James A. Helmey Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1132-1133 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JAMES A. HELMEY. 

	James A. Helmey, a well known and successful druggist of Sherman, 
South Dakota, was born in Rushford, Fillmore county, Minnesota, on the 
25th of May, 1870, his parents being Lewis P. and Martha (Jackson) 
Helmey, natives of Norway. The father emigrated to the United States as 
a young man, while the mother came to this country with her parents as 
a girl. Their marriage was celebrated in Fillmore county, Minnesota. 
Lewis P. Helmey was for some years identified with the hotel business, 
conducting the Winona House at Winona, Minnesota, but subsequently 
turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1878 his wife died 
and the following year he came to South Dakota, locating on a section 
of school land in Lincoln county, of which he later purchased a quarter 
section when it was put on the market. He has reached the venerable age 
of eighty and during the past several years has lived retired, now 
making his home at Humboldt, Minnehaha county. He gives his political 
allegiance to the republican party and, while never an office seeker, 
served for a number of years as justice of the peace in Rushford, 
Minnesota. The period of his residence in this state covers more than a 
third of a century and he is widely recognized as one of its honored 
pioneers and representative citizens. 

	James A. Helmey was reared under the parental roof and attended 
the common schools in the acquirement of an education. On reaching his 
twentieth year he took up the study of pharmacy, entering his brother's 
drug store in Canton, South Dakota. In the fall of 1895 he matriculated 
in the Minnesota Institute of Pharmacy at Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 
which institution he was graduated with the class of 1896, and on April 
8th of the same spring he passed his examination before the state board 
of examiners at Huron. He then worked as a pharmacist for his brother 
in Canton until 1898, when he established himself in the drug business 
at Dell Rapids. At the end of three years he removed his stock to 
Trent, South Dakota, but sold out shortly afterward and took charge of 
the Brandt Drug Company at Brandt, this state, which he managed for 
about two years. Subsequently he spent two years as traveling 
representative of Frederick Ingram & Company, of Detroit, dealers in 
pharmaceutical specialties, and in 1905 opened a drug store in Toronto, 
South Dakota, where he was engaged in business for three years. On the 
expiration of that period he removed his stock to Brentford, this 
state, but soon afterward sold out and during the following two years 
was employed in Pierre, South Dakota. In 1910 he located in Sherman as 
manager of his brother,s drug business and there has since remained, 
conducting the enterprise in a manner that has won and held an 
extensive patronage. 

	In 1898 Mr. Helmey was united in marriage to Miss Anna Paulson, 
of Kimball, South Dakota, by whom he had two children, Martha E. and 
James A., Jr. The wife and mother was called to her final rest on the 
0th of July, 1902, passing away in Dell Rapids. In politics Mr. Helmey 
is a stanch republican, while his religious faith is indicated by his 
membership in the Norwegian Lutheran church, Fraternally he is 
connected with Sioux Falls Lodge, No. 262, B. P. O. E., and Sherman 
Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. In all relations of life he has proven 
himself upright, honorable and straightforward, well worthy of the high 
regard in which he is uniformly held.