Individual Details

Hester Lucinda's father, William Riley Helms, abandoned the family and went with the family's housekeeper-seamstress to either Alabama or Georgia in the 1890's. This was a despicable thing for him to do and caused the family much grief, hardship, and embarrassment. It is not known at this time whether he sold the cotton gin before he left North Carolina, or whether the family sold it later. But this incident, plus the death of Alex's father in 1895, helped the North Carolina nuclear family of Mrs. Evy C. Furr Helms decide to make the move to Southwest Arkansas in 1899. This hated grandfather was just never mentioned in our family. I did not even know about his sin until I began collecting information for the family history. My father, Charles Withrow Williams, soon to be 91 years old, spoke more hatefully about this grandfather he never knew than I ever heard him speak before in my life. "He was a bastard! I tried to find out what happened to him several years ago, so I could go ____ on his grave, but I came up dry," Dad said. "He hurt my grandmother and contributed to her dying before her time. He dishonored the whole family. I'll always hope he burns in Hell for what he did to them. They were good women." Oddly enough, having a rotten grandfather may have contributed to my father's being the most loyal husband in the world to my mother. He was also very loving and attentive to his own mother until her death.

It must have been good for the family to be able to move to a new state, far enough away from North Carolina that some of the old hurts were able to die away with time. Isn't it odd and a little sad that something which caused this family so much grief only a hundred years ago would be little noticed today? Marriages rarely ended except by death in that day. People entered into matrimony knowing it would be hard; but life itself was so hard, it was anticipated. I cannot help but wonder what enticed or broke this man, William Riley Helms, to the extent that he would leave his successful business and farm, faithful wife, and many grown children and young grandchildren, never to be heard from again by any of the Helms family. I guess it will remain a mystery, at least for the time being.

Charlotte Williams Jeffers, Aug. 5, 1998.

Birth	18 Aug 1871	Union County, NC
Marriage	12 Nov 1891	Union County, NC - Elijah Alexander WILLIAMS
Death	5 May 1956	Nashville, Howard County, AR

Spouse	Elijah Alexander WILLIAMS (1871 - 1942)
Child	Ella Jane WILLIAMS (1892 - 1970)
Child	Harvey Alexander WILLIAMS (1894 - 1975)
Child	Lewis Matt Ransom WILLIAMS (1897 - 1983)
Child	Clayton C. WILLIAMS (1898 - 1899)
Child	Pearl I. WILLIAMS (1902 - 1908)
Child	James Henry WILLIAMS (1905 - 1978)
Child	Living
Child	John Allen WILLIAMS (1912 - 1983)

Father	William Riley HELMS (1841 - )
Mother	Eva Camilla FURR (1844 - 1910)
Sibling	Irena M. HELMS (1868 - 1897)
Sibling	Martha L. HELMS (1869 - 1958)
Sibling	Sarah J. HELMS (1873 - 1914)
Sibling	William T. HELMS (1875 - 1875)
Sibling	James Adam HELMS (1876 - 1954)
Sibling	Lilley E. HELMS (1878 - 1927)
Sibling	Mary E. HELMS (1878 - 1964)
Sibling	Green Lester HELMS (1881 - 1882)
Sibling	Dory A. HELMS (1882 - 1927)
Sibling	Minnia F. HELMS (1884 - 1971)
Sibling	Cora Ella HELMS (1886 - 1975)