Susannah Presley, eldest daughter of Thomas Presley and the lady Culpepper:

Susannah Presley was born ca. 1754. She married John "Blackhead" Helms b. 1756 in 1785 in Anson County, NC. (source: Anson County, NC - County Index to NC Marriages Database - Part 1 Anson County, NC,County Index to the North Carolina Marriages Database) John was the eldest son of George Helms, Sr. and Mary Margaret Faulkenburg (i.e. Falconbury, Fortenberry)

The children of Susannah Presley and John "Blackhead" Helms are:
(bold print denotes line of Barbara Lee Rowe)

1. Anna HELMS b: 1774 in Anson County, North Carolina
2. John HELMS b: 1781 in Anson County, North Carolina
3. Joel HELMS b: 1783 in Anson County, North Carolina
4. Susannah HELMS b: 1787 in Anson County, North Carolina

Joel Helms was born in Anson County, North Carolina ca. 1783. He married
Sarah (Sary) Hargett, b. 1785 in Anson County, NC, daughter of Henry Hargett, Jr. and Anna Charity Broom, before 1808 in NC. We have documents to state the Sarah was the daughter of Henry, but we do not have a marriage bond or note for Joel Helms and Sarah Hargett. Sarah would have either divorced or died before 1833. It may be that she died in childbirth as her last child is born in 1829.

The mystery of which Henderson Helms is which son of which Joel is clearly validated with the birth of Henderson Helms born in 1810, according to the 1850 census where he is listed as 40 years old. This Henderson Helms is the oldest of three cousins named Henderson Helms. According to the 1820 census for Anson County, NC, Joel Helms is listed with two sons 10 years and under. That would be Henderson Helms, born in 1810, and John Helms, born in 1811.


Joel and sons are found to be in Barbour County, AL, by 1833, Joel in several instances before he relocates to GA is particularly referenced as a "bondsman" here. Before going to AL, on 13 October 1833, Joel Helms married Mary McGuirt in NC. The bondsman was David McGuirt. The witness is Henderson Helms. On 12 Nov. 1833, in Barbour County, AL, Joel is bondsman for David McGuirt who married Rebecca Winchester. The witness was Henderson Helms. On 7 Jan. 1834, Joel witnesses the wedding of his son, John Helms in his marriage to Holly Chaney. Bondsman is Jackson Chaney. Joel and Marry relocate to Pike County, GA where they reside until Joel's death in Spalding County sometime between 1847 and 1849. Joel's last children, Maranda and Mirinda Helms, were twins born in 1847. According to the 1860 census in Spalding County, GA, Mary Helms is 43 years old living in the Line Creek district, Erin, with her children: Lucena, 18; Isaac J., 17, and Marinda and Maranda, 13.(source: Mecklenburg County, NC Marriage Bonds before 1900-transcript, US and International Marriage Records 1741-1868, 1820, 1850, and 1860 census records) Isaac James Helms went on to marry Adeline Dingler. He served in the CSA in a Georgia infantry unit. Afterward, he became relocated with his family to Cullman County, Alabama, and became a Baptist preacher. He died 25 May 1920 and is buried in AL. His sister, Maranda Helms, had also married a Dingler. She passed away at 34 years of age from flux and is buried in GA. Both Joel (J.J.) Helms, age 65, and wife, Mary, age 61, are buried in Riverdale Cemetery in Columbus, GA, not far from the AL border. They are buried amid members of the McGuirt family. (The death certificate at top is for Joel Henderson Helms, grandson of Joel Helms and Sary Hargett, through their youngest son, William Madison Helms. W.M. Helms would have been 67 years old at the birth of Joel Henderson Helms, which was not unheard of in this family. His wife and mother of the boy was Mariam Darcus Green. This was William's second marriage, his first wife was named Susan. Click on photo to enlarge)

The children of Joel Helms and Sarah Hargett were:


1. Lucinda HELMS b. ca. 1809 in Anson County, NC
2. Henderson HELMS b. 1810 in Mecklenburg County, NC
3. John HELMS b. 22 FEB 1811 in Mecklenburg County, NC **
4. Clarinda HELMS b. ca. 1812 in Anson County, NC. Clarinda married
Strickland Hargett on 1 August 1833 in NC.
5. Eunice Amelia HELMS b. MAR 1813 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
6. Anne HELMS b. ca. 1815 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
7. Henry Michael HELMS b. 23 FEB 1821 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
8. Rachel HELMS b. 1823 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina ***
9. Michael HELMS b. 1825 in North Carolina
10.Susan Huldah HELMS b. ca. 1827
11.William Levi Madison HELMS b. 4 AUG 1829 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

NOTES: **John Helms information taken from his family Bible and the following sources: record from Rev. John Helms Bible, Mrs. B. Helms, owner, Louisville, AL, obtained from John P. Johnson of Brundige, Ala. Names and dates verified by search of Barbour County, Ala. census: pg. 150, #622-1850, #373-1860, #381-1870, pg. #315-1880. Sara Myers and Jan Patterson.

"John Helms was born in 1811 and died in 1891. He was married to Holly Chaney in Mecklenburg County, NC on Jan 7, 1834. John's father was Joel Helms, a son of John "Blackhead" Helms, a son of old George Helms. John was often referred to as John "Chaney" Helms to distinguish him from the other Johns in the family. Holly Chaney, John's wife, was an only child of John and Milbra Chaney, who moved to Alabama with the Helms. Joel, John's father, started to Alabama with the others, along with his second wife and children. However, they stopped and settled in Pike County, Georgia. Holly died Nov. 19, 1883 and is buried in the Helms Family Cemetery in Blue Springs, Alabama. There are many graves in the cemetery, some not marked. After Holly's death, John Married Mary Jane Phillips, a sister of Dorcas Phillips, the wife of Jacob Samuel Helms, a son of John. No children were born to this union. 'THE HELMS FAMILY IN SOUTH ALABAMA,' Lavinia Helms." According to the 1870 census aforestated in source material, in Rev. John Helms household is living also his sister, Rachel,*** which confirms that she is also a daughter of Joel and Sarah.


Henderson Helms b. 1810 in Mecklenburg County, NC, was a farmer by trade and lived in NC until 1831 when many of the Helms folks joined a wagon train and headed for Alabama, where they ended up in Barbour County: Blue Springs, Euphala, and Clayton. This was the same year that a large portion of the Hargett family also left NC for Alabama. The wagon train must have included many different families from NC. When the War Between States broke out in 1861, Henderson Helms was 51 years old and had joined the Alabama State guards in what was known as the 4th Regiment Senior Reserves. Henderson remained in Barbour County, dying there in 1880. Henderson married Abigail Crowell, b. 19 January 1814 in Mecklenburg Co., NC, on 22 JAN 1834 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. She had been married before to Israel Helms, a cousin of Henderson who had passed away. Abigail had one child from that marriage, Alcy Elizabeth Helms. The photo at left is the obituary of Lafayette Israel "Drew" Helms, son of Henderson and Abigail Helms. Click to enlarge)

The children of Henderson Helms and Abigail Crowell were:

1. Emily J. HELMS b. 8 DEC 1835 in Union County, North Carolina
2. Josiah Franklin HELMS b: 21 SEP 1836 in Anson County, North Carolina
3. Sarah Catherine HELMS b. 1840 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
Sarah married Josiah Wentz, son of John Wentz, Revolutionary War patriot.
4. Lafayette Israel "Drew" HELMS b: 26 DEC 1842 in Barbour County, Alabama - CSA
m. Julia Johnson, AL
5. Cyrus Newton Secrest HELMS b: 27 DEC 1844 in Barbour County, Alabama
6. Elias John Wilson HELMS b: ca. 1847 in Barbour County, Alabama
7. Gilbert Washington HELMS b: 1849 in Barbour County, Alabama
8. Rebecca J. HELMS b: 1853 in Muscogee County, Georgia
9. George D. HELMS b: 1857 in Muscogee County, Georgia m. Julia, AL
10. John Wade HELMS b: 1860 in Barbour County, Alabama
11. Frances Harriett HELMS b: ABT. 1862 in Barbour County, Alabama

(sources confirming names taken from 1850, 1880 Goose Creek, Union County, NC, census and 1870 and 1880 Barbour County, AL, census. Sources also taken from Rowe/Winchester family Bible, death and marriage certificates, and scrapbook of Emily J. Helms Winchester.)

NOTES: Henderson Helms and wife, Abigail, had gone to Georgia for a period of about three years between 1853 and 1856. Two of his children were born there. Perhaps he had gone to take up some responsibility brought on by the earlier death of his father, Joel (before 1850.) Henderson would have had younger brothers and sisters. Henderson and Abigail's eldest daughter, Emily, married in GA in 1854, probably because that is where the family was at that time.


Emily J. Helms married Samuel A. Winchester* 25 July 1854 in Dougherty County, GA. (source: Dougherty Co. GA, marriage bonds) Samuel was born in May, 1823, in Mecklenburg County, NC, the
son of William D. Winchester and Mary "Polly" Wolfe. (source: obituary from Clayton Courier found in Emily's scrapbook. Samuel and Emily had moved back to Jackson, Union County, NC after 1881. Samuel
died and was buried 23 June 1888 in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte. Emily went to live with her youngest son, John E. Winchester, in whose home she passed away on 17 August 1912 from "neuralgia of the heart." (sources: 1870, 1880, NC,AL census, Emily Helms family book; family Bible)

Photo at left is of John E. Winchester, son of Emily and Samuel, and wife, Laura Eva Wentz.



Children of Emily J. Helms and Samuel A. Winchester were:

1. William Ruffin Winchester b. 1856, Union County, NC and died 1881, Clayton, Barbour County, AL
2. Sarah D. Winchester, called "Josie" b.1859, Barbour County, AL. Sarah married ? Wolfe.
3. Georgianne Winchester, called "Ann," b 1861, in Barbour County, AL. Ann married ? Rogers and moved to SC.
4. Mary Josephine Winchester b. 1863 in Barbour County, AL. Died young.
4. John E. Winchester b. 1868, Barbour County, AL and died 13 March 1923 in Tampa, Fla. John E. Winchester married Laura Eva Wentz in Union County, NC.
5. Thomas Winchester b.1872 in Barbour County, AL. Possibly died young.

Children of John E. Winchester and Laura Eva Wentz were:

Charlton Whitfield Winchester m. Lizzie Gillis - descendants LIVING
John Eva Winchester m. Clarence Myers - descendants LIVING
Blanche Lorene Winchester m. Charles W. Rowe; m. Oren Harvey


The photo at left is of Blanche Lorene Winchester and Rev. Charles W. Rowe, a travelling minister. Blanche was Charles' second wife and twenty-five years his junior when they were married in 1929 in Webster Parish, LA. They are holding firstborn son, Charles E. Rowe, born in LA. Rev. Rowe died in 1937 and is buried in Texarkana, TX. You can see the look of Native American in Blanche, explained by her descent from the Keziah Tuscarora family. Blanche was born in 1901 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Rev. Rowe in Walton County, Georgia. The ancestors of Rev. Charles Rowe intermarried into the Hood, Edwards, and Mansell lines.






Children of Blanche Winchester and Charles W. Rowe** are:

Charles E. Rowe -dec'd,
William Harrison Rowe - dec'd, m. Annette Cecelia Barbara 31 Oct. 1954. Dec'd
Eleanor Rowe (married name unpublished)
Franklin Rowe - Dec'd at 13 years of age
Frances Harvey

Children of WILLIAM HARRISON ROWE and Annette C. Barbara are:

Barbara Lee Rowe LIVING

Gary William Rowe LIVING


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