Helton Family Land Transactions

Lawrence countyStarting in about 1818, members of the Helton family began arriving in Pleasant Run township, in Lawrence County, Indiana. They came from North Carolina, with stopovers in Tennessee and Kentucky. One of the first settlers was my g-g-g-grandfather, Arnold Helton. Around 1850, some of the Heltons, including my g-g-grandfather, Andrew Helton, moved to Bloomington, in Monroe county. While Andrew and his wife, Hannah Woolery, lived in Lawrence county their names were listed on numerous land transfers.

According to the History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties Indiana, 1914, B. F. Bowen & Co. Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana, a transcription of which is available on the Lawrence county INGenWeb site:

PLEASANT RUN TOWNSHIP

The northeast corner of Lawrence county is the location of Pleasant Run township, and it was created when the county was organized in 1818... Back, Leatherwood, Little Salt and Pleasant creeks cross the township, and from the latter the name is derived. In the list of Lawrence county townships Pleasant Run had the fewest settlers until 1829, having but twenty-three land entries, as follows: Jesse Gilstrap, 1820; William Clark, 1820; Adam Helton, 1820; William J. Anderson, 1818; Arnold Helton, 1818; F. Terrill 1820; Heirs of Abraham Martin, 1820; Rene Julin, 1818; R. Brooks. 1820; Samuel Gwathney, 1820; Joseph Dayton, 1816; Joseph Trimble, 1820; E. Parr, 1820; Edmund Garrison, 1820; James Mundell. 1816; John McClellan, 1820; David McKinney, 1816; Edward Moore, 1820; Cuthbert and Thomas Bullitt, 1820; Vana Wilson, 1817; Jacob Woolery 1820; Edward Tewell, 1820; and John N. Nichols, 1817.

HELTONVILLE

The town of Heltonville, Pleasant Run township, was platted on September 8. 1845 by Andrew Helton, on the west half of the northeast quarter of section 26, township 6 north, range 1 east. The town originally comprised twenty-seven lots. but since that time several additions have been made, enlarging the town.

Transactions

Land transactions by Andrew and Hannah Helton and some related families, in Lawrence county, Indiana (LCI), are listed below, with names of Heltons and related family members highlighted in green. The list was compiled by Treva E. Peckham, the Lawrence County InGenWeb County Coordinator, from information in Lawrence County Abstract Records. Treva informs us that she has access to lists of transactions involving several other members of the Helton family. If you're descended from one of Andrew's siblings, or other relations, you may wish to contact Treva.

I've listed the transactions in date sequence. By visiting Arnold and Andrew's pages, you'll be able to identify most of the people with non-Helton surnames.

You'll notice that from about 1850 on Andrew was selling, rather than buying land, and that the last few transactions were acknowledged in Monroe county, which may help us identify the time when Andrew and Hannah moved to Bloomington. The final transaction occurred a few months after Hannah's death and 3½ years before Andrew's death. Treva sent us this picture of the Heltonville Baptist Church, which she says is "located in the middle of town with the Leston Jones Funeral Home on the backside and road on front and right sides. There is an old stone bridge in front of the church which crosses a small creek." This just might be the church to which Andrew deeded land in 1870...

For more than a century, Heltonville has been a very small town consisting of only three or four streets. At one time it may have been thriving, but as the Bedford Weekly Mail for 22 Jun 1900 reported:

The Heltonville flour mill is a thing of the past. The proprietors said that it was located too close to the big mills of Bedford, and they shipped the machinery to Hazelton, a town in Gibson county.

There is at least one mention in the press of the land dealings in Monroe county of Andrew Helton and his son after the move to Bloomington. This is an excerpt from a legal notice on page 2 of the Bloomington Progress for 19 May 1869. The lengthy description of the real estate, land in Salt Creek Township and Fairfax, is omitted:

SHERIFF'S SALE

By virtue of a certified copy of a decree to me directed from the Clerk of the Monroe Circuit Court, in a cause wherein Andrew Helton and Absalom J. Helton are plaintiffs, and Biram Butcher and Adam Butcher are defendants, requiring me to make the sum of two thousand six hundred and ninety dollars and fourteen cents, with interest on said decree and costs, I will expose at public sale to the highest bidder, on Saturday, May 29, 1869, between the hours of 10 o'clock AM and 4 o'clock PM of said day, at the door of the court house of Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana, the rents and profits for a term not exceeding seven years, of the following described real estate...


1 There are several transactions involving Brownings in this list. Could these Brownings be related to the Finley Browning who married Andrew and Hannah's daughter Zepporah Helton?
This page was last updated 23 May 2008.