Helm and Todd family photographs and papers
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Helm and Todd family photographs and papers
- Date
- 1850-1951
- Extent
- 1.75 Cubic feet
- Subjects
- Confederate States of America--Army--Kentucky Brigade, 1st
- Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Portraits
- Confederate States of America. Army. Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, 1st.
- Families--Kentucky--Lexington.
- Longwood (Ky.)
- Portrait photographs
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Confederate States of America.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Photographs
- Confederate States of America--Army--Kentucky Brigade, 1st
- Arrangement
- This collection is arranged into two series, papers and photographs. The photographs have been arranged further into folders. The arrangement scheme has been imposed during processing due to a lack of original order. The content of the first series has been arranged chronologically by author. Contents of the second series are arranged by subject and certain subseries by original order.
- Preferred Citation
- 2011av006: [identification of item], Helm and Todd family photographs and papers, 1850-1951, University of Kentucky Special collections.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Benjamin Hardin Helm was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, on June 1831, the son of John L. Helm, a prominent lawyer and politician in Kentucky. He was enrolled in the Kentucky Military Institute and was a graduate of West Point. Following his resignation of his commission from the military, Helm studied law at the University of Louisville and Harvard law schools, graduating in 1953. Helm then joined his father in practicing law in Elizabethtown Kentucky. In 1955, Benjamin Hardin Helm was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives to represent Hardin County for one term. The following year he married Emilie Todd, half sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. In 1860, he was appointed the Inspector General for the Kentucky State Guard.
- In 1861, Benjamin Hardin Helm refused the offer to become the Union Army’s paymaster in order to join the Confederate Army. Upon his return to Kentucky, he organized the 1st Kentucky Cavalry for the Confederate States of America. Benjamin Hardin Helm went on to serve as a colonel during the Battle of Shiloh with both the 1st Kentucky Cavalry brigade and the 3rd Kentucky brigade. He was promoted to brigadier general and commanded the 1st Kentucky Orphan Brigade at Shiloh, Baton Rouge, Vicksburg and the Battle of Chickamauga, where he was fatally wounded in the fall of 1863.
- Emilie Helm was born Emilie Todd on 11 November 1836 to Robert Smith Todd and Elizabeth Humphreys Todd. She married Benjamin Hardin Helm in 1856 and resided in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. She had three children with Helm: Katherine (1857), Elodie (1859), and Benjamin (1862). With the onset ofthe Civil War, Emilie Helm followed her husband to Baton Rouge in 5 August 1862 and to Chattanooga that same year. Following Benjamin Hardin Helm’s death at Chickamauga, Emilie Helm briefly resided with her sister Mary Todd Lincoln at the White House before returning to Kentucky. In 1882, Emilie Helm was appointed postmistress by President Chester A. Arthur, a post she held for the next 12 years. In 1897, the United Daughters of the Confederacy elected Emilie Todd Helm as president of the Ben Hardin Helm chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, named in honor of her late husband. Emilie Todd Helm remained in Kentucky until her death on 20 February 1930.
- Katherine Helm pursued a career as an artist following the end of the Civil War. She studied at the Art Students League in New York. On 18 February 1908, her portrait of Jefferson Davis was displayed at Memorial Hall in New Orleans. On 18 February 1925, her portrait of her aunt, Mary Todd Lincoln, was presented to President Calvin Coolidge at the White House. Katherine Helm died 18 June 1937.
- Elodie Helm attended the Cincinnati Academy of Music. Upon graduation, she married Waller Lewis of Georgetown Kentucky. Upon her husband’s death, Elodie moved to Helm Place with her mother, brother, and sister. She died on 15 June 1953 in Geneva, New York, on her way to Vermont.
- Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., served as the commissioner of the New Orleans Bureau of Freight and Transportation following the Civil War. He also served as a freight contracting agent for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Chicago Great Western Railroad. Following his retirement in 1917, Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., moved back to Kentucky to take over the management of Helm Place. He died there on 18 May 1946.
- Source: Green, Maureen Helm, "Emilie," Kentucky Ancestors, Autumn 2008, pp.4-15.
- Scope and Content
- Collection contains 330 images in varied formats of Helm and Todd family members, friends, associates, and family residences. The bulk of the images were in a series of photographic albums collected and arranged by family members. Images include photographs of Confederate General Benjamin Hardin Helm (1831-1863), his wife, Emilie Todd Helm (1836-1930); and their children Katherine Helm (1857-1937), Elodie Helm Lewis (1859-1953), and Benjamin Hardin Helm Jr. (1862-1946). The collection also includes a number of images of relatives of Emilie Todd Helm, including her father, Robert Smith Todd (1791-1849); her brothers, Alexander Todd (1839-1862) and Samuel Briggs Todd (1830-1904); her cousin, Lyman Beecher Todd (1832-1902); and her nephew, Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926). The material within this collection relates to the Confederate States of America, officers in the Confederate army, the Civil War history of Kentucky, the Kentucky Confederate Brigade and Cavalry Regiment, the Kentucky estates of Helm Place and Longwood, as well as photographs and portraits from the Civil War. Along with Alexander Todd's 1861 diary and Katherine Helm's sketchbook, the collection includes a number of daguerreotypes, card photographs, black and white photographs, cased photographs, and portrait photographs.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- This collection is only available electronically.
- Use Restrictions
- Contact institution for details.
Contents of the Collection
Papers, 1861-1943
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr. note concerning a watch and chain worn by President Abraham Lincoln bequeathed to Helm by Robert Todd Lincoln, 1943 May 31
Ribbon from Eighth Reunion of the First Kentucky Orphan's Brigade in Louisville, Kentucky and a handwritten list of 1st Kentucky Calvary, Confederate States of America members in Meade County, Kentucky by J. D. Shacklett, 1889 September 19
Photographs, 1850-1951
Cartes de visite album 1
Scope and Contents note
Leather-bound 1860s era cartes de visite album, 30 pages. Loose images tucked between last page and end paper. Album is inscribed on front flyleaf "Emilie Todd Helm."
Album images
General Benjamin Hardin Helm
Unidentified woman, possibly Elodie Todd
Unidentified girl
Unidentified young man
Unidentified woman
General Albert Sidney Johnston
Unidentified man
On back, "From Morrie," unidentified man
Unidentified boy
"N.O. Butles"
Image missing
General Bragg
General Joseph E. Johnston
General Beauregard
General Robert E Lee
General G.W. Smith
General Bragg
General Sterling Price
General Hardee
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr.
General Polk
General AP Hill
General Buckner
General Breckinridge
General John Hood
General Wilcox
General J.E.B. Stuart
General Ewell
General Zollicoffer
General John Hunt Morgan
General John S. Williams
Robert H. Secretary
General William Nelson Rector Beall (2 images)
General William Preston
Unidentified man
George H. Holmes, "Chief Surgeon"
E.M. Bruce
"Major Wallace"
Unidentified man
Unidentified man
General Forest
Consul Helm
Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd
Loose images
Catherine Todd
Unidentified man
Unidentified man
Unidentified man
Unidentified woman
Unidentified woman
Unidentified young man
Unidentified house, exterior
Cartes de visite album 2
Scope and Contents note
Leather-bound 1860s era cartes de visite album, 30 pages. Loose images tucked between last page and end paper.
Album images
Unidentified woman
Unidentified man
James P. Helm
"Mr. Matthews, Calera, Ala."
Unidentified girl
Benjamin Hardin Helm Jr., "To Aunt Mary"
Elodie and Kate Helm
Benjamin Hardin Helm
Unidentified boy
Unidentified man in uniform
Unidentified man
"Sallie Hall Todd and boy 1858", "Cousin Emily from R.A. Todd"d
Unidentified woman
Unidentified woman
Unidentified woman, "1880"
Unidentified man
F. Robinson, "May 30th, 1863"
Unidentified woman
"General William R. Beull"
Reproduction of painting titled, "Innocence"
"Samuel Hump"
Unidentified woman
Unidentified girl
Unidentified man
Lizzie Todd
"N.H.R. Dawson"
Unidentified woman
"Walter Morris CoptCS Engineers, Richmond, Va."
Unidentified woman
"Belle Bennett", 1878
Cartes de visite album 3
Scope and Contents note
Leather-bound 1860s era cartes de visite album, 30 pages. Only 21 of the 30 pages contained images. Images missing from pages 2, 4-5, 9, 11, 18-19, 24, 26. No indication on the album pages as to the subject of those missing images.
Album images
"E.J. Smith"
"Mrs. David Todd (Susan)"
"Alec Todd"
"David Todd"
"Mister Hoagland"
John Hunt Morgan
Unidentified woman
"Elise Todd, 3 years old, January 20th, 1869"
Unidentified boy
Unidentified infant
Unidentified girl
Unidentified girl
"Heury"
Unidentified man
General Simon Bolivar Buckner
Unidentified man
Unidentified man
Unidentified woman
Unidentified boy
"David Todd"
Unidentified man
Cartes de visite album 4
Scope and Contents note
Cloth-bound 1860s cartes de visite album. Originally 24 pages (12 double image holder pages), only 6 holder pages remain. Album numbered as is. Loose images were tucked beteen the last remaining page and the end paper. Inscription on front end paper: "Ely H. L. Todd // Lexington // 1962."
Album Pages
"Mrs. Pettus", Mary L. Chapman Pettus
"Charley H. Kellogg, Jr."
"Lydia M. Dawson"
"Mary Dawson"
"Alex Humphreys, La."
"Dr. L. Beecher Todd, Lex, Ky."
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., " Born 11th Nov '62 2 years and 4 months"
Loose images
"Sarah G. Humphrey"
"Mrs. Mulford"
Bird sketch, "With compliments of the artist =Jan. 25, 1881="
Unidentified woman, girl, and infant
Unidentified man
Unidentified man
Albumen album
Front cover
"Mrs. John S. Williams in the garden- Longwood", 1908 September
"Mrs. John S. Williams in the garden- Longwood, Looking down the long walk", 1908 September
"Mrs. Williams in the garden- Longwood", 1908 September
"Mrs. Williams in the garden- Longwood", 1908 September
"Hauling tea to the mistress of the garden- looking down the long walk- Longwood", 1908 September
"Mrs. Williams and daughter having tea in the garden- Longwood", 1908 September
"Mrs. [illegible], Mrs. Hoffman, and Mrs. [illegible] having tea in the garden- Longwood"
"Sugar Tree on the lawn- Longwood"
"Sugar Trees on the lawn- Longwood"
"Moonshine and Mrs. [illegible] on the lawn- Longwood"
"Mrs. [illegible] and some of the horses- on the lawn- Longwood"
"Duke and Don, Mrs. [illegible] and 'Rush'- Longwood"
Unidentified house, exterior
Back cover
Benjamin Hardin Helm and Emilie Todd Helm
Benjamin Hardin Helm in uniform, undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm in uniform, Undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm in uniform, undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm in uniform, undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm in uniform (painted by Catherine Helm), undated
Copy of item 138, "Emilie Todd when she visited her sister Mary Todd Lincoln in Springfield" (verso), undated
Copy of item 138, Emilie Todd Helm, undated
Emilie Todd Helm, undated
Copy of item 141, "Mrs Lincoln's Sister Emilie" (verso), undated
Copy of item 141 "Emily (name mispelled) Todd Helm" (verso), undated
Emilie Todd Helm, undated
Emilie Todd Helm, undated
Emilie Todd Helm, undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm and Emilie Hardin Helm (Double daguerreotype), undated
Two children, possibly Elodie and Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., undated
Katherine and Elodie Helm
Katherine and Elodie Helm, "Kati and Dee" (verso), undated
"Katherine Helm and Elodie Helm Lewis" (verso), undated
"Mrs. Ben Hardin Helm (Emilie Todd) and her daughters Elodie and Kate, on the porch at Helm Place" (verso), undated
"Tea Party in Florida", Elodie Helm in front, Katherine Helm on right, "Please return to Mrs. B H Helm Lexington Ky" (verso), undated
Ladies in Classical Greek dress, Elodie Helm on extreme left, kneeling, Katherine Helm fourth from right, undated
Katherine and Elodie Helm, "Miss Dee and Miss Kate" (verso), undated
Katherine and Elodie Helm, "Miss Dee and Miss Kate" (verso), undated
Katherine Helm, "The garden on Helm Place, my two sisters Miss Dee and Miss Katherin"e (verso), undated
"Miss Katherine Helm and Miss Dee at Helm Place - circa 1912" (verso), 1912
Katherine Helm
Katherine and Elodie Helm (double rubyglass ambrotype), undated
Katherine Helm, undated
Katherine Helm, undated
Katherine Helm, undated
Katherine Helm, "Katherine Helm daughter of Ben Hardin Helm" (verso), undated
Katherine Helm, "Kenucky Kate" (verso), 1920 August 6
Katherine Helm, "Kentucky Kate" (verso), undated
Katherine Helm, "Very Sincerely Katherine Helm" (verso), undated
Katherine Helm, undated
Elodie Lewis
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr.
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., "Nov. 1867 aged 5 years and 6 months" (verso), 1867 November
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., "Ben Hardin Helm" (verso), undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., "Lovingly your Brother B.H.H." (verso), undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr., "Only a few (illegible word) left compliments of (illegible name)", undated
Hardin-Helm
Todd Family
Robert S. Todd (ambrotype), undated
"Robert S. Todd. Lexington, Ky." (verso), undated
"Mrs Robert S. Todd (Elizabeth Humphreys) at seventy-two years of age" (verso), undated
George R. Todd, undated
Martha Todd, "daughter of George R Todd" (verso), undated
Martha Todd, "daughter of George R Todd," "Port of Marti at 16 years at Cynthiana, Ky." (verso), undated
Unidentified girl, "granddaughter of George Todd" (verso), undated
Unidentified girl, "granddaughter of George Todd" (verso), undated
"Margaret Todd Kellogg, daughter of Robert S. Todd" (verso), undated
Margaret Todd Kellogg, undated
Lieutenant Daniel H. Todd, undated
Alexander Todd, "killed when 18 years old in Confederate service" (inside cover), undated
Alexander Todd, undated
Alexander Todd, undated
Elodie Todd Dawson, undated
"Elodie Briggs Dawson" (verso), undated
Samuel Todd, "Sam B. Todd Company D. Crescent Regiment n.o. June 9/81 To Aunt Emily Helm" (verso), undated
Roger North Todd, 1850
Samuel Briggs Todd, "Born near Lexington, Kentucky, May 15th, 1793. Died in Columbia, Missouri Sept 30th 1876 - a wounded soldier of the War of 1812" (verso), undated
Charles R. Todd, "Compliments of Chas. R. Todd 1st Sergt Co. F. L.J.N.Y. Crescent Regiment to Mrs. Emily T. Helm" (verso), undated
Charles R. Todd, "To Cousin Dee Helm n.o. July 13/81" (verso), undated
Charles R. Todd, "I like this picture so much better than the others - but don't like style of cravat and collar- P.R.H." "Don't lose this picture, it is very dear -Love Charles R Todd" (verso), undated
Charles R. Todd, undated
Charles R. Todd, undated
Samuel S. Todd, 1880 May
"The Three Generations of Andrew Todd McClintock" (verso), undated
Jean Thurston Todd, 1897
Lyman Beacher Todd, undated
James Todd, 1945 February 7
Mrs. Samuel Todd, undated
Lincoln Family
Abraham Lincoln, undated
Abraham Lincoln, "EX LIBRIS C.E. SIMMONS", undated
Abraham Lincoln, undated
Thomas Lincoln, undated
William Wallace, undated
Robert Todd Lincoln, undated
Robert Todd Lincoln, "To my dear Aunt Emily Helm" (verso), undated
Robert Todd Lincoln, undated
Robert Todd Lincoln, undated
Benjamin Edwards, undated
N.W. Edwards, undated
Mrs. Martha M. Stuart, undated
Mrs. Martha M. Stuart (possibly), undated
Mrs. John Todd Stuart, undated
Mary Wallace, undated
Engel H. Schmidt, Sr., Engel H. Schmidt, Jr., and Martha Ann Schmidt, 1951
Engel H. Schmidt, Sr., 1951
Engel H. Schmidt, Jr., and Martha Ann Schmidt, 1951
Family Houses
Emily Todd Helm, undated
Emily Todd Helm and unidentified woman at Helm Place, undated
Front parlor of Helm Place, 1930
Corner of the library at Helm Place, undated
Mrs. Benjamin Hardin Helm and an identified woman, undated
Mrs. Helm, Elodie Helm, Katherine Helm, and unidentified woman, undated
Unidentified house, undated
Helm Place "Miss Dee and Turkeys" (verso), 1920
Helm Place, undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm and Elodie Helm, undated
Mary Genevieve Townsend at Helm Place, 1932
Katherine Helm and Mary Townsend at Helm Place, 1932
Katherine Helm and Elodie Helm at Helm Place, undated
Helm Place entrance, undated
The garden house at Helm Place, 1930
Elodie Helm Lewis at Helm Place, undated
no image, undated
Emilie Todd Helm, Katherine Helm, Elodie Helm Lewis, and an unidentified woman at Helm Place, undated
Sketch of Mary Todd Lincoln House, 1935 February 27
Mr. and Mrs. Waller H. Lewis, 1905 March
Unidentified man and woman next to a Lincoln statue, undated
Unidentified woman with child, undated
Benjamin Hardin Helm, undated
Unidentified house, "Huckleberry" (verso), undated
Unidentified house, undated
Unidentified house, undated
Unidentified house, undated
Unidentified house, undated
Original order lots
Lot 1
Two unidentified gentlemen, 1867 October
Unidentified woman, undated
Thurston Ferree (possibly), 1867 April 2
J. Cox, undated
John Todd Stuart, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man, undated
John Johnston (possibly), 1862
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man in uniform, undated
Unidentified man, undated
View looking over the Battle of Nashville, 1864
Edward Clark Lynne (possibly), 1869 February 18
Edward Clark, 1869 March 16
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified woman, undated
Unidentified woman and child, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Picture of a statue of a man, undated
Picture of the Violet, undated
Newspaper clipping of Laura Keene, undated
Copy of Alexander Todd, undated
Lot 2
Copy of Alexander Todd, undated
Copy of Benjamin Hardin Helm, undated
Copy of Benjamin Hardin Helm as a West Point graduate, undated
Copy of Emilie Todd, undated
Copy of Emilie Todd, undated
Copy of Mrs. Todd-Dell, undated
Lot 3
Lot 4
Lot 5
Lot 6
Lot 7
Perry Dawson, undated
Stephen T. Logan, undated
John Todd Stuart, undated
Unidentified girl, undated
Unidentified girl, undated
"Jeannie Read Saupson" (verso), undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified girl, undated
Six unidentified men and three unidentified women, undated
Unidentified girl, undated
Unidentified woman and child, 1906 June
Unidentified man, 1906 June
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Copy of image 309, undated
Unidentified girl, undated
Unidentified boy, undated
Unidentified woman, undated
Unidentified woman, undated
Unidentifed woman, undated
Unidentified woman, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man, undated
Unidentified man with child, undated
Unidentified man and woman, undated
Two unidentified babies, undated
Unidentified boy, undated
Unidentified woman at John L. Helm's grave, undated
Bowman's Mill, 1898 September 19
Bowman's Mill, 1898 September 19
Unidentified pool, undated
Three unidentified women, undated
Mrs. Moran, undated
Helm Place, 1905 December 25
Unidentified house, undated
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Table of Contents
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You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.