Slaves of William, Matilda, and Susan Helm, New York

Date: 1800 to 1827
Location: Bath, Steuben, New York, United States
Surnames/tags: slavery black_heritage Helm

Contents 1 Virginia c. 1770-1800 2 New York 1800-1826 3 Life in New York 4 Sources

Virginia c. 1770-1800

A native of Virginia, William Helm inherited enslaved people and the plantation Greenlevel from his parents. His wife, Matilda, also had slaves. The Virginia page focuses on the Green Level Plantation.

New York 1800-1826

In 1800, William Helm sold dozens of slaves and his estates and then traveled north with his household to New York. After a stay near Rochester, they settled in Bath in 1803, the county seat of Steuben County.

Austin Steward, one of the enslaved people, wrote a book about his 22 years as a slave, and he named these enslaved people.

• Austin Steward - freedom seeker, left 1815
• Betsey Bristol (Austin's aunt)
• Aaron Bristol (Betsey's husband)
• Robert Steward (Austin's father, died c 1816 in Palmyra NY)
• Susan Steward (Austin's mother)
• Mary Steward (Austin's sister), mother of 2 or 3 children
• Jane Cooper (she had a daughter and a sister)
• Harry [Harvey] Lucas
• Benjamin Bristol, "an elderly man" in 1815
• Edmund Watkins born c. 1796
• ? Williams
• Milly

In The Official Records of the centennial celebration, Bath, Steuben County, New York, Jun 4,6& 7, 1893 more are named:

• Moses Alexander
• Frances Alexander
• King Thomas
• Edward Watkins
• Frances Watkins
• Daniel Cooper
• Harry Jarvis
• Edward Tapkin (Tappan)
• Stephen Alexander
• Jack Brown
• Edward Diggings

Life in New York

After William Helm married the widow Susan Thornton in 1806, his household included enslaved people from the Thorntons.

The 1810 census for Bath shows the household of William and Susan Helm with 31 enslaved people and 1 "free person of color".^[1]

Austin Steward wrote that Mr Helm "brought [Susan] and her servants in great triumph to his house, giving her the charge of it. His own servants were discharged, and hers took their places. All went on pleasantly for a while; then the slaves began to grow sullen and discontented; and two of them ran away. Capt. Helm started a man named Morrison, a Scotchman, in pursuit, who hunted them ten days, and then returned without any tidings of the absconding slaves. They made good their escape and were never heard from afterwards, by those whose interest suffered by the loss. ... Capt. Helm was driving on in his milling, distillery and farming business. He now began to see the necessity of treating his slaves better by far than he had ever done before, and granted them greater privileges than he would have dared to do at the South. Many of the slaves he had sold, were getting their liberty and doing well."

Austin wrote: "Capt. Helm, not having demand for slave labor as much as formerly, was in the practice of hiring out his slaves to different persons, both in and out of the village; and among others, my only sister was hired out to a professed gentleman living in Bath. She had become the mother of two or three children, and was considered a good servant."

William was not good at business and either sold people himself to raise money or they were sold at sheriff's auctions to pay his debts. His children from his first marriage moved out of state. His second wife left him, and their two children lived with her.

The 1820 census for William Helm shows him living in Bath, Steuben, New York, with 3 free colored people and 1 enslaved woman.^[2]

• 1 Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over
• 2 Free Colored Persons - Males - 26 thru 44
• 1 Free Colored Persons - Females - 14 thru 25
• 1 Slaves - Females - 26 thru 44

William died in poverty in 1826 in Bath. His widow, known as "Madam Thornton", lived in Bath until c. 1853, when she moved to Ogdensburg NY to live with her daughter Virginia (née Thornton) Bacon.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Year: 1810; Census Place: Bath, Steuben, New York; Roll: 37; Page: 370; Image: 00049; Family History Library Film: 0181391
2. ↑ 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Bath, Steuben, New York; Page: 222; NARA Roll: M33_74; Image: 233
3. ↑ Year: 1860; Census Place: Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York; Roll: M653_854; Page: 261; Family History Library Film: 803854.