John Helps
From the Urbana Daily Citizen we take the following extracts from a sketch of the life of the late Mr. John Helps, father of Mr. Wm. Helps, of this city: Mr. Helps was born in Frome, England, March 26th., 1806. On August 7th., 1835 he was married in Trinity Church, Trowbridge, England, by the Rev. Dr. Tulford, since Lord Bishop of Huron, Canada. Mr. Helps was originally a Wesleyan, but on coming to this country, in 1840, and settling in Springfield, he united with the Episcopal Church, and was confirmed by Bishop McIlvain. In 1849 he engaged in the news business in Springfield and is probably the oldest in that line in the State -- if not in the west. He was the first man in Ohio who sold papers on railroad trains; beginning in the year 1850 he sold the Cincinnati papers on the old Mad River and Lake Erie road, now the I., B. & W., and continued in this business until 1865, when he removed to Urbana and established the present news agency, and has lived ever since, and while his strength lasted was actively connected with the life of the city. He was a member of the first City Council and served the city as councilman in '68, '69, '75, '78 and '79. Mr. Helps was all his life attached to the active work of the Church of God. With Mr. Joseph Talbot he was one of the organizers and workers of the Howard Weaver Mission. His devotion to the Episcopal Church was remarkable. Beginning life with nothing and struggling manfully through years of poverty, he leaves behind him a comfortable property, an honored and unblemished home and a record of a good and useful life. He owed no man anything, and in all things was willing to live honestly. He was the father of nine children, four of whom are now living.
From The Mansfield Herald, November 1, 1883, Vol. 33, No. 50