- ERNEST C. HELM, M.D., of the firm of A. C. & E. C. HELM,
physicians and surgeons, of
- Beloit, Rock County, has won a high standing in his chosen
profession, and is regarded as one of the leading representatives
of his calling in the southern part of the State.
- Dr. HELM was born in Beloit May 1, 1855, and is a son of
Woodhull and Mary A. (CLARK)
- HELM, whose family history is quite fully narrated in the
sketch of Dr. Arthur C. HELM elsewhere in this volume. Woodhull
HELM moved to Illinois with his parents when a boy, and settled
with them at Pine Creek, where he lived a number of years. When
a young man he learned the trade of plough-making, and followed
that business for several years at Byron, Ill. He had intended
to enter college at Beloit, when his father's death changed all
his plans and drove him into business. In 1849 Mr. HELM and Miss
Mary A. CLARK, daughter of Elijah and Sybil (GREEN) CLARK, were
married in Beloit, Rev. Alfred EDDY being the officiating minister.
He was an old friend of the family, and the wedding was the first
to be celebrated in the First Presbyterian Church of Beloit.
Mrs. HELM had come West some two or three years before with her
brother, Dr. Elijah N. CLARK, intending to make her home in this
city. A few days after her arrival, however, she was visited
by Mrs. Dr. BRADLEY, of Byron, formerly her favorite teacher
in the East, who asked her assistance in a select school at Byron,
both as a teacher and an inmate of her home. This offer she gladly
accepted on account of the strong friendship that had existed
between them. There she became acquainted with Mr. HELM, and
in due time the acquaintance ripened into love, and they were
married. A little later Mr. and Mrs. HELM moved to Beloit, where
he continued plough-making. About 1852 he went to California
and operated a sawmill for two years at Nevada City. By that
time he had enough of the "golden West," and returned
to Beloit. In 1855 Mr. HELM moved himself and family to Indiantown,
Iowa, where he was engaged in running a sawmill and combined
with it a gristmill. It was a cold, wet year, and Mr. HELM contracted
diseases by which his health was seriously undermined. To recover
it he journeyed to California a second time, and while there
wrote valuable articles for mining and other journals. He was
sick while doing this work, but he had a sunny spirit, and his
presence cheered all with whom he came in contact. From California
Mr. HELM was sent to New York by a mining company to look after
their interests. When he had accomplished their work he went
to Cabarrus County, N.C., to engaged in gold mining, taking his
family with him. He was there two years, when illness drove him
north to Rockford, Ill., where he died in the home of Dr. Lucius
CLARK, ten days after his arrival, at the age of forty-five.
He was a man of character and conviction. He served as an elder
in the Presbyterian Church at Carson City, Nevada, and was county
superintendent of school in Tama County, Iowa.
- Dr. Ernest C. HELM graduated from the Beaver Dam (Wis.) high
school in 1874, took a special
- course in chemistry in the college at Beloit, and graduated
from the Chicago Medical College in 1879. After he had received
his diploma he won the position of house physician and surgeon
of Mercy Hospital in competitive examination against a number
of the brainiest young men of that city, who aspired to this
position for its rare opportunities. He practiced a year at Byron,
Ill., and seven years in Chicago, and while in that city was
one of the attending staff of the medical department of the South
Side Dispensary. With his hard work and fine scholarship at the
college, his year at Mercy Hospital and his seven years service
in connection with the Dispensary, Dr. HELM has had rare opportunities
to acquire a thoroughly practical knowledge of his profession.
In 1888 he came to Beloit to enter into a medical partnership
with his brother, Dr. Arthur C., and the associations thus formed
have proved in every way profitable and satisfactory.
- Dr. Ernest C. HELM and Miss Elizabeth HUNNICUTT, a daughter
of John and Martha
- (BUNDY) HUNNICUTT, were married at Carthage, Ind., March
23, 1887, and they have three children, Olive, Berwyn and Ernestine.
The Doctor and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian
Church of Beloit and he is one of the elders of that body. He
belongs to the Wisconsin State Medical Society and the Central
Wisconsin Medical Society, and is deeply interested in everything
that relates to the progress of the art to which he has given
his life. He is a member of the Beloit school board, and politically
is a Republican. Dr. HELM has a pleasant home at No. 740 Broad
street, and both he and his brother are great lovers of out-of-door
sports, and handy with the rifle, shot gun, fishing tackle, sailboats,
etc., enjoying their kindred recreations. They have summer cottages
at Lake Kegonska and the family are all good swimmers, even to
the little girls.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 83-84.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|