Bio: I. L. Helpman, Caddo Parish La
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville,  1890

Submitted by: Suzanne Shoemaker
sueshoe@hotmail.com




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I. L. Helpman, confectioner, Shreveport, La.  The manufacture of candies
and fruit preserves has come to be one of the greatest interests of our
country, and the establishments in this line rank in standing and extent of
trade with any class of business concerns.  One of the representative
houses in this line in Shreveport is that conducted by Mr. Helpman, who
engaged in this business in 1888.  He was born in Hancock County, Ohio, in
June, 1845, and is a son of Martin and Irene (Clarke) Helpman, the father a
native of Ohio and the mother of New York State, and of English ancestry.
Grandfather Helpman was born in Germany and emigrated to America at an
early period, locating in Ohio.  He was one of the pioneers.  He was a
farmer by occupation and died in the Buckeye State.  The father of our
subject was also a farmer.  He was a soldier in the Civil War, enlisted in
an Ohio regiment, and served until the close of the war.  He now draws a
pension on account of disability and resides on his farm near Bourbon,
Ind., where, although seventy-five years of age, he is still in the
enjoyment of comparative good health.  The mother died at Kalamazoo, Mich.,
in 1857.  By the first marriage there were four children, two besides our
subject now living:  D. C. (in Kansas) and Luther (in Philadelphia,
president of the International Publishing Company and doing a good
business).  There were no children by the father's second marriage.  I. L.
Helpman was reared and educated in Ohio until nine years of age, when he
went to Wisconsin with his parents, thence to Iowa and completed his
education at Lansing of that State.  He was reared to the duties of the
farm, and at the breaking out of the war he flung aside his implements of
peace to take up the weapons of warfare.  He enlisted at Decatur, Ill., in
Company A, Eighth Illinois Regiment, under Col. Dick Oglesby, ex-governor
of Illinois, and was wounded in the hand and breast at the battle of
Shiloh.  He served in all the principal engagements, including Corinth,
siege of Vicksburg, etc.  He was mustered out at Baton Rouge, La., and
concluded to remain South.  He was in the Government service until May,
1866, as steward of the hospital, and then went to Texas for a short time,
working at different places.  In December, 1873, he came to Shreveport and
here embarked in the grocery business with a capital of $450.  By economy
and perseverance he soon accumulated a competency and enlarged his
business.  He continued the grocery business until 1888, when he changed
this to that of a confectioner.  He erected a large two-story brick
business building and has a restaurant attached.  In fact, this is the only
first-class establishment of the kind in the city.  He has a soda fountain
that was put in at a cost of $2,500, and everything is kept in first-class
style.  Mr. Helpman is a gentleman of energy, perseverance and enterprise,
and has established his business upon a sure foundation.  He was married,
in 1871, to Miss Angie A. Gillispie, of Mississippi, and this union was
blessed by the birth of five living children:  Irvin L., Jr., Alice F.,
Beulah I., Martin I. and Neffie Z.  He and wife are members of the Baptist
Church, and socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Knight
Templar, and is a member of the A. L. of H., the A. O. U. W. and Select
Knights.