Barbara (Borers) Helmick

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 1815 in Randolph, West Virginia, United States [uncertain]

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Biography

Barbara (also known as Barbary) was born in 1768 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (an alternate birthplace is Hampshire County, Virginia (WV)). She was the daughter of Jacob Bohrer/Borer (1728-1778) and Barbara Judy (Tschudi) Borer (1732-1784). The (Bohrer/Borer) family moved from Switzerland to Lancaster County, PA around 1750. From 1762-65, Barbara's father, Jacob and his brothers Peter and Martin Borer, were listed as workers at Elizabeth Furnace in York Co., PA. (York Co. was organized out of Lancaster in 1749).

Barbara's mother’s family were from Switzerland .They were lace makers and moved to Pennsylvania in 1738. Barbara and her parents moved to Romney, Hampshire Co., VA (now WV). Barbara's baptism record from Switzerland in October, 1768 has her last name as "Buergi". Her dad's name was listed as "Hans Jacob Buergi", and her mom's name was listed as "Barbara Tschudi".

Mrs. Helmick is daughter of Jacob Borer. That Jacob Helmick’s wife’s name is Barbara is known from three deeds: one from Hardy Co., Va., dated 4 March 1786^[1]; and two from Randolph Co., Va., dated 23 June 1800^[2] and 26 April 1802.^[3] She is referred to only as a “Miss Borer” in a biographical sketch of their grandson published in 1901,^[4] which suggests that she is probably the “Barbery” mentioned as a daughter in the 19 October 1778 will of Jacob Borer of Hampshire Co., Va.,^[5] to which Jacob Helmick was a witness.

This conclusion is supported by DNA evidence. Working with GEDmatch kit DB9276809, a known descendant of Jacob and Barbara Helmick, I find a region of chromosome 2 from position 74.3 to 119.9 where other descendants of Jacob and Barbara Helmick (kits EV7168586, A421287, A142556, A431453, and A181999) triangulate both with each other and with descendants of Jacob Borer’s sons who do not also descend from the Helmicks (kits A863905, T239670, and A633821). It is therefore likely that all of these test-takers inherited this segment from the Borers, some through Mrs. Barbara Helmick and others through her brothers.

Jacob Borer’s daughter is not wife of John Cross. The Borror Family Association believes this Barbara was married first to a John Cross and second to a William Smith, going so far as to engrave the name “BARBARA BORROR CROSS” in stone on a monument in Borror-Riggleman Cemetery in 1990.^[6] The only support I can find for this conclusion is a 1916 newspaper article about one of her grandsons stating that his grandfather John Cross’s “last wife was Barbara Booher, and after the death of Mr. Cross she married a Mr. Smith,”^[7] the second marriage being recorded in 1819.^[8] But Booher, as distinct from Borer/Borror/Borough, was actually a surname found in the Potomac highlands and southwest Pennsylvania during this time period so this Barbara might be better placed in one of those families.

Mrs. Helmick is not a Hinkle. Others have placed Mrs. Barbara Helmick in the family of Jacob Hinkle and Mary Barbara Teter. This claim, as well as her death date, must be based on a passage from the diary of their son Rev. Paul Henkel reporting an 18–24 August 1813 trip to Pendleton County, during which he attends to the sick wife of Jacob Helmick:^[9]

Wednesday, August 18, 1813. I left home today and crossed the mountains to Pendleton County as far as Mr. Heiser’s, and on the following day I preached in the church there on Luke 19:10. I then rode to the home of Moses Henkel.

Friday, the 20th, My brother, Moses, and I rode across the North Mountain (a very hot day) to Isaac Herman’s, my brother-in-law. There we visited our old mother, who now seems to be near her end. In the afternoon I and my sister Christina visited the sick wife of Jacob Helmich, baptized her twins, and administered the Holy Communion to her. Oh, pitiful conditions! But the hope is that she will die saved.

But note that while Henkel goes out of his way to specify his relationships to Moses, Isaac Herman, and Christina, he neglects to do this for Mrs. Helmick, which throws doubt on her being his sister. In discussing his parentage and early life, Paul never provides a comprehensive list of his siblings. He does mention siblings in passing throughout the text, but never a Barbara as a sister nor Jacob Helmick as a brother-in-law. The editors provide a list of siblings in Appendix A, but evidently they found no evidence of a sister named Barbara as they compiled the information.

There are some other problems with this passage that cast doubt on Barbara even being the Mrs. Helmick mentioned therein. First, Barbara would have been a middle-aged woman with several grandchildren by this point, probably too old to be the mother of infant twins; and second, Jacob and Barbara didn't even live in the area Reverend Henkel describes, but rather in the Tygart Valley of Randolph Co. Their son Adam, however, did live in the vicinity of the Harmans in Pendleton Co.,^[10] and his wife, the former Hannah Teter and a double first cousin to Reverend Henkel, is known to have died with young children under her care around 1813. It therefore seems likely that he made an error in his account and called her the wife of Jacob Helmick instead of the daughter-in-law of Jacob Helmick, wife of his son Adam.

Sources

1. ↑ Hardy County, West Virginia, Deeds 1: 72–75, Jacob Helmeck and wife Barbara to Casper Hite, 4 March 1786; county courthouse, Moorefield; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSGJ-D483 and http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSGJ-D4J1 : accessed 9 May 2020); imaged from FHL film no. 816,634.
2. ↑ Randolph County, West Virginia, Deeds 2: 150–51, Jacob Helmick and wife Barbary to Andrew Skidmore, 23 June 1800; county courthouse, Elkins; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSG6-VSNZ-C : accessed 9 May 2020); imaged from FHL film no. 807,463.
3. ↑ Randolph County, West Virginia, Deeds 3: 127–28, Jacob Helmick Sr. and wife Barbary to Jacob Helmick Jr., 26 April 1802; county courthouse, Elkins; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSG6-VSNH-2 and http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSG6-VSN4-G : accessed 13 March 2020); imaged from FHL film no. 807,463.
4. ↑ The Biographical Record of DeWitt County, Illinois (Chicago, Illinois: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1901), 422; digital images, Internet Archive (http://archive.org/details/biographicalrecor00chic : accessed 9 May 2020).
5. ↑ Hampshire County, West Virginia, Wills, 1: 15–16, Jacob Borer; county courthouse, Romney; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-CSSY-1X and http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-CSSY-12 : accessed 9 May 2020); imaged from FHL film no. 815,334.
6. ↑ Borror-Riggleman Cemetery (Rough Run, Grant County, West Virginia), Borror family marker, location not specified; photo by Laura Berneda Christensen, added 3 December 2018; consulted as “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/72022058 : accessed 9 May 2020).
7. ↑ “Mr. Lang’s Letter,” The Barbour Democrat (Philippi, West Virginia), 17 February 1916, p. ?, cols. ?–?; digital images, “Public Member Trees,” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/11538677/person/252489267/media/b15f54ef-c5ca-46da-90a1-ef54248a87cd : accessed 9 May 2020); “Phelps & Shomo Family & Branches,” submitted by Betty Phelps.
8. ↑ Randolph County, West Virginia, Marriages, 1: 22 and 41, William Smith and Barbery Cross, 1819; county courthouse, Elkins; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D1DG-J8 and http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D1D5-76 : accessed 9 May 2020); imaged from FHL film no. 808,786.
9. ↑ Melvin L. Miller and Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel Family National Association, editors, and William J. Finck, translator, The Autobiography and Chronological Life of Reverend Paul Henkel (1754–1825): From the Unpublished Manuscripts “Autobiography of Paul Henkel” and “A Chronological Life of Paul Henkel” (n.p.: Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel Family National Association, 2002), 221.
10. ↑ 1810 U.S. census, Pendleton County, West Virginia, p. 222 (top right), line 20, Adam Helmicke; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYY6-S6KC : accessed 14 May 2020); imaged from NARA microfilm publication M252, roll 70.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Ruth LaMarr for creating Borers-1 on 13 Dec 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Ruth and others.

[1] Marriage Notes for JACOB HELMICK and BARBARA BOER: U.S./International Marriage Records, 1340-1980 Marriage Year: 1776 Marriage Location Code: VA Gender: The gender of Jacob Helmick is male. Birth Year: 1748 Birth Location Code: VA

Spouse: Barbara Burrours Borers Birth Year: 1750 Birth Location Code: VA

Source Number: 13640.000 Source Type: Electronic Database Number of Pages: 1 Submitter Code: JJ2