5.0 Other Countries

5.1 Ireland

Probably the majority of the early Colonial settlers from Ireland were actually Scotch-Irish, from the Northern part of Ireland, also known as Ulster (Antrim, Armaga, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Londonderry counties). Most of such families had lived there several generations in what was called the "Plantation", where England had forcibly installed Scots and English settlers in what had previously been Irish-held land, thus largely displacing the native Irish. They had been very successful in Ireland but the English ruined their principal export trade in Wool and Linen, and the land holders suddenly raised rents on the properties which they had built up by adverse laws. Thus, because of economic, political, and religious reasons, many came to America in the low to mid 1700's. Because of our focus on the time period of about 1650 to1750, we are not concerned here with the large number of native Irish who came much later in the so-called potato famine years. They were largely Catholic.

Because of the above, the majority were Presbyterians, in the early times. That group strongly favored settling in PA. There were some transplanted English.

We do not presently have a good handle on any Helm/Helme/Helms etc in that early bunch, but are working in it.

Intellectual Reserve, Inc has provided a synopsis of the 1880 US Census, from which a list of the Helm/Helms, etc who listed their origination place as being in Ireland have been abstracted.

The dates are later than the range of our fundamental search from about 1650 to 1750, when the North Carolina Helms were settled. However, the list shows that the stream of Helm/Helms. Etc. coming here from Ireland continued into the late 1800's.

The list is as follows:

Name Relationship Year Gender Race Birth Census
HELM, Mary Wife 1811 F W IREL PA
HELM, Ellen Wife 1825 F W IREL NY
HELME, Lawrence Self 1827 M W IREL NY
HELMS, Mary Wife 1838 F W IREL NYC
HELME, Christina Wife 1842 F W IREL NY
HELM, Julia Wife 1842 F W IREL MT
HELM, Anna Wife 1845 F W IREL PA
HELMES, Sarah Wife 1845 F W IREL IL
HELM, Catharine Wife 1850 F W IREL PA
HELM, Margeret Wife 1850 F W IREL PA
HELM, Barton Other 1852 M W IREL NY
HELM, Leslie Other 1855 M W IREL NY
HELM, Lester Other 1857 M W IREL NY
HELM, Fannie Wife 1860 F W IREL

IN 1880 United States Census - National Index Name Relationship Year Gender Race Birth Census 08/13/01 Copyright (c) 2000 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. (A similar list for England is available from the same source.) Because of the 1880 date, most of those in the earliest waves will have died by then.

5.2 Scotland

5.2.1 Borders

Descendants of Scottish HELMs
all dates are christenings

1 Scottish HELMs (Unknown parentage)
.........2 George
.........|...........3 Margaret 1632 - C: 1632 in Ashkirk
.........|...........3 James 1635 - C: 1635 in Ashkirk
.........|...........|..........4 son C: 1722 in Ashkirk
.........|...........3 William 1636 - C: 1636 in Ashkirk
.........|...........|..........4 John C: 1702 in Wilton
.........|...........|..........4 Son C: 1704 in Bowden
.........|...........|..........4 Robert C: 1722 in Hawick
.........|...........|..........4 Agnes C: 1727 in Hawick
.........|...........|..........4 George C: 1727 in Hawick
.........|...........3 Thomas 1647 - C: 1647 in Ashkirk
.........|...........|..........4 Mary C: 1710 in Bowden
.........|...........|..........4 Agnes C: 1704 Selkirk
.........|...........|..........4 Christian C: 1717 in Bowden
.........|...........3 John 1650 - C: 1650 in Ashkirk
.........|...........|..........4 Bessie (Eliz.) C: 1689 in Ashkirk
.........2 James
.........|...........3 George C: 1646 in Ashkirk
.........|...........3 Agnes C: 1651 in Ashkirk
.........2 Ronald
.........|...........3 James C: 1642 in Midlothian Co.
.........|...........3 George C: 1645 in Midlothian Co.
.........|...........3 James C: 1663 in Midlothian Co.
.........|...........3 Merian C: 1647 in Millothian
.........2 Unk
....................3 Henrie
.....................|.........4 Christian C: 1727 in Hawick
....................3 William
...............................4 Margaret C:1632 in Selkirk
There were some mothers shown, which are not listed.
Ashkirk, Bowden, Selkirk, and Wilton are all parishes in Roxburghshire.
Midlothian is the next co. up. The parish was Liberton.

The wives mentioned were: Broune, Boutcher,Butcher, Cash, Cass, Chatto, Cuthbertsone, Dicks, Douglas, Huggon, Purdie, ,Rennick, Riddell, Scot, Thompson, Ustoun. I can add those if need be.
My guess is that Cass=Cash, Boutcher-Butcher,
Ustoun=Houston, and Broune=Brown

Of these, Butcher might be tied to the Thomas Helme family of Barbados.

Files on hand relative to Scotland:
. <DIR> 05_0_01 10 _
HELMS~1 HTM 4,919 05_1_01 11
.. <DIR> 05_0_01 10 _
HEL_DALE GIF 534,689 03_2_01 3
ARCHIV~1 HTM 1,801 06_2_01 7 _
HENRY~1 HTM 1,861 05_0_01 12
ASHKIRK TXT 6,163 03_2_01 12 _
HOLMES~1 TXT 8,018 03_2_01 8
BARONY~1 TXT 8,346 03_2_01 8 _
JULIET~1 1,687 04_2_01 10
BRANXH~1 TXT 6,850 03_2_01 5 _
KERRCL~1 TXT 6,769 03_2_01 5
CASTLE~1 64,254 03_2_01 5 _
L_SCOT GIF 817,682 03_2_01 3
DATA 9,729 04_2_01 10 _
NAMES~1 HTM 3,433 05_1_01 11
DRUMMOND TXT 1,789 03_2_01 5 _
PATONS~1 HTM 4,252 05_0_01 2

Directory of E:\RECORDS\SCOTLAND _
RABYCA~1 RTF 781 03_2_01 6
FINCHER TXT 11,503 03_3_01 7 _
ROXBUR~1 GIF 856,138 04_2_01 12
GENUKI~1 <DIR> 05_0_01 10 _
SCOTLAND TXT 0 08_0_01 3
GENUKI~1 HTM 1,941 04_2_01 6 _
SOURCE~1 HTM 4,434 05_0_01 12
HAWICK GIF 401,451 03_2_01 3 _
SOURCE~2 HTM 2,528 05_0_01 1
HELMES~1 DOC 3,624 03_2_01 4 _
U_SCOT GIF 505,081 03_2_01 3
HELMS RTF 3,185 05_1_01 1 _

HELMSI~1 DOC 3,205 05_1_01 1 _
WEBSITES TXT 4,103 04_1_01 5

5.3 Wales

See the Nelmes write-up above

Because of the reported involvement of the NC Helms with the Welsh and because the Welsh who did organize wagon transfers of many settlers to Carolina, also promoted the formation of Baptist (and other) churches, and because the helms did form a Baptist church in NC, a trace has begun of the background and circumstances of the Welsh who settled here.
Americans from Wales, by Edward Greg Hartman has a long section on Welsh Baptists, he says,"Of the Baptist churches founded by the Welsh immigrants, the best known was unquestionably historic Pennypek Church, mother church of the Baptist Denomination in the middle colonies." It dates from 1683, when a group of Welsh arrived from Llanddewi, Radnorshire, and settled in Lower Dublin TWP (PA) (now the 23rd ward of northeast Philadelphia). The Pennypek church was founded in 1688. From it, the Iron Hill Church near Newark, DE was started in 1703, the Brandywine church in 1715, and the Philadelphia First Baptist Church in 1746. In all, seven Baptist Churches were founded in the Philadelphia area, plus the Piscattaway and Salem churches in NJ. John Helme/Holme was associated with that initial church. [John was later in Salem Co. NJ and I have become convinced his name was Holmes. His son founded Holmes, PA.] The Philadelphia Baptist Association was formed in 1707. The Iron Hill church itself became the mother church of eight new churches in DE and PA as well as being credited as the source of the SC Welsh Neck Baptist Church in a Welsh settlement in SC, which numbered some 500 people. The Iron Hill group had an interesting history as a "Church-emigrant" where an organized group from Pembrokeshire and Caermarthenshire came at one time in 1701. : "Initially, they settled at Lower Dublin with the Welsh in 1701, joined a larger group at Pennypek, but later moved to Iron Hill in the Delaware Welsh Tract, Pencader Hundred, where Wm Penn had granted 30,000 acres to three Welshmen, David Evans, Wm Davies, and Wm Willis in 1701." Radnorhire, Wales, was a County in Wales prior to 1974, when it was absorbed into a larger county, Powys. Pembrokeshire and Caermarthenshire are on the coast of Wales, (the part which juts out like a peninsular). Both have been absorbed into the current county of Dyfed. Searches in both of those places has begun. Note the Brandywine Church in PA, and the Piscataway, and Salem Baptist Churches in NJ. (Brandywine was awfully close to Capt. Israel Helm's place on the Brandywine Creek.) Records which were read in Philadelphia said that the Baptists in Wales were so mistreated that they met in the woods at night. It was by way of mentioning their habit of singing a cappella in the dark, without formal accompaniment, like with a piano. There may have been both a John Helmes and a John Holmes in this stew. The transcript of the Merion Baptist Meeting clearly had him as Helme and in parts as Helling. A John Helmes/Homes was a magistrate in PA and a John Helme/Holme was a Baptist minister later in Salem Co, NJ. He was not of Obediah Holmes, a Baptist Minister in NJ, who came there from Conn, as I recall. All of these were timely for us. The Lower Dublin church wrote to John and asked what his intentions were, as he had started to attend at Pennypek. So, I guess John may have been the initiator of the move to Pennypek, which incidentally met in the "Barbados Warehouse". The books say the Dublin Church failed - a better explanation is Hartman's idea that the people moved. They met at Pennypek with Presbyterians, sometimes, whichever minister was available. (They had "loaned" their minister to found the Phil. Church. In founding a new church, they detailed a portion of their own church membership to start-up the next one. In that way, they founded churches from there to the South, and back up-stream towards the North East. Some Welsh did the same for other denominations, even the Anglican churches. They strongly believed in the Church and in Education, as did the Presbyterians. Their church records would not have existed on account of the persecution. Maybe the extreme difficulty with the language, which is discussed next probably had something to do with.

We do have lists of some Welsh in SC, but no Helms.

PERSONAL NAMES IN WALES

Before record keeping began, most people only had a first name. As the population increased, people began adding descriptive information, such as John the smith, or John of Haws to a person's name to distinguish him or her from others with the same name. At first, a surname applied only to one person and not to the whole family.

Patronymic Names in Wales

In Wales, as in Sweden, Patronymic surnames are based on the father's given name. Generally, ap or ab was added between the child's name and the father's name. For example, David ab Owen is David son of Owen. There were many exceptions to this:

The family could drop the ab or ap. In this case, his name would have become simply David Owen.
The family could drop the a and attach the remaining p or b to the father's name. For example, David ab Owen could have been David Bowen.
For a woman's name, the word ferch or verch, meaning daughter of, was used.

In dealing with patronymic names, remember

The absence of ap or ab does not mean the family adopted a permanent surname. In South Wales particularly, patronymic surnames appeared without the ap or ab.

Different naming patterns were often used in the same family. For example, Harry John's six sons were named Griffith ap Harry, John Parry, Harry Griffith, Richard Parry, Miles ap Harry, and Thomas Parry. They might equally have used the surname John(s) or Jones.

An illegitimate child may have used the given or surname of the reputed father, the surname of the mother, or the given or surname of the family who raised the child.

Some families used patronymics after adopting a permanent surname. Never assume that a surname is a permanent surname.

The father's given name may be spelled differently as a surname even though it is pronounced the same (for example, Davies from David).

The name may have been anglicized.

Patronymic surnames changed with each generation.

A widow may have reverted to using her maiden surname.

Surnames also developed from the following sources:

Descriptive or Nickname. Surnames are sometimes based on a unique quality of a person. Occasionally this term was modified and accepted as a permanent surname. For example, Llwyd (meaning gray) was changed to Lloyd. Sometimes a descriptive term immediately followed the given name, such as Gwilym ap Fychan. (Fychan means small and often became Vaughan.)

Locality. Some surnames are based on the individual's birthplace or residence. Thomas Mostyn lived in Mostyn.

Occupational. Other surnames are based on the person's trade, such as Wil Saer (or Wily Saer), meaning Will the carpenter. Occupational names are sometimes modified. For example, Saer could take the permanent form of Sayer.

Adopting a Surname

Some families adopted permanent surnames much earlier than others. Generally, families lower on the social scale used the patronymic system longer than those higher up the social scale. Patronymics lingered the longest in the north and central-western counties. Most noble families adopted surnames by the sixteenth century. The gentry adopted them during the eighteenth century, while some farmers, tenant farmers, and workers did not take surnames until the nineteenth century or later. Generally, the patronymic naming pattern and the various naming customs were coming to an end by 1837, but later usage occurs and there has been a modern revival of the practice.

Any one of the following patterns were used when adopting a surname. The pattern used by one generation was not always used by the next generation.

Father's Given Name. Using the father's given name as the surname was the most common. Sometimes, the father's name was changed to serve as a surname. Iago son of Rhys could have been known as Iago Rees, Iago Prees, or Iago Price.

Father's Surname. Sometimes a son was given his father's surname. This is done today. Owen, the son of John Price, may have become Owen Price.

Grandfather's Given Name. Occasionally, a family adopted the grandfather's given name as a surname. For example, the surname of Thomas Pugh, son of Jasper ap Hugh is a form of his grandfather's name, Hugh.

Maternal Grandfather's Name. In some areas, the mother named her firstborn son after her own family, usually her father. Godfrey Prydderch married Ann Lloyd, daughter of Reece Lloyd. Their eldest son's surname is Lloyd.

Grandmother's Name. An individual's surname could be based on the grandmother's family name.
Rees Llewelyn married Gwenllian Lloyd. Their son, Griffith ab Rhys, named his son David Lloyd. David Lloyd's descendants kept the surname Lloyd.

Many pre_1800 church registers record the father's name in several different ways, one or more of which may be abbreviated. For example, "Jane Thomas, daughter of Thomas Dd. William James was baptized the 26th May 1732." Without further evidence, it is impossible to determine which name(s) the father used during his lifetime.

Welsh Pronunciation

The sounds produced by certain letters in the Welsh alphabet are often misinterpreted and spelled incorrectly. This is particularly true of Welsh sounds not used in English. For example, the sound made by a double 1 (ll) is formed by placing the tongue at the roof of the mouth and blowing air sharply out the side. The sound comes when using it in conjunction with other letters. Words with ll are often misspelled. For example, Slanvihangel should be Llanfihangel, and Thlangthovery should be Llanddovery.

The letter dd, which forms the soft th sound, also causes confusion. Pontypridd should be pronounced with pridd rhyming with the word breathe.

The following table lists Welsh letters and their sounds.

Letter Pronunciation

a Ah as in father.
b Same as English b
c K as in cat, never soft as in cease.
ch Like Scottish ch as in loch.
d Like English d.
dd Voiced th as in breathe.
e The sound as in breathe
f Like English v
ff Like English f
g Haed G as in get
ng Sound as in longer
h Like English h
i Long a as in meet
l Like English l
ll No English equiv. made bu having the tongue on the roof of the mouth and blowing
m Like English m
n Like English n
o Long o as in go
p Like English p
ph Like English f as in phone
r Trilled r
rh No English equiv. made by blowing and trilling r
s Soft as in sat, never as in advise
t Same as English t
th Unvoiced as in wreath
u Long a as in tea
w Oo as in broom
y Uh as in come; or long a as in family

Note: The letters j, k, q, v, and z are not used in Welsh.

Using a Welsh Dictionary

Mutations: In Welsh, the first letter of a word often changes or disappears. This is called mutation.

For example, teulu (family) can be deulu, nheulu, or theulu.

Mutated words are not in Welsh dictionaries, so use the following chart to change a mutated word back to its original form.

If the word
Begins Look Begins Look
with under with under
a g mh p
b p n d and g
ch c ng g
d t ngh c
dd d nh t
e g o g
f b and m ph p
g c r g and rh
h all vowels rh r (including w and y)
I g th t
1 g andll w g
m b y g

5.4 GERMANY

While not a part of our English collection this material,which refers to Germany, is also included.
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS IN THE CHURCHES AND CHURCHYARDS OF THE ISLAND OF BARBADOS, BRITISH WEST INDIES by Vere Langford Oliver, The Borgo Press San Bernadino, California/The Sidewinder Press, Glendale, California, MCMLXXXIX
Shows at least one person had a German/Irish background.
No 1036
In loving memory of _o_o_o_ E Eckel dau of Capt W Oneal Grey of Galway Ireland. Relict of Rev A E Eckel of Strasbourge, Alsace. Erected by her children. She died 6 May 1894 aged 82 yrs.
The Recot of St Lucy said that Captain Grey was related to the Earl of Stamford and that the Rev E A Eckel was a German. (At one point in time, Alsace was held by Germany.)

In 1642, John Helms came from Barltt, North Brabant to PA, probably, acc. to The Ketelhuyn Chronicles 1451-1899 and The Swartwout Chronicles 1338-1899. It is said that the Helms surname originated in Austria. Well, North Brabant was divided into a territory that later became an Austrian one, but even later it was part of the Netherlands. Therefore it is a possibility that John Helms was a German (Austrian).

Location:
North Brabant, (Dutch)
Noordbrabant province (1994 pop. 2,259,800), c.1,920 sq. mi (4,970 sq. km), S Netherlands, bordering on Belgium in the south and on Germany in the east. The capital is Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch); other cities include Tilburg,Eindhoven, and Breda. The province has fertile soil near the Maas (Meuse), which is its northern boundary, but elsewhere is comprised mainly of sandy heathland. Wheat and sugar beets are grown, cattle are raised, and dairying is pursued. Among the chief manufactures of the province are textiles, motor vehicles, electrical appliances, shoes, and pharmaceuticals. The history of the province was that of Brabant Brabant, duchy of until the late 16th cent., when the Dutch revolted against the harsh Spanish rule. As a result of the Spanish reconquest of the larger part of the duchy, Brabant was divided by the Peace of Westphalia (1648) between the Spanish (later Austrian) Netherlands and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. North Brabant, the smaller part occupied by the United Provinces, remained Catholic. It was administered by the United Provinces as a territory and was not granted a seat in the States-General. In 1795, North Brabant became a province of the Netherlands. During the 19th cent. certain heathland's were reclaimed and settled; after 1900, settlement subsided. Nearly 50% of the population has since become urban.
This information came from Sue Martinson, a member of our group.

We have nothing else on John Helms, 1642. However, note his origin from above <Barltt, North Brabant, Netherland>. That place exists in present-day Holland.

Now we also have the following on one Jan Helms now of Barlt in Holstein. See below.

Jan Helmsz(en) Jan Helmsz(en) (Jan de Bock) from Barlt in Holstein, arrived at New Amsterdam by "den Houttuyn" on August 4, 1642, and drew wages from August 13, 1642, in the colony of Rensselaerswyck. From about 1650 to 1658 he is charged with an annual rent of fl. 445 for a farm at BETHELEM, which he appears to have taken over from Jan Dirksz from Bremen. In 1651 he had on this farm six horses and seven cattle. On October 9, 1650, he acted as sponsor in New Amsterdam at the baptism of Arent, son of Barent Jacobsen. A letter of May 5, 1660 from Stuyvesant to Ensign Smith of Esopus, seems to refer to Jan Helms : "At the request of I .....Helms, made to us, we have given him permission to bring twenty or twenty-five schepels of bread from the Esopus." Ira, I had called this person to your attention before but this is the first time I had seen the reference to Bethlehem . And maybe the I..... doesn't refer to Jan but rather to I......like Issac ???? It looks like Esopus is a ship and a Helms is taking bread from a ship perhaps to sell at market. Could Jan have become John ? Sue.

The Barlt is too strong to ignore.

We have another German Helm, Jacob Helms, who we may already know about.
Here we have descendants from Jacob:
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, [KY], 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 shoemaker, 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. This is from Irene Helm