Helen, and her brother, John R. Dortch, spent their early childhood just outside Carnesville on their father's plantation. James S. Dortch was a brilliant lawyer, teacher, planter, and Civil War veteran (Co. B, First Regiment, Georgia State Line "Joe Brown Defenders"). He also owned and edited The Weekly Tribune in Carnesville. Her paternal grandfather, Newman R. Dortch, was a Civil War veteran, a private in Co. A, Fourth Battalion, Georgia Infantry, and farmed a large plantation in Franklin County. Her paternal g-grandfather, Lewis Dortch, was a Revolutionary war veteran granted bounty lands in Georgia. About 1806, he moved his family from Mecklenburg Co., Virginia to Franklin Co. Georgia. Helen attained her early education at local schools in Gainesville, Ga. and at Notre Dame Convent in Baltimore, Md. In 1884 at the age of 21, she became editress of her father's newspaper, The Weekly Tribune, and later, in 1894, became editress of the Milledgeville Chronicle newspaper in Milledgeville, Ga. In 1896 she was appointed to the position of assistant state librarian--reportedly the first woman in Georgia to hold a state office. Although she was expected to eventually assume the position of head librarian, she resigned her position to marry former Confederate General James Longstreet on September 8, 1897 in the Governor's mansion. The newlyweds honeymooned in Mexico as guests of Senora and President Porfirio Diaz of Mexico. Helen spent a little over six years of blissful marriage with James Longstreet. She was his constant companion until the moment of his death. In the ensuing years after his death, she spent much of her time and money defending and restoring his tarnished reputation. She served in several positions during the Spanish-American War and World War I. She was an avid environmentalist and led the fight to save Tallulah Falls, the "Niagara Falls" of the south, from encroaching utility and railroad companies. She worked as a riveter building B-29's at the Bell Aircraft Plant during WWII. She died on May 3, 1962, at the age of 99, the last surviving widow of a Corps Commander in the Civil War.