Ancestry of
Stephen King

Author of The Stand

Helen Alethea Bowden

View famous kin of Helen Alethea Bowden

• • Grandmother of Stephen King — 3rd Generation
  • Ahnentafel No:
  • 5 
  • Father:
  • William F. Bowden 
  • Mother:
  • Harriet R. "Hattie" Clear   
  • Birth Date:
  • 1 Feb 1897 
  • Birth Location:
  • Chili, Miami, Indiana 
  • Christening Date:
  •  
  • Christening Location:
  •  
  • Death Date:
  • 7 Mar 1968 
  • Death Location:
  • Wabash, Wabash Co., Indiana 
  • Burial Date:
  • 9 Mar 1968 
  • Burial Location:
  • Mount Hope Cemetery, Peru, Miami, Indiana 
  • Spouse Name:
  • William Edwin Pollock
  • Marriage Date:
  • 16 Apr 1913 
  • Marriage Location:
  • Peru, Miami, Indiana 
  • Children:
  
  

  Donald Edwin Pollock alias King (Ahnentafel No:2 )

  Betty L. Pollock

  • Notes: 

  • The widow Helen Pollock and her children are listed in the 1920 census among the household of Roderick M. and Iva R. Stewart. Although Helen is listed as a child of the Stewart's, this is clearly not the case as the true identity of her parents was listed on her marriage license to William Pollock. What her relationship to the Stewarts was is currently unclear. Perhaps they were just boarders staying with the Stewarts.

    Helen's tombstone indicates that she anglecized her last name from Szczepanski to Spanski before her death. Also her tombstone gives her birth year as 1898 while she gave 1897 on her marriage certificate for her first marriage to William Pollock. The 1900 census agrees with the 1897 date.

• Additional marriages for Helen Alethea Bowden

  ---

  • Spouse:
  • Victor Szczepanski
  • Marriage Date:
  • ABT 1923

• Sources for Helen Alethea Bowden

  • ¹ Federal Census, IN, Miami County, 1920, Peru Ward 5, E.D. 163, Sheet 2A, Image 3 of 19.
  • ² Federal Census, IL, Cook County, 1940, Chicago Ward 38, E.D. 103-2360, Sheet 16B, Image 32 of 36.
  • ³ Federal Census, IL, Cook County, 1930, Chicago Ward 15, E.D. 16-538, Sheet 20B, Image 37 of 48.
  • ⁴ Federal Census, IN, Miama County, 1910, Peru Ward 5, E.D. 133, Sheet 1A, Image 1 of 12.
  • ⁵ Federal Census, IN, Miami County, 1900, Peru, E.D. 107, Sheet 11B, Image 22 of 27.
  • ⁶ Gravestone image at FindAGrave.com, (accessed 09/05/2014).
  • ⁷ Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, Marriage record for William E. Pollock and Helen A. Bowden.
  • ⁸ Indiana, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1907-1944, Birth certificate for son Donald Edwin Pollock.
  • ⁹ Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, Death certificate for Helen Szczepanski.
  • ¹⁰ Logansport Pharos Tribune, 22 AUG 1947, p. 9, Obituary for mother Mrs. Hattie Bowden.
  • ¹¹ Logansport Press, 22 AUG 1947, p. 7, Obituary for mother Mrs. Hattie Bowden.
  • ¹² The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), 09 NOV 1980, p. 78, Obituary for son Donald E King.
  • ¹³ U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, Death record for Helen Szczepanski.
  • ¹⁴ Web: Indiana, U.S., Marion Public Library Death Index, 1812 - 2011, 08 MAR 1968, Marion Leader Tribune, Obituary for Helen Spanski.
  • ¹⁵ Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., Finding Your Roots, Season 2: The Official Companion to the PBS Series, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press (2016), 13-14.

Stephen King photo by Pinguino (CC BY 2.0)