Individual Details

Birth

There are three conflicting accounts of his birthplace:
1) Vinna(Mrs. Russell) Helstern's remembrances indicate that he "was born in Bavaria" and "was an orphan" when he arrived in Cincinnati Ohio where he supported himself in the meat packing plants. When or where orphaned -- or names of his parents -- are unknown.
2) James Helstern and Charlotte (Helstern) Paugh indicate that within Harold Helstern's family the tradition was that "Some of his family had a big bakery in Johnstown PA. He left his family in Pennsylvania, because he was so difficult and unmanageable, and moved to Ohio. He was from the Johnstown area and all the records of his family were destroyed in the flood."
"Our grandfather [was reported to have had] a brother of his used to live in Hazard KY and he was a painter... A man by the name of Helstern in Louisville KY, indicated to me that he thought that it was his father that used to come to Trotwood OH every so often to see relatives. But this guy was very closed-mouthed."
3) The 1880 census and the 1900 census of Madison Township, Montgomery County, Ohio indicate his birthplace as "Ohio." Birthplace of his parents is listed as "Bavaria" in 1880 and "Germany" in 1900.

Helstern family research, August 2014
For 20 years, off and on, I have been trying to find information about our great-grandfather John Helstern (1846-1932).  I've been especially curious, as many of the family have been, about his parents and the situation of his birth.  I have relied heavily on Ancestry.com, a genealogy search computer software that is very comprehensive in connecting the user to official records, such as census reports, city directories, voter lists, wills filed, cemetery records, death records, etc. 
Ancestry.com also includes "Public Family Trees" where the user can search for an ancestor who might be included in someone else's family tree. There is posted there a "McDowell Family Tree" which purports to give information about John Helstern and his parents (father John Hellstern, born in Germany1820-?, and mother Reatha Hellstern, born abt. 1829 in Germany, unknown death date.) 
I used that as my starting data for my search.  I have located them both in official records, John in German baptismal records and Cincinnati City directories, and Reatha on a ship's passenger list. However, I can find no documented connection between either of those persons and our great-grandfather John Helstern.
Since our summer travel schedule had to change, it allowed us 2 weeks of uncommitted time.  Bruce suggested we go to Cincinnati and research great-grandfather John in their record archives.  So we did, and we have been here 5 days now.  I have spent over 12 hours researching in the Public Library and the Cincinnati Historical Library.  I have reviewed city directories, baptismal records (unfortunately, the archives of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati are closed to the public!), marriage records, death records, records of land holdings, wills probated, several histories of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, military records, cemetery records, and I can find no trace of any of the Hellstern/Helstern folks mentioned above.  In fact, the name was quite uncommon in the Cincinnati area until about the 1860s. To complicate my search, I have found at least 6 alternate spellings of our family name in addition to the 2 I've mentioned above! 
The death certificate of our grandfather George Helstern in 1937listed "Cincinnati" as his father's birthplace.  John's own death certificate in 1932
simply lists "Ohio." As to the names of his parents, both father and mother are recorded as "Unknown," both for name and birthplace.
So, despite the Helstern information given on the McDowell Family Tree, my theory is that John Helstern's mother was not married in 1846 when he was born. (Jim, that would help explain all the secrecy about his birth!) I'm not sure how, or if, he might have been related to a large Hellstern family in Johnstown PA.  The 1860 U.S. census
locates him in the Cincinnati area, at Millcreek, apprenticed to a butcher by the name of Henry Kessler.  His name does not appear on the 1870 census but his license to marry
Elizabeth R. Dulot is dated January 1871
.  From then on, his records are in Montgomery County and easy to follow; death December 1932 and burial in Ehrstine Cemetery. (One last mystery in his life is that he signed his marriage license "John L. Helstern" but his tombstone is carved "J.T. Helstern".)

Miscellaneous

Mary Bowers reported in an e-mail of 7 Aug 2006: "I may have found John [Helstern] in the 1860 census. There is a John Helstern (15) working as a butcher's apprentice and living with the butcher, Henry Kessler and his family in Hamilton County, Ohio..."

Marriage

John Helstern's signature on this document ("John L."does not match the initials on his grave marker in Ehrstine Cemetery ("J.T.").

Burial

Tombstone seen and photographed in 2009. It reads "J.T. Helstern - 1846 [to] 1932
Elizabeth Helstern 1850 [to] 1921"

Death

"In his later years, he lived with his children. But he was so difficult nobody could get along with him so he only stayed with each of them about a month before he moved on."
Cause of death is listed as "chronic myocardial insufficiency"

Residence (family)

1870 and 1880 censuses indicate that she lived in Madison Twp of Montgomery Co OH with her parental family after their immigration in 1860. The 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses indicate she and her husband lived in the same area after their marriage in 1871.

Residence

Charlotte (HELSTERN) Paugh remembers that after his wife's death, he tried to live with his children but "none of them could put up with him for very long."

His death certificate indicates that he was living with his daughter Clara HELSTERN and her husband Irvin Hepner,