2) John Baker Hellems: Elected reeve for the Village of Welland in 1859 & 1860

Vital statistics

Birth: February 3, 1794 at Chambersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, USA

Death: April 18, 1867 at Thorold, Ontario, Canada (age 73)

Burial place: Fonthill Cemetery (Find a Grave)

Parents: Mathias / Martha (née Baker)

Spouse: Martha Elizabeth (née Brown)

Children: Mary C. / Sarah Ann / John Alexander / Martha Elizabeth / Wellington / Narcissa / Egerton Ryerson

Occupations: Assessor / Construction / Farmer

Religion: Episcopalian

Political affiliation: Independent

Profile

John Baker Hellems was born February 3, 1794 at Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, USA. His parents were Mathias and Martha (née Brown) Hellems, and their family is of German origin. It was far back in 1627 that their ancestor Heinrich Hellems came from the Middle Rhine Valley in Germany to New Amsterdam (New York). The original spelling of their last name was Hjellms, of Swedish-Viking origin.

Some time after his birth, John’s parents moved from Pennsylvania to Mohawk Valley in New York State, before finally moving to Canada and settling in Crowland in 1804. They moved here because Mathias Hellems bought into a project initiated by a group of Pennsylvania Mennonites who bought a large tract of land in Upper Canada. John Baker Hellems eventually would spend nearly the whole of his active life on this farm that his parents settled in 1804.

In the War of 1812-14, his father Mathias fought on the side of the British, in defense of his new homeland. Mathias died as a result of a war wound on May 15, 1815.

His son John, the subject of this biography, also served with the Canadian Militia in 1812-14 as a private: he fought at Lundy’s Lane as a member of a flank company, as well as battles in Fort Erie and Chippawa. Later in the rebellion of 1837, he was commissioned as a captain in the loyalist ranks.

He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1840, and his most well-known anecdote comes from this time. The laborious work on the Second Welland Canal from 1840 to 1850 resulted in the bringing to the area a large number of somewhat ‘lawless’ men. The services of peace officers were frequently required, and it was said that no magistrate performed his duties more efficiently than John Hellems. The anecdote goes as such:

A military corps was stationed along the deep cut section of the Welland Canal to preserve order among those employed there. One of the officers commanding the corps was summoned before Mr. Hellems to answer to a charge of an assault on a citizen. He was indignant at being arrested: as an Army captain he felt he was above the workman who he beat up and should not have to answer for it. After paying his fine he wrote a letter to the Governor-General complaining that John Hellems, in his opinion a common county magistrate, had issued papers for his arrest and had him taken in charge of a common constable several miles along the canal, to the great injury of his feelings, dignity, etc. The Governor forwarded a copy of the complaint to Mr. Hellems and asked what defence he had to offer for interfering with the military authorities. Mr. Hellems in reply sent a copy of the information, evidence, etc., to the Governor, accompanied by a letter in which he stated “Your Excellency, you appointed me magistrate to maintain law and order in this district. If you, yourself had committed an offense I likewise would have issued a warrant for your arrest. I am your obedient servant, John Hellems, Magistrate of Crowland.” Nothing more was said of the Captain’s arrest and fine.

Of course John was also active in the local municipal government. He was passionate advocating for the separation of the counties of Lincoln and Welland, and it was his construction business that he ran with William A. Bald (another future reeve) that erected the Welland County Courthouse and Gaol in 1856. The cost of the buildings was estimated to be $100,000. The included picture is a contemporary drawing of the Courthouse, as unfortunately no pictures or illustrations can currently be found of John himself.

He was elected as a councillor and appointed as the village reeve for the years 1859 and 1860, not only becoming the first to serve a full-year term, but also the first to be re-elected. One interesting custom to note about the early days of council was that the public did not always know when they could appear before their elected officials. Council was committed to meeting once a month, but no regular day was established because council convened at the call of the reeve.

When dealing with fires, Welland did not yet have a fire service, but in 1859 the village council headed by John passed a resolution that required each house in Welland to have a ladder and two pails.

A few more interesting notes on John: he built the first bridge on Niagara Street (then known as North Main Street) to cross the Welland River in 1849. The next year he proposed a company be formed to create a plank road to connect Niagara Street and its bridge all the way to St. Catharines, now known as the Merrittville Highway. John was also one of the first shareholders in the Welland Library Company in 1825, which in 1858 merged with the Welland Mechanics Institute, and in 1895 became the Welland Public Library. Finally, Hellems Ave. was named after John as well as his prominent family.

These are the words describing John’s character from his obituary published in the St. Catharines Evening Journal from April 20, 1867: “He was not possessed of a brilliant education, but his thorough practical good sense, and his close observation of human nature, joined with unswerving integrity and sound business tact, enabled him to fill creditably the different responsible positions occupied. He died full of years, and was highly respected by all who enjoyed the honor of his acquaintance.”

Sources

Evening Tribune, January 11, 1971.
“First reeves Of Welland Were Named From Council Ranks.” Evening Tribune, June 29, 1963.
“Former clerk watched village grow.” Evening Tribune, July 18, 1983.
Hellems, F.J. “The Genealogy of Mathias Hellems & His Descendants” (1982), 1-7.
“The Late John Hellems, Esq.” The Evening Journal, April 20, 1867.
Lewis, William H. “Welland River bridge.” The Tribune, July 18, 2008.
Lewis, William H. “Aqueduct, Merrittsville and Welland: A History of the City of Welland, Vol. 2” (2000), 116.
Rice, A.B. “Welland’s Horse and Buggy Days.” Welland-Port Colborne Evening Tribune. July 11, 1944.
Welland Telegraph, April 18, 1867.
Welland Tribune Printing House, “The History of Welland County” (1887), 567-568.