Almost A Case of Mistaken Identity

An Interesting Find

     In my  search endeavoring to find out more about Helen Crane’s music, I am not sure what combination of search terms rendered this result, but I came upon a Musical Monitor (1919) article detailing winners in the Federated Music Clubs composition contests for that year. They indicated that the prize for composition in the cello category was awarded to a Helen “Carver”. Accompanying this was an image of a young lady perhaps in her twenties, a rather stylized portrait, looking to be from perhaps 1890 based upon the dress.

     The article included a brief biographical sketch of the winner. She was born in lower Manhattan, in an enclave known as St. Mark’s Place. Other items mentioned were studies in Germany,  and a collection of her musical accomplishments: symphonic works and  string quartets. Also a  premiere at the 1904 St Louis Exposition. In addition they described this person as living (1919) in Scarsdale, NY.  The picture was lovely but too bad, this was Helen Carver and not Helen Crane.

image of Helen Carver is mistaken identity; it is actually Helen C. Crane

There must be a photo

Continued research on www.ancestry.com yielded tremendous finds relative to Helen Crane. Since these family histories are older than 70 years they are accessible to the public. Searching for Helen C. Crane’s I came across a Helen C. Crane in Scarsdale, NY in the early 1900s. All the members of the family readily emerged from census documentation. I was able to construct the entire family for Col. Alexander Crane, and with various family trees able to locate portraits for most of the siblings, Elizabeth, Aurelia, Caroline, Alexander, Jr. for Mrs. Crane, and for Col. Alexander Crane the father. but unfortunately there was no image for Helen.

Elizabeth, Helen's older sister and collaborater (poetess); familial resemblence helps to clear up mistaken identity in Musical Monitor article

Elizabeth Green Crane, Helen’s older sister

Caroline Crane, Helen's sister showing familial resemblance; helps to clear up mistaken identity of Helen's photo

Caroline E. Crane, her younger sister

Aurelia Blair Crane, Helen's 2nd younger sister; familial resemble aids in dispelling mistaken identity of Helen Crane vs. Helen Carver

Aurelia Blair Crane, her next younger sister

A Fantastic Lead

    In www.ancestry.com under Immigration and Naturalization I was able to check out trans-Atlantic crossings, ship’s passenger lists and other documents such as passports and visas. What I found was very interesting. For Helen C. Crane there were three passports listed: one for 1894, an emergency passport application in 1914,  and her last in 1921. The middle passport required an attestation of American citizenship and a declaration of “place of birth”. Helen in her own hand writing, matching her autograph on all her compositions listed “St. Mark’s Place, N.Y.” as a place of birth.  Also, she listed Scarsdale, NY as her permanent residence.

Helen Crane emergency passport auth. shows St. Marks Place as place of birth; helps clear mistaken identity

The Clincher

When I went forward to the last passport, at this time in history photos were now required, and here was a photo of Helen C. Crane, 1921. What I saw was a person, now much matured, with shorter cropped hair, but with the same features as the lady in the Musical Monitor portrait. It had to be her! How many Helen’s are there born in St. Mark’s Place, living in Scarsdale who wrote such a plethora of musical pieces?

final passport 1921 shows Helen's signature
1921 Passport reverse shows Helen's photo with signature; clears mistaken identity. The Music Monitor photo is in fact Helen Crane

As If That Wasn’t Enough

     My conviction was further reinforced with my visit to the New York Public Library. Pouring over the HCC materials, I came across a letter of request from the Library of Congress, dated 1940 addressed to Caroline E. Crane, Helen’s sister. In it the representative of the Library of Congress was asking for a copy of the 1919 winning cello piece, “Elegy” . This letter was followed up with a letter of receipt and a thank you from the Librarian.

A person might proffer that Helen may have married someone named “Carver”. No records have been found of a Helen C. Crane marrying a Carver, and she clearly continued composing as Helen C. Crane and was buried alongside her other family members with that last name Crane etched upon her stone.

     Who knows why the editors at The Musical Monitor erred on the name. I can only imagine there must have been a bit of screaming and “gnashing of teeth” in the Crane household on the date of that publication’s release. But suffice it to say, no correction shows up in any of my searches.

     One can only speculate on the effect that would have on the musical life of someone who had spent the bulk of their time in Europe, who was coming back to the United States because of war  and out of necessity for their own safety and security.

     We surely do in fact have an image of Helen C. Crane in the The Musical Monitor publication, and, at this moment in time, it is the only image available.  Thank God, we have her music.

     So with satisfaction I share these images and documentation which support this conclusion.

grave shows she died as Helen C. Crane