Wilson, Douglas L., ed; Davis, Rodney O., ed. 'Register of Informants' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon737.html

Helm was born in Kentucky, where he studied law and operated a store in Elizabethtown. Later he practiced law and held appointive offices, being politically a states' rights Democrat. In 1852 he moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he became interested in real estate development, practiced law, and was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas. (History of Marion County, Missouri [Belmont, Calif., 1979])