Helen Benson was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Sarah Thurber and George Benson, who raised her in a merchant and abolitionist family. Helen's father was a member of the
Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Her brothers Henry and George were also abolitionist activists. Her brother Henry helped to publicize William Garrison's newspaper
The Liberator starting in 1831, popularizing it in Rhode Island and deepening anti-slavery sentiments in the area; he later became secretary and general agent of the
Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. many years before he began advocating for including women as members in the Anti-Slavery Society. Just a week after the Garrisons' marriage, In running her household as such, she welcomed anti-slavery friends and colleagues, turning their house into an important networking site for progressive reformers. Helen Garrison gave birth to seven children, two daughters and five sons. The Garrisons had named their fourth son after
Charles Follen, the first professor of German at
Harvard University. According to her husband, Helen "never fully recovered" from the deaths of her children. In 1863, Helen suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of her body. This blow to her physical mobility led Helen to stop her activist work and to retire to the
Roxbury Highlands. William wrote that his wife's "last efforts were in behalf of the poor Southern freedmen, as she had devoted a considerable portion of [the day of her stroke] in soliciting aid for them". Helen Garrison died in 1876. Her funeral was conducted by Reverend
Samuel May. A crowd of high-profile leftist reformers attended, including Wendell Phillips and Lucy Stone. == Legacy ==