Joshua Helms died while in Confederate Service.
Joshua Helms was born in what is now Union County, on May 11, 1831. At the age of 18, on Nov.12, 1849 he married Miss Caroline Crowell. They made their home in Goose Creek Township where Joshua provided for his family by farming and raising most of the food they ate.
On May 10, 1862, at the age of 31, Joshua left his family and volunteered to serve in the Confederate States Army. Joshua’s military service was very short. On Aug. 24, 1862, he was admitted to Episcopal Church Hospital, Williamsburg, Va. suffering from typhoid fever. He died just five days later at South Carolina Hospital, Petersburg, Va.
On Nov. 10, 1862 Caroline Helms made application to the C.S.A. for the belongings of her late husband. The certificates filed by the commanding officer at Fredricksburg, Va. on Dec. 8, 1862, state that Joshua Helms, deceased, was a Private in Captain Turner’s Co.A, 48th Regiment, that he was 31 years of age, 5 ft. 10 in. tall, fair complexion with blue eyes and red hair and that he was due $21.62 pay from July 1, 1862 until death.
There is no record of when Joshua’s body was returned to Union county but family records indicate that he was buried at Lucy Helms cemetary, now located beside Hillcrest Baptist Church.
Caroline Helms managed to raise five healthy children without remarrying. In later years she lived with her youngest son, Jefferson Davis. She died July 23, 1845 and was also buried at Lucy Helms cemetary.
Genealogical Information:
Joshua Helms
Father: Emanuel Helms
Mother: Mary Pyron
Married: Caroline Catherine Crowell
Her father: Johnny Crowell
Her mother: Catherine Bost
Children: Melissa Adaline, Rebecca P., Eford Durant, Alice Roxanna, William Stafford (died young), Jefferson Davis.
Source: Margaret Price from a newspaper (perhaps Charlotte Observer) serving Indian Trail, NC printed in 1983
Transcribed for this website by: Belinda Sellers Guerette