John Helmka Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 1075-1076

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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JOHN HELMKA, a prosperous farmer of Brown county, who has been a 
resident of that part of South Dakota since the spring of 1880, has 
attained an assured position among the substantial men of his calling. 
He resides on section 5, in Bath township, and is the fortunate 
possessor of one of the best farms in the locality. 

Mr. Helmka was born about twenty miles from Toronto, province of 
Ontario, Canada, February 8, 1848, and was the son of Josiah and Amy 
(Badgero) Helmka. Both of his parents were born in Canada and the 
father was of German descent and the mother was descended from French 
and Colonial stock. The maternal grandfather of our subject was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war and assisted in freeing the states 
from the mother country. The father of our subject was a farmer by 
occupation and owned one hundred acres of land in Canada, and it was on 
that farm John Helmka was reared until twelve years of age, when his 
parents moved to Michigan. In the public schools of that state our 
subject gained the rudiments of an education. At the age of sixteen 
years he went to work in the pineries, rafting and driving logs, at 
which work he continued for sixteen years, in the meantime acquiring 
forty acres of land, which he farmed in the summer months. On that 
estate he had a comfortable home, pleasantly surrounded by apple and 
peach orchards, and he made a success of farming, but in 1880, hearing 
the glowing accounts of the valley of the "Jim," he sold his farm for a 
good price and went to the Dakotas. When he arrived there but fifteen 
people were living in Brown county, and when the census was taken in 
June of the year following the inhabitants numbered four hundred. 

Mr. Helmka arrived at Columbia, Brown county, March 22, 1880, one week 
after the country was opened up for settlement, March 15, 1880. He 
entered a homestead claim to one hundred and sixty acres on the 
southwest quarter of section 5, in Bath township, and subsequently 
purchased the southeast quarter of the same section, and now has three 
hundred and twenty acres, all of which is under cultivation, with 
diversified crops of wheat, oats, barley, corn, potatoes, flax, etc. He 
has twenty-four head of horses, mostly Percherons, and two cows. His 
residence, erected in 1899, is a substantial structure, two stories in 
height, and he has also built barns, granary, and other out-buildings 
which are above the average of modern improvements. A well supplies an 
abundance of water for domestic use and for stock purposes from a depth 
of twenty-six feet, and the entire arrangement of the place bears 
evidence of thrifty management. 

Our subject was married May 20, 1866, to Sarah Jane Kipp, daughter of 
Hiram and Sarah (Harvey) Kipp, natives of Pennsylvania, who moved to 
Canada, and later to Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Helmka have been the 
parents of six children, three of whom are now living, as follows: 
Hugh, engaged in farming in Brown county; Ralph, who assists his father 
on the farm; and Madge, who also resides at home. Mr. Helmka is a 
member of the National Aid Society. He is identified with the reform 
party in political sentiment, and is a pleasant,genial man, a thorough 
and successful farmer, and commands the respect of his associates.