Helen Melvina [nee' Hand] was born on May 8, 1833 in Harpersfield Township, Ashtubula County, Ohio to Alvah and Margaret (Wheeler) Hand. 

By 1850, her family moved to Akron, Ohio where Alvah Hand practiced law. Between 1850 and 1855, the family moved to Portage, Wisconsin. 

Helen Melvina Hand married Alexander Stewart about 1858 and their first-born son was born in 1859 probably in Portage, Wisconsin. Helen and Alexander had 4 children, two of whom died in early childhood. Alexander Stewart died January 7, 1866 in Portage, WI possibly leaving Helen with two young children: Alexander Stewart, Jr. and James Alvah Stewart, neither of whom seemed to have remained with Helen and were possibly sent to family to live. 

Helen probably migrated to Yankton, Dakota Territory with her brothers shortly after her husband died. Her mother, widowed on May 26, 1863, probably also accompanied many of her sons to Yankton. 

On October 8,1869, Helen gave birth to Franklin Alvah Meyer. There is no evidence that Helen and his father Carl P. Meyer were married. About 1884, Helen married William John Blake, a pioneer of Turner County and friend of her brother James A. Hand attorney, in Parker, Dakota Territory. 

William and Helen Blake lived near and in Parker until sometime after the 1900 census when they moved to Hennessey, Oklahoma. John and Eliza (Blake) Overton, William Blake's sister and brother-in-law also moved to Hennessey. Joining them there was Lucius Eli Blake, William and Eliza's younger brother. 

William Blake died in Hennessey on Dec. 30, 1905 and his body was sent back to Parker, SD for burial. After his death, Helen returned to Parker, where she passed away on January 24, 1908. She was laid to rest in the Overton lot in Rosehill Cemetery in Parker, SD.

**Footnote by Submitter:  I was reviewing some old letters [saved from my earlier research] and found that the Helen Blake buried in the Overton family lot IS Helen Hand Blake. This is per a letter I got over 30 years ago from the Register of Deeds office at the Courthouse in Parker, SD. --Buried Rose Hill Cemetery, Parker, SD.**