John Larue Helm was an American politician and statesman. He was president of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from 1854 to 1860, one of the most important lines in the S.
Background
John Larue Helm was born on July 4, 180, 2 near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, United States, on the old Helm place, formerly Helm Station, founded on the Kentucky frontier in 1781 by his grandfather, Thomas Helm, an emigrant from Prince William County, Virginia. This estate was Helm’s home throughout his life.
Education
In his teens John Helm began the reading of law. His first tutor was the venerable Samuel Haycraft. In 1821 he entered the law office of Ben Tobin of Elizabethtown, and after two years was admitted to the bar.
Career
Early disclosing a mind above the average, John Helm attracted the attention of Duff Green, at that time a partner of one of his uncles, who took a great interest in the boy’s career and education. In his teens he went to work in the office of the clerk of the circuit court. He soon acquired a large practice, owing in part to his ability, in part to his many well-connected relatives, but especially to the hopelessly tangled condition of Kentucky land lines which gave rise to almost as many civil suits as there were acres of land and to a large number of trials for homicide.
At the age of twenty-two, he was made county attorney, and two years later, in 1826, his friends and relatives sent him to the state legislature. Here he served with one or two interruptions for eleven years, rising to a position of leadership in state politics and being chosen speaker of the House several times in succession. In 1844 he was elected to the state Senate, where he served until 1848. Throughout his legislative career he stood boldly for the Clay program on tariff, internal improvements, and the national bank. In the exciting presidential year of 1848, when the country was about to "divide upon the Wilmot Proviso, Helm was elected lieutenant-governor on the Whig ticket, with John Jordan Crittenden.
After Crittenden resigned in 1840 to enter Fillmore’s cabinet, Helm served out his term, extending through 1851, and proved himself a strong governor. In 1853 he was a presidential elector on the Scott ticket. This ended his political career for twelve years. In 1860 Helm openly denounced the election of Lincoln and in the critical time that followed strove at first to preserve Kentucky's neutrality, hoping eventually to have her join the South. During the war Helm was subjected to much inconvenience as a Confederate sympathizer, and one of his sons, Ben Hardin Helm, a general in the Confederate army, was killed at Chickamauga. In 1860 Helm openly denounced the election of Lincoln and in the critical time that followed strove at first to preserve Kentucky's neutrality, hoping eventually to have her join the South. During the war he was subjected to much inconvenience as a Confederate sympathizer, and one of his sons, Ben Hardin Helm, a general in the Confederate army, was killed at Chickamau- ga.
When the war had ended Helm reentered politics as a Democrat. He was elected to the state Senate in 1865 and as chairman of the committee on federal relations led a successful fight for the removal of all restrictive and punitive laws against ex-Confederates. As soon as he had accomplished this task he became a candidate for the governorship, and in the memorable election of 1867, when nearly every mayor and alderman, almost all the state legislature, the nine congressmen, and two federal senators went Democratic, he was elected by a clear majority of 43, 000 over his combined radical and conservative opponents. He did not long survive his victory, however. He took the oath of office at his home on Sept. 3 and died five days later, before assuming his official duties.
Achievements
Politics
John Helm was a member of the Whig party before 1865, then of the Democratic party.
Connections
In 1830 John Helm married Lucinda Barbour Hardin, daughter of Ben Hardin, the noted frontier lawyer. They upheld the family tradition by rearing twelve children.