My great-grandfather, William Marcy HELM, was shot to death from ambush near Lisco (at that time Deuel County), NE, December 19, 1895. He would have been 36 if he had lived just one more day.

Will was born December 20, 1859, Albany, OR. His family lived in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA until about 1871, when they moved to Denton County, TX. He married Helen Almira PIERCE (dau of George A. and Ann Eliza [ALDRICH] PIERCE) in Box Butte County, NE, January 01, 1889.

Their children:

-William LeRoy (known as "Roy")
-Grace Avis
-Edith Winifred (known as "Winifred" or "Winnie")
-Georgiana
-Lida Fern

One author of Western Nebraska history called my great-grandfather "Texas Bill" HELM but, to my family, he has always been "Will." It is also possible that, when young, he went by his middle name, Marcy. That name appears first on the backs of the photos I have of him.

He is said to have been a crack shot and had a shoot-first-ask-questions-later kind of temperament that did not make him popular with his neighbors. He'd been tried and acquitted for shooting a man in Nebraska, and one contemporary newspaper report says he was rumored to have killed a man in Texas and may have used the name HUDSON for a time. I don't know whether this report had any factual basis or was just editorial speculation of the kind so popular in the 1890s press.

My father knew Will's younger brother, Lawrence Stern HELM, Jr., slightly. My grandmother always called him "Uncle Stern," so it is likely that he went by the name "Stern," rather than "Lawrence."

Will's widow, Helen, later married John ("Johnnie" or "Johnny") MARTIN, Jr., who ranched nearby, most likely after 1900. Their children (all of whom were known by their middle names) were:

•Vera Helen MARTIN
•John Arno MARTIN
•Charles Cecil MARTIN
•Thelma Rosemary MARTIN

My father always thought of Johnnie MARTIN as his grandfather, and called him "Grandpa Johnnie."

>>~~~~> I'm particularly interested in learning where Will HELM was and what he did between the time his family moved to Denton County, TX (Abt. 1871) and the time he married Helen PIERCE in Nebraska (1889). <~~~~<<


I'm always willing to share what I know about the HELMs. If you have reliable information about any individuals mentioned here, please e-mail me!
 William Marcy Helm
Updated September 19, 2008
*

S. Evey
hermitt@fastmail.fm


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Family Photos

  • Diagram - Ambush Scene (74 KB)
    Microfilm photocopy of diagram referred to in the "Chappell (Nebraska) Register" article (see link under "Related Files").
  • Wm. M. HELM, c. 1870 (abt. age 10) (26 KB)
    William Marcy HELM, taken in Santa Rosa, California, c. 1870. Verso reads: "Marcy Helm, L.S. & Amanda Helms son.... William Marcy Helm. E. KRAFT, PHOTOGRAPHER, 3d Street, over Farmers' Store, SANTA ROSA, SONOMA COUNTY, Cal. N.B. -- Negatives preserved from which copies may be had at any time." (Right. I wish.)
  • Lawrence Stern HELM, Jr. & Roe Hart HELM (56 KB)
    The only photo I've seen showing these 2 men together.
  • Wm. M. HELM & family, c. 1890 (48 KB)
    William Marcy HELM, wife Helen PIERCE HELM, and son Roy, c. 1890, Alliance, NE.
  • Helen PIERCE HELM (center rear) (41 KB)
    Helen PIERCE HELM (wife of Wm. M. HELM) and (probably) her brother (far right) with an unidentified girl and boy. (Could this be her cousin and girlhood friend, Mary Ellen Avery?)
  • Leroy HELM, son of Wm. M. HELM & Helen PIERCE (31 KB)
    Roy died in the 1918 flu epidemic. He had been in the U.S. Army. This was probably taken about 1907 (only a guess!).
  • Grace & Winifred HELM, Will's daughters (20 KB)
    Taken in Nebraska c. 1910. Grace is seated. Winifred was my grandmother.
  • Helen HELM PIERCE & Johnny MARTIN (28 KB)
    A few years after Will HELM's death, my ggm married Johnny MARTIN. This is said to be their wedding photo, taken c. 1901.
  • Lawrence Stern HELM, Jr. (35 KB)
    Lawrence Stern HELM, Jr. (right) was my ggf's younger brother. My grandfather & grandmother, Earle and Winifred HELM EVEY, are also in this picture (taken in Kyle, WY, c. 1940).
  • Roe Hart HELM, son of Lawrence Stern HELM, Jr. (28 KB)
    "Uncle Stern's" son, Roe Hart HELM, wife Ruth, and children (l-r) Bobby, Barbara, & Keith. Summer 1934.
  • Judge Stephen D. HALEY (40 KB)
    Father of Will HELM's mother, Amanda HALEY HELM.
 

Family Tree Maker Reports and Trees

 

Related Files

  • "Alliance (Nebraska) Times," 12/27/1895 5:2 (4 KB)
    "Another bloody tragedy...." Brief story of Will HELM's death, + my background note on the prior Jackett shooting, of which Will was acquitted.
  • George Helm (143 KB)
    Plain text Outline Descendants Tree
  • Shumway, HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA & ITS PEOPLE. (1 KB)
    Three paragraphs from the 1921 edition of this book, a nutshell version of William M. HELM's reputation and demise.
  • "Pioneer Grip" 12/27/1895 (1 KB)
    A brief report of the finding of William M. HELM's body, with a recap of his "career." (Thanks to the Alliance Public Library for providing the photocopy of this news clip, February 1988.)
  • Evergreen Cemetery, Garden Co., Nebraska (6 KB)
    While no HELMs are buried here, Helen MARTIN is Will Helm's wife, and John MARTIN her 2nd husband. All of the PIERCEs are her family, and all of the EVEYs are connected to Will HELM's daughter, my grandmother, Winifred HELM EVEY. Edith BRUCKER was married to an EVEY. TWIFORD and OUTSEN were the names of my grandmother's best girlhood friends. (This listing prepared by Earl Rook, rookswan@pioneerplanet.infi.net.)
  • "Chappell (Nebraska) Register" 12/26/1895 1:4 (12 KB)
    Detailed account of William M. Helm's murder and testimony from the coroner's inquest into the circumstances surrounding his death, as well as the coroner's findings. (Thanks to the late Paul D. Riley, a conscientious and caring Nebraska State Historical Society Research Associate in 1980, for the photocopy of this article.)
 
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