Do you know any information about Helen Keller's family?

Question

Did she ever get married or have kids? I have to pretend I'm doing the eulogy at her funeral and can't figure out if she had any surviving relatives at the time of her death. Can anyone help me, or direct me to a good site?

I'm pretty sure she never had kids or got married, but is there any way for me to figure out is she had any nieces or nephews/aunts or uncles who might have attended her funeral?

Answer 1

This is all I know about her. She had two half brothers, a sister and a dog. Miss Keller, then 36, fell in love with Peter Fagan, a 29-year-old Socialist and newspaperman who was her temporary secretary. The couple took out a marriage license, intending a secret wedding. But a Boston reporter found out about the license, and his witless article on the romance horrified the stern Mrs. Keller, who ordered Mr. Fagan out of the house and broke up the love affair.

"The love which had come, unseen and unexpected, departed with tempest on his wings," Miss Keller wrote in sadness, adding that the love remained with her as "a little island of joy surrounded by dark waters."

For years her spinsterhood was a chief disappointment. "If I could see," she said bitterly, "I would marry first of all."

With Miss Sullivan's death in 1936, Miss Keller and Miss Thomson moved from New York to Westport, Conn., Miss Keller's home for the rest of her life. At Westport she made friends with its artists (Jo Davidson executed a sculpture of her) and its writers (Van Wyck Brooks wrote a biographical sketch).

With Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, Miss Keller and Miss Thomson toured France and Italy in 1950, where Miss Keller saw great sculptures with her fingers under Mr. Davidson's tutelage. "What a privilege it has been," Mrs. Davidson remarked to a friend, "to live with Helen and Polly. Every day Helen delights us more and more -- her noble simplicity, her ability to drink in the feel of things, and that spring of joyousness that bubbles up to the surface at the slightest pressure."

Answer 2

Helen Keller Relatives

Answer 3

Helen Keller was helpful and instrumental in many different ways. Comment on the following: 1) Her life as a visually impaired child up to an adult. What were her problems? What worked for her? 2) Her years as a mentor for other people with problems similar to hers.

Answer 4

I just googled "Helen Keller relatives" and came up with lots of sites. I quickly glanced over one that mentioned a great-nephew who was 25 at the time of her death. He was Helen's sister's grandson. Check out some of the sites and I'm sure you'll have your info. Good Luck on this project- Hellen Keller was one of my favorite people to read about when I was in school- and she was actually still alive then!