R. P. HELMAN (deceased), was a native of Center County, Penn. His parents removed to Wayne County, Ohio, when he was a youth, settling upon a farm near Wooster, where the remainder of their days were passed. Our subject, in 1836, came with D. S. Simons to Noble County, and located some [sic] land near Lisbon. Returning to Ohio, they remained until 1844, when the two families came to this county in a one-horse wagon, settling upon their land in Allen Township. Mr. Helman was an active and progressive man, at various times engaged in mercantile and milling enterrises. In 1850, he removed to Grant County, Wis, [sic] remaining there only one year, then returning remained here until his death, in 1872. He was for several years a resident of Kendallville, and, in connection with his son, H. L. Helman, carried on the hardware trade for severl years. He was a member of the Methodist Church, and a typical pioneer. His wife, whose maiden name was Louisa M. Smith, was a native of Stark County, Ohio, and daughter of Ralph Smith. She is now living with her son in Kendallville. Three children from this union now survive: H. L. Helman, in Kendallville; Doran and Gordon in Kansas; give are deceased -- Ralph, Juline Sherman, Mary, Eliabeth and Lucretia.
Goodspeed, Weston A, Richard Collins, Thomas R. Marshall, W. L. Matthews; Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana: historical and biographical; Chicago, F. A. Battey & Co., 1882, p. 305.