Early Life
In 1780 Helm's grandfather, Thomas Helm, emigrated to Kentucky from Prince William County, Virginia and founded the settlement of Helm Station near Elizabethtown, Kentucky in Hardin County, where John L. Helm was born on July 4, 1802. He was the eldest of nine children born to George B. Helm, a farmer and politician, and Rebecca LaRue Helm, a descendant of a prominent local pioneer family.
Helm attended the area's public schools and studied with noted educator Duff Green. When Helm was 14 his father fell on hard financial times and Helm returned to work on the family farm. In 1818 he took a better-paying job in the office of Samuel Haycraft, the circuit court clerk of Hardin County. While there he read law with Haycraft, then entered the law office of Ben Tobin in 1821.
At about this time Helm's father traveled to Texas to enter into business and rebuild his finances, but he died there in 1822, leaving Helm responsible for his mother and siblings. He was admitted to the bar in 1823, the same year Meade County, Kentucky was formed. There were no lawyers in the county yet, so although Helm continued living in Hardin County he was made Meade's county attorney. His practice grew rapidly and he was soon able to pay off his father's debts and purchase the Helm homestead. Between 1832 and 1840 he built "Helm Place" on this land and it remained his home for the rest of his life.
In 1823 Helm called on Representative Benjamin Hardin. While Hardin and Helm discussed business, Hardin's 14-year-old daughter, Lucinda, entered the room to show her father a map she had drawn. Helm later claimed it was love at first sight, and began to pursue Lucinda's affections. They courted for seven years, married in 1830 and had six daughters and five sons together. One of his sons, Benjamin Hardin Helm, was a Confederate general in the Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga.
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“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
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