Helen Loring Barnes was born on June 15, 1887 in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Henry W. Barnes and Hannah Loring Barnes. She attended public schools in Plymouth, then went to Mount Holyoke College between 1905-1909 where she majored in Latin. After receiving a B.A. degree she returned to Plymouth and worked at the town's high school between 1909-1916 as a teacher of Latin, German and ancient history. On October 11, 1916 she married Edward Ralph Belcher, the President of Plymouth National Bank, and they had six children. She died in Plymouth at the age of ninety-two on May 10, 1979.