Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 3rd ed., 1886. Barren County. WILLIAM F. HELMS, son of John F. and Dartha M.(Thornburge) Helms, was born June 29, 1845, in Newton, N. C., and is the eldest of a family of three sons and four daughters. John F. Helms is by trade a blacksmith. He was born in North Carolina and immigrated in the fall of 1851 to Barren County, where he rented land for four or five years; he then purchased 140 acres, and is at present engaged in farming. He is a member of the Christian Church. His father, Jacob Helms, was born and reared in North Carolina; he was a soldier in the Revolution, also in the war of 1812, and fought in the battle of New Orleans. He was of German origin, and married Mary Whetstine, a native of England. The parents of Mrs. Dartha M. Helms, Leonard and Dorthea (Buel) Thornburge, were born and reared in North Carolina; the father was a shoe-maker, and emigrated to east Tennessee in 1854. William F. Helms was reared on a farm, and remained with his parents until the age of twenty-three. June 9, 1869, he married Nancy E. Thomerson, a daughter of James W. and Sarah Jane (Britt) Thomerson. After marriage, Mr. Helms located where he now resides, on seventy-five acres of land on Peters Creek, which he has cleared and improved, and also has an interest in a general store at Honey Cut. In politics he is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Seymour. He and his wife are the parents of two children: James Franklin and William Christian, and are members of the Christian Church. Helms Britt Buel Thomerson Thornburge Whetstine = TN NC England Germany http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/barren/helms.wf.txt