Preface

About the Authors

Donald Henry Strahle
Don, whose mother was a Helme, is descended from John Elmes through his great-grandson Christopher Helme, and through Christopher’s son Rouse and 2nd great-grandson, Oliver Helme of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and his second wife Sarah Pease. He worked for Ontario Hydro, the largest electrical utility in North America, where he ran their procurement quality assurance section, making sure that effective systems were in place to provide assurance that purchased products met technical requirements. He was a member of Canadian National Committees dealing with quality management, and represented Canada at international conferences developing standards for use world-wide. In 1989 he was elected a Fellow of the American Society for Quality. He retired in November 1993. The study of his family's genealogy is his retirement passion. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

June Bennett Helme
June is also descended from John Elmes through his great-grandson Christopher Helme, and through Christopher’s son Rouse and 2nd great-grandson, Oliver Helme of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and his second wife Sarah Pease. She graduated from Smith College in 1974, and the Columbia University School of Social Work in 1979. She has pursued her grandfather's hobby of genealogy since 1975. Her location of the graves of her Helme ancestors in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and Pawcatuck, Connecticut, were two of the most memorable moments in her field research. Her work was the key in triggering the sequence of events leading to this book and its predecessors. She lives in Scarsdale, New York

Dr. Charles Milton Helms
Chuck is descended from John Elmes through his great-grandson Christopher Helme, and through Christopher’s son Rouse and his 2nd great-grandson, Sands Helms of Franklin County, New York, and his wife Mary Sweet. A grandson of Edgar James Helms, the founder of Goodwill Industries, Chuck was born in Massachusetts, attended college and medical school in New York, and, after postgraduate training in Boston, Massachusetts and Bethesda, Maryland, emigrated with his family to the Midwest. A physician, he has been a professor at the University of Iowa College of Medicine for over 24 years and resides in Iowa City. In honor of his parent’s golden wedding anniversary he published The Ancestors and Descendants of William Sands Helms in 1984. Information contained that book is included in this document.

Background

In 1994, Don Strahle and June Helme exchanged correspondence regarding their common Helme family interests. They are 3rd cousins, descended from Powell Helme (son of Oliver Helme and Sarah Pease) and his wife Clarrissa Lampman of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. As a result, Don produced about 20 copies of a preliminary document incorporating their research, entitled “Some Descendants of Christopher Helme of Rhode Island.” This was circulated to a number of other Helme family members, including Chuck Helms. Interest began to grow, and it was decided to expand the coverage of the original document to include Dr. Helms’ data and that of a number of other subsequently identified Helme family members.

A first edition of “Some Descendants of Christopher Helme of Rhode Island” was published in November, 1998, and combined the information gathered by the authors on several thousand descendants of Christopher. The interest generated by that document triggered responses from a number of Christopher’s descendants, who graciously provided a wealth of additional information. As a result, a second edition was published in July, 2002. This was expanded even further with the publication in July, 2004 of “Some North American Descendants of John Elmes of Lincolnshire, England through his Great-Grandson, Christopher Helme of Rhode Island.” This is an updated version of that document. The most significant difference, triggered mainly by recent male line DNA studies, is the elimination of Thomas Helme of Long Island as a descendant of Christopher Helme (discussed later). Also included are over one thousand newly identified descendants of Christopher.

Acknowledgments

The authors are heavily indebted to the following people, most descended from John Elmes through his great-grandson Christopher Helme, who have provided much of the information contained in this document. In a number of cases, their contributions represent work carried out by their families over several generations. They are listed in alphabetical order. Their specific contributions are cited in footnotes in the text of this document. (The compiler apologies in advance to anyone inadvertently omitted from this list.)

Ackerman, Shirley (Cederburg) of Cedar Falls, Iowa
Afton, Corrine (Latta) of Benton, Kansas
Annear, Margaret Lerona McFarland of Modesto, California
Arenson, Leonard
Armstrong, Marion of Wyckoff, New Jersey
Ashbey, Bill of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Baldwin, Sharon of Midlothian, Illinois
Bell, David of Alburg, Vermont
Bethea, Judith L. of New Orleans, Louisiana
Browning, Margaret Helms of South Royalton, Vermont
Bruestle, Catherine Helme of Pennington, New Jersey
Carlisle, Clifford Dean of Shannon City, Iowa
Carroll, Carole Lee (Dixon) of York, Maine
Christiansen, Eunice of New Hartford, Iowa
Clark, Carol of Stow, Massachusetts
Cork, Beverley (Burren) of Elgin, Illinois
Cottrell, Richard G. of Jackson, Michigan
Crabtree, William of Falmouth, Massachusetts
Dallenbach, Kathleen (Helme) of Michigan
Danforth, Barbara of Litchfield, Maine
Eckert, Beryl (Burren) of Las Vegas, Nevada
Ellis, Christy Sue (Domaschofsky) of Oregon
Evert, Delores (Steinour) of Salisbury, Maryland
Fairbanks, Douglas of Sun Lakes, Arizona
Fink, Donna Lee (Helme) of Tigard, Oregon
Fossett, Carolyn of Corpus Christi, Texas
Fox, Peggy of Hillsboro, Texas
Fricke, George, of New Jersey
Garrahan, Molly of Sonora, California
Gault, Sylvia (Helms) of Kansas City, Missouri
Gifford, Paul of the University of Michigan
Gordon, Julie Helme of Highlands, New Jersey
Gordon, Ruth of Hillsboro, Oregon
Greenman, Peter Holden of Block Island, Rhode Island
Grimshaw, Susan (Helme) of Preston, England
Gumbrecht, Carol of Long Island, New York
Hanes, Nancy
Healy, Tom of Centennial, Colorado
Helm, Barbara (Ringsred) of Princeton, Minnesota
Helm, Dale Arthur of Fridley, Minnesota
Helm, John Edward of Carlsbad, California
Helm, Matthew.
Helme, Charles E. of Miami, Florida
Helme, James Buckelew of Nashville, Tennessee
Helme, Frank P. Jr. of Easton, Pennsylvania
Helme, Gavin, Sr. of Brightwood, Virginia
Helme, Gilbert of Seal Beach, California
Helme, Guy of Ft. Collins, Colorado
Helme, Jay Ely Jr. of Middletown, Rhode Island
Helme, Jay Ely of Cape Coral, Florida
Helme, Marianne (Wallace) of Chiefland, Florida
Helme, Randy of Overland Park, Kansas
Helme, Sally of Newport, Rhode Island
Helmes, Richard Paul, late of Latham, New York
Helms, Ira of Damascus, Maryland
Helms, Jack Harry of Sun City West, Arizona
Helms, James Michael
Helms, Sharlyn of St. Paul, Minnesota
Helms, Wesley of Toronto, Ontario
Hippen, Linda of Bismarck, North Dakota
Hoblit, Yvonne (Chester) of S. Sioux City, Nebraska
Hulstrand, Arley (Berwald) of Denton, Texas
Hungerford, Dorothy (Keefe) of Soquel, California
Jefferds, Fred
Joyce, Walter of Vero Beach, Florida
Kester, Bertha
Kosicki, Ann Davis of Plymouth, Pennsylvania
Lampshire, Cathy of Anaheim, California
Larson, Raelene of Oregon City, Oregon
Lenhardt, Gertrude C.
Lewis, Alice (Jeffords) of Little Hocking, Ohio
Lewis, Judy Starkey of Amarillo, Texas
Lockhart, Jane of Clinton, Iowa
Maguire, Debra of Lancaster, California
Malkin, William of Trenton, New Jersey.
Martineau, Alice Anne of Mountain View, California
Mayfield, Judith Douglas of Pearland, Texas
McClallen, Randall B. of Peoria, Illinois
McNamara, Grace (Chapman) of Massachusetts
Messenger, Anne of Boulder, Colorado
Morris, Elaine of Shelby Township, Michigan
Niles, Richard D. of Springfield, Missouri
Nowotarski, Stephen, of Massapequa Park, New York
O’Farrell, Lisa (Helme) of Old Greenwich, Connecticut
O’Leary, Michael Boyer of Somerville, Massachusetts
Orlando, Georgette (Joyce) of Wyoming, Pennsylvania
Oslund, Diane of Detroit, Michigan
Paulson, Betty Jane (Joyce) of Miami Shores, Florida
Peirce, Merle K. of Rhode Island
Perkins, George R. of Tallahassee, Florida
Philipp, Judy (Healy) of Nashville, Tennessee
Platt, John H. Jr., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Purves-Adams, Naomi of St. Paul Park, Minnesota
Reardon, (Nora) Jean (Evans) of Mercer, Pennsylvania
Redman, Barbara (Cherney) of Waverly, Iowa
Sapia, Joseph of Cranbury, New Jersey
Sauther, Christy (Smith)
Schunke, Marjorie W. of West Kingston, Rhode Island
Scott, Doris (Helme) of Muskegon, Michigan
Shaffer, James
Simpkins, Pat (Strahle) of Port St. Lucie, Florida
Stark, Jeannie Helms of Bailey, Colorado
Stark, Stephen Matthew
Strater, Terrance of South Carolina
Stratton, Allen L. of North Hero, Vermont
Swicegood, Julie (Joyce) of Vero Beach, Florida
Thompson, Carol Jo of Bozeman, Montana
Thompson, Nadine (Strahle) of Oak Park, Illinois
Travis, Carol (Perkins) of Chillicothe, Illinois
Turner, David Bruce of Backus, Minnesota
Vinski, Betty of Klondike, Texas
Waite, Anna (Carpenter) of Cassadaga, New York
Watson, Robert W. of Cromwell, Connecticut
White, Ruthe (Peterson) of Santa Monica, California
Williams, Anne (Houston) of Durham, North Carolina
Wright, William E.

Spelling of the Helme Surname

There are questions related to the spelling of the surname. Christopher Helme spelled it “Helme,” as is shown by his signature on “The Exeter Combination,” shown on page 17. However, his father in his will (page 9) spells the surname “Elme.” His father’s ancestors are, in turn, identified as “Elmes.” Christopher’s sons in Rhode Island are variously identified as “Helme” or “Helmes.”
Susan (Helme) Grimshaw of Lancashire, England has been researching English families with the Helme/Elme and similar spellings for a number of years. She feels that the explanation of the Helme/Elme spelling may not be complicated, as follows: One problem was that not everyone could read and write and they tended to write phonetically. The Monks were the best educated and knew how to spell Helme. Everyone educated by them could spell Helme. The problem came around the time of the Reformation (1529 onwards) when the Church of England took over and the majority of Catholic priests refused to embrace Protestantism. As a result, Vicars were hurriedly recruited to take their place, many of them totally uneducated and they couldn’t read or write. In the Gillingham registers, the same family name is spelt Helme and Elmes. It all depended on who was writing it down. For this reason we should try to treat Helme and Elmes as synonymous. In one Lancashire Helmes family, the name has been spelt Helm, Helme, Helmn, Helman, Elm and Ellam. The last spelling, Ellam was a surprise, but the person who filled out the death certificate must have been a Yorkshire man and that was the way he spelt it. The correct spelling of Helme appeared on the gravestone, although Helman appeared on one census. A Father Germanus Helme also has (Holmes) in brackets after his name. Catholic Church registers in Lancashire all say for Helme read Holmes and vice versa. This is because the person who transcribed the original hand writing couldn’t differentiate between an “e” and an old English “o.” However, the Hulme and Holmes spellings are not usually misunderstood as Helmes. In Lancashire dialect, people would pronounce Helme as “Elm” and Holmes as “Omes.” They leave the “h” out of everything.
The authors’ understanding of surname linguistic metamorphosis is not sufficient to understand why, in the North American generations following Christopher, the surname frequently undergoes changes in spelling, often within the same family. The reader is advised that when searching for a particular Helme, the four spelling variations contained in this book (Helm, Helme, Helmes, and Helms) should all be considered.

Other “Helms” Research

There is another family from which most of the “Helms” in the southern region of the United States are descended; that of the brothers George, Tilman and Jonathan Helms, which is described in “Helms Descendants, 1720-1991,” by Gerald C. Helms, Sara Myers, and William E. Helms, Jr. (A member of this group, Ira Helms of Damascus, Maryland, was instrumental in directing a number of descendants of Christopher to the compiler.) Work is being carried out in England on behalf of this group which may determine, among other things, if this family is connected back in that country to the family of Christopher Helme. (There is speculation that some early descendants of Christopher’s English cousins went to the West Indies, perhaps Barbados, where many Helmes appear in the records.)

Current DNA Studies

In October, 2005, Matthew Helm, a descendant of Georg Helm of Winchester, Virginia (not related to the line of Christopher Helme) initiated a DNA Testing Project, designed to help determine the extent of kinship among various Helm/Helms/Helme, etc. lines in North America. Since male yDNA is only passed from father to son, tests of a particular section of the yDNA of a male descendant in each such line can be compared and conclusions reached as to the possible relationships of the lines. As this is being written, three lines of interest in the context of this book are among those being tested: Christopher Helme of Rhode Island, Thomas Helme of Long Island, and Moses Helm of New Jersey.

The preliminary results indicate that the Christopher Helme participant results are compatible with a relationship to Christopher. However, contrary to assumptions used in earlier editions of this book, Thomas Helme of Long Island is not related to Christopher. The results also indicate, somewhat surprisingly, that Moses Helm of New Jersey and later, Virginia, is probably related to Christopher (or one of his male line ancestors). Moses was born circa 1710, probably in England. A compilation of his North American descendants are contained in a 488 page book entitled “Moses Helm,” by Bob Law and Clyde Smith, published in 1996. No other link between Christopher and Moses has yet been discovered.

Caveats

There are four things to keep in mind when using this document:

1. It does not pretend to be a complete listing of the North American descendants of John Elmes. (If his descendants each averaged about two or three descendants, there are well over a million or more alive today.) Although this document contains about 6,400 descendants, virtually all in North America, there are many Helme/Helmes/Helms listed in various documents reviewed by the authors who, given the timing and their locations, are undoubtedly his descendants, but whom we have not yet been able to tie into any of the families included here, all of whom are descendants of his great-grandson Christopher through his son Rouse. We have not yet identified descendants of Christopher’s three other sons, William, Samuel or Christopher. Additionally, there are many children in early Helme generations for whom no descendants have yet been identified by the authors. There are also a number of published genealogies which include individuals who married descendants of Christopher, and whose offspring are not included here. (It almost appears that all families in present-day New England which are descended from early settlers are now inter-related.) We welcome any additional information on Christopher’s descendants, which we could, perhaps (depending on our stamina), incorporate into yet another revision to this document.

2. Some of the connections made in this document, particularly several related to the appropriate assignment of individuals to a particular line, are based on educated speculation by various Helme researchers. These situations are noted in the text, along with the rationale behind them.

3. Most significant bits of information in this document are tied to a footnote. These notes identify the source of the information, and attempt, insofar as is possible, to give some indication of its reliability. However, given the nature of some of the sources used, such as “family information,” the reader is advised to exercise caution in accepting what is printed at face value. Unless the cited sources are well documented, what is printed here should be regarded as a starting point for the reader’s own research, rather than as a “definitive” fact. Additionally, the number of footnotes in early drafts of this document exceeded 10,000. In an effort to reduce that to a more manageable number, repetitive citations related to each specific event in a family’s life (birth, marriage, death, birth of children, etc.) have in many cases been eliminated where one citation related to that family will suffice (such as the marriage of the father and mother).

4. There is a school of thought that publishing a document such as this, with some of the data inadequately documented, will only perpetuate errors for years to come. However, what is the alternative? Continuing to seek out and verify information through primary sources? That task is impossible to complete in the lifetime of the authors. We felt that it is best to publish what we have, as it can serve as a guide for subsequent researchers, although we advise them to be cognizant of its limitations and careful in its use.

Technical Considerations

This document was compiled by Don Strahle, using a genealogical software program (The Master Genealogist™), the output of which was sent to a word processing program (Microsoft Word™) for final editing.

Don Strahle
Toronto, Canada
April, 2006