[LINCOLN] KENTUCKY PIONEER DOCUMENT, Hardin County [Elizabethtown], Ky., 1806, 1p, about 7-1/4 x 7-1/2". AUTOGRAPH DOCUMENT SIGNED by BEN HELM (1779-1858). Born in Virginia, his father, Thomas Helm, moved his family to Hardin County, Kentucky in 1780. Young Ben thus became a pioneer and became noted for his success as an Indian fighter. Major Ben Helm was the uncle of John Larue Helm, governor of Kentucky and grandfather of Confederate General Ben Hardin Helm who married Emilie Todd, sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. Ben Helm, married Mary Edwards, the daughter of Benjamin Edwards and was a sister of Governor Ninian Edwards. It was the governor's son and namesake who married Elizabeth Todd, sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. Thus there was a connection with Mary Todd Lincoln on both sides of Ben Helm's family. Ben Helm was a prominent citizen of Elizabethtown who served as a merchant and bank president. He was County Surveyor and was a member of the Town Board, Clerk of Hardin County Court and the Circuit Court and a major in the War of 1812. He as County Surveyor and the first to survey Elizabethtown, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. Helm built the first brick house in Elizabethtown that became an important social and meeting center of town. On May 28, 1860, Abraham Lincoln referred to Ben Helm in a letter to Samuel Haycraft. Ben Helm also became the owner of the Christopher Bush farm. It was Bush's daughter Sarah that became Abraham Lincoln's step-mother when Abe's mother, Nancy Hanks died of milk disease. To the Sheriff of Breckenridge County [Ky], a summons for a Ralph [can't make out the last name], to appear before the Judges of Hardin Co., defendant was John Miller.

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