Helen was born on 22 Nov 1835 in Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Her parents were Asa Gilson and Lydia Cutter Gilson. She and her two sisters where orphaned when her father died in 1849 and her mother two years later. [1]
In 1850, Helen was living with her mother and sister Caroline in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [2]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lydia Gilson | head | F | 53 | Massachusetts | |
Helen Gilson | daughter | F | 14 | Massachusetts | |
Caroline Gilson | daughter | F | 7 | Massachusetts | |
Hannah Brown | F | 28 | Massachusetts |
Helen went to work as head assistant at the all-boys Phillips Grammar School in Boston for several years, until health issues forced her to resign. She was living in the home of Galen Holmes Jr. in Boston, Ward 5, Suffolk, Massachusetts. (Helen's name transcribed as Hellen). [3]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Galen Holmes Jr. | head | M | 41 | Massachusetts | constable |
Mary A Holmes | wife | F | 30 | Massachusetts | |
Hellen F Holmes | daughter | F | 5 | Massachusetts | |
Mary C Holmes | daughter | F | 2 | Massachusetts | |
Hellen L Gilson | boarder | F | 19 | Massachusetts |
She moved to Chelsea and serve as a private teacher and governess to the children of business man and town mayor Frank B. Fay. In 1860 she was living in his household. [4]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frank B Fay | head | M | 39 | Massachusetts | merchant |
Rebekah L Fay | wife | M | 39 | Vermont | |
Harrie F Fay | son | M | 11 | Massachusetts | |
Sibyl C Fay | daughter | F | 8 | Massachusetts | |
Harlin N Bridges | boarder | M | 23 | Vermont | merchant |
Helen L Gilson | boarder | F | 24 | Massachusetts | |
Martin Casserly | boarder | M | 30 | Ireland | gardener |
Mary Collins | boarder | F | 30 | Ireland | cook |
Ann Collins | boarder | F | 23 | Ireland | servant |
When the Civil War broke out, she had a strong desire to serve in the army as a nurse, and sent a letter to Dorothea Dix, superintendent of army nurses in Washington, D.C. Dix invited her to join if she met the minimum age requirement of thirty. Since she was only twenty-six, she remained in Chelsea and became active in aid societies and worked as a contractor to make army clothing for the soldiers.
With Mr. Fay's connection to the Sanitary Commission, he secured Helen a position on one of the hospital boats. On 18 Sep 1862, shortly after the battle of Antietam, she arrived at the battlefield and remained on duty there until the wounded had been taken to hospitals. During November and December of 1862 and spring of 1863 she was working at camps and hospitals near Fredericksburg, Virginia, the battle of Chancellorsville and in the Potomac Creek hospital.
She served in tents, on the fields, or in the hospitals at Yorktown, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. She labored unceasingly, often under fire, and suffered many hardships, including malaria fever.
Perhaps her greatest accomplishment was in service to African-American troops during the Overland Campaign (from the Battle of the Wilderness to Spotsylvania Court House to Cold Harbor to Petersburg to Appomattox) in May and June 1864. Helen took to the field at the beginning of the campaign and was tireless in her efforts to relieve the suffering. This Campaign was the first to see significant numbers of African-American troops killed and wounded. The temporary hospital for them at City Point, set up by the Medical Corps, was no more than a depot for wounded men. Conditions were horrible. The men were neglected, hospital organization was poor, malaria and typhoid were raging and mortality was very high. Helen volunteered when no one else would. She knew in her heart that it was her job to bring the place up to the same standards as the white soldiers. Her friends tried to talk her out of it, saying that she would not survive. Helen stepped in, took charge and responsibility for all changes necessary, and created a true hospital, with trained nurses, special diets, cleanliness and order. The rate of mortality was lessened, and the hospital became considered the best in the department. She spent most of the last year of the war caring for the soldiers of the U.S. Colored Troops and area freedmen.
From City Point, she went to a hospital at Richmond where she remained until June 1865. She then spent the summer on Long Island to recover from the illnesses she encountered while nursing the sick soldiers, returning home to Chelsea in the fall.
Helen married Hamilton Edward Osgood (note: some records indicate his name is Edward H.) on 11 Oct 1866 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. [5]
Less than two years later, on 20 Apr 1868, Helen and her child passed away during childbirth at Newton Corner Hospital, Middlesex, Massachusetts. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [6][7]
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G > Gilson | O > Osgood > Helen Louise (Gilson) Osgood
Categories: Chelsea, Massachusetts | Nurses, United States Civil War | Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett, Massachusetts