Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  pp. 369-70.

DR. ELMER THOMPSON HELMS

Of the many adopted sons of Oregon who have achieved preeminence in
professional lines Dr. Elmer Thompson Helms, a well known chiropractor of
Hillsboro, is one of the most notable and progressive. A native of Missouri he
was born in 1878, the son of Simon and Mary (Cassity) Helms. His father, a
pioneer among Ohio farmers, married into a family who had tilled the soil of
Kentucky for generations and true to his ancestry, upon completing his education
in the public schools of Missouri, the son turned first to farming. He was
ambitious and energetic, however, and not content to confine his interests to
agricultural pursuits entirely. From being a clerk in a local store and later a
traveling salesman, he became in six months the district superintendent of an
insurance company with headquarters at Moberly, Missouri. In 1913, while
traveling through Oregon, he became so impressed with the climatic conditions
and business possibilities of the state that he resigned his position and took
up his residence here. At this time the bill which has since been enacted into a
law legalizing the practice of chiropractic, was then before the legislature.
The young man entered Pacific College, registering for the full course for which
twenty-four hundred hours were requisite for a diploma. He graduated in 1915
and began his practice in Portland, whence after a few months he removed to
Hillsboro. His offices here, equipped with the most modern devices known to the
profession, as for instance the oxygen generator used with such eminent success
in tubercular and bronchial cases, as well as all the modern electrical
equipment, attest the efficiency and progressiveness of Dr. Helms.

In 1901 Dr. Helms married Mary J. Hawkins, whose father, J. M. Hawkins, was one
of Missouri's notable veterans of the Civil war. Their daughter, Ruth Esther, is
a student in the Hillsboro high school and is already an accomplished violinist.
Mrs. Helms is one of Hillsboro's most popular hostesses and is active in club
circles. That Dr. Helms' social eminence parallels his professional success is
apparent from the fact of his triple fraternal affiliations with the Masons, the
Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias of which he is an active member.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. 
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.