Helen Frances Shinnick

Genealogist

Helen Frances Shinnick (genealogist, poet) was born at 14 North Federal Street in Lynn Massachusetts on August 30, 1908. She attended Lynn schools graduating from Lynn English High with the class of 1927. She was employed at the New England Electric Company for more than 25 years until her retirement in 1971. During her working years she volunteered at the Red Cross chapter in Lynn. Her petite four foot ten inch frame was enlarged mightily by a perky disposition. Friends will remember the way she bopped around town doing God's work in her Metropolitan, a car not much bigger than a Volkswagen Beetle. The floor pedals of which had to have four inch blocks added so that she could reach them. Her poems, usually written to celebrate family events were sometimes written for an obscure acquaintance just to let him/her know someone appreciated his/her good work. In her retirement years she suffered greatly with rheumatoid arthritis. Helen began her genealogy study in June 1961. Starting with the " Shinnick, Bansfield, Fitzgerald Families 1809-1965" work where she felt the most information could be gleaned from living relatives. Later in 1968 she embarked on the " Shinnick Family Genealogy 1830-1970" book. In her later years she often expressed a wish that someone, in a future generation , would carry on with what she had begun. Helen passed away on May 10, 1988 at the Jesmond Nursing Home in Nahant, Mass.