Biography
Mary Ellen "Helen" Woodford was born 20 October 1896 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States to Michael Woodford (1865-1923) and Johanna O'Brien (1867-1937) and died 11 January 1929 Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States of unspecified causes. She married George Herman Ruth (1895-1948) 17 October 1914 in Saint Paul Catholic Church, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, United States. She married Edward Henry Kinder (1898-1939) August 1927 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Helen Woodford Ruth was the first wife of American baseball player Babe Ruth and the adoptive mother of his daughter Dorothy. Ruth died in a house fire in 1929, the circumstances of which sparked controversy at the time and, to an extent, remains so today.
Marriage to Babe Ruth
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Helen and Babe Ruth
Woodford, a native of South Boston, was sixteen when she met her future husband. According to Ruth, then nineteen, he met his future wife on the day he arrived in Boston on July 11, 1914, for his Major League debut with the Boston Red Sox. At the time, Helen was a waitress at Landers Coffee Shop, and Ruth said she served him when he had breakfast there.[1]
Ruth soon began to court Woodford and eventually proposed to her during a coffee shop visit a few months after their first meeting. Woodford accepted his proposal. Once the season concluded, Helen married Ruth on October 14, 1914, at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Ellicott City, Maryland.[2]
In 1916, they bought an eighty-acre farm out in Sudbury, Massachusetts, twenty miles west of Boston and now called Home Plate Farm. By that time, their marriage had begun to fall apart due to Ruth's infidelities.[3]
In 1921, the couple adopted a daughter, Dorothy (1921–1989).[lower-roman 1] Helen reportedly lost four pregnancies before they adopted their daughter.[5]
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Julia Ruth (1916-2019) | |||
| George Herman Ruth (1917-1917) | |||
| Dorothy Ruth (1921-1989) | |||
Siblings
Residences
See Also
- Mary Woodford
- Woodford Family
- Woodford in Suffolk County, Massachusetts
- Woodford in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
- Woodford in Howard County, Maryland
- Ruth in Howard County, Maryland
- wikipedia:en:Helen Woodford Ruth
- Mary Ellen Ruth, Geni.com, https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-Ellen-Ruth/6000000187392219842, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
- Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark, FindAGrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6674370/mary_ellen_ruth, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
- Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark, FamilySearch.org, https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/K8TQ-WMX, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
References
- ^ Castrovince, Anthony (July 10, 2014). "Remembering Ruth's big league debut 100 years ago". MLB.com. https://www.mlb.com/news/remembering-babe-ruth-s-major-league-debut-100-years-ago-c83874126.
- ^ Klingaman, Mike (June 6, 2019). "This Ellicott City church held Babe Ruth's wedding — and his marriage certificate is on display". Baltimore Sun. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2019/06/06/this-ellicott-city-church-held-babe-ruths-wedding-and-his-marriage-certificate-is-on-display/.
- ^ Template:Harvp
- ^ Thomas, Robert Jr. (June 12, 1988). "Mystery Of the Babe". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/12/sports/mystery-of-the-babe.html.
- ^ "Mystery Veiled Romance, Wedded Life of Ruths". Reading Times. Associated Press. January 15, 1929. https://www.newspapers.com/article/reading-times-reading-times-jan-15-babe/4491096/.
Footnotes (including sources)
MainTour
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