Helena was born in 1813. Helena's father was Johan Telning and her mother was Lena Jonasdotter. Her paternal grandparents were Nils Telning and Sara Broström. She had a brother and two sisters, named Jonas, Catharina and Sara. She was the second oldest of the four children. She had two half-brothers named Nils and Olof. She died at the age of 7 in 1820.