the photographer Helen Bossley

As far as I know, there are no photographs of Helen Maye and Howard Ray Hankins but I do keep hoping that someday one will turn up in another part of the family.