Seena Adeline (Baucom) Helms (1906 - 1985)

Born 2 Sep 1906 in Goose Creek township, Union County, North Carolina, USA

Ancestors

Wife of Martin Lukrain Helms — married 17 Mar 1932 in Pageland, Chesterfield County, South Carolina

Descendants

Died 17 Jan 1985 at age 78 in Monroe, Union County, North Carolina, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Debi Hoag [send private message]

Biography

Seena Adeline Baucom was born on 2 September 1906^[1] in Union County, North Carolina^[2] to James Thomas Calvin and Laura Catherine Smith Baucom.^[3] Her date of birth on three sources did not agree.^[4][5]

Seena once told her grandnephew, Munroe Purvis, that her childhood nickname was Hundiggie or Huns.^[6] She attended Unionville High School and was a member of the class in 1927.^[7]

Marriage

She married Martin L Helms on 17 March 1932 in Pageland, Chesterfield County, South Carolina.^[8][9] During a 1981 newspaper interview, Seena said, "My husband had to borrow $10 so we could get married, we were so poor. And he had to walk to Kannapolis [approx 35 miles] to get it."^[10] The couple remained on the Baucom family farm with her widowed mother. Over the course of sixteen years, she bore 10 children^[11], nine of whom lived to adulthood.^[12][13]

Child: Laura Rachel Helms

Child: Jackson Dewey Helms

Child: Margaret Phillips Helms

Child: Female Helms

Child: Thomas Martin Helms

Child: Mary McNeely Helms

Child: Carolyn Marie Helms

Child: Joseph Robert Helms

Child: Female Helms

Child: Female Helms

Events

All nine of those children and most of their grandchildren attended a 1982 celebration of their 50th anniversary held at Shiloh Advent Christian Church.^[14] A professional photographer was in attendance and took numerous pictures of different generational configurations.^[15]

Martin and Seena continued to work the family farm on Brief Road outside Monroe through 1962.^[10] Her knowledge of the craft and love of the land shone through in the diary she kept during a 1977 trip to see her son, Thomas, in Germany:

• "Saw a pasture of sheep and many cows. It is haymaking time in Germany."
• "We drove thru much farming country dairying and sheep farming seems to be predominant"
• "Hay mowing time in the villages. The mountains are breathtaking and unbelievably beautiful"^[16]

As a young woman, Seena learned and sang many songs both in church and at events. Folkways Records (now Smithsonian Folkways) included her singing five songs on two vinyl recordings. First was Hand-Me-Down Music: Old Songs, Old Friends - Vol. 1 Traditional Music of Union County, North Carolina in 1979 followed by Volume 2 in 1980.^[17][18] In 1981 she was interviewed by David Perlmutt of The Union Observer. In the article, published on 27 September 1981, Seena talked about the old songs she learned growing up and the records she made with Karen Helms (no relation) for Folkways Records. A second article on the page tells about the Red Clay Reunion where Seena would be singing the next weekend.^[10]

Death

Seena died on 17 January 1985 in Monroe, Union County, North Carolina^[19] and was buried in the Shiloh Advent Christian Church Cemetery, Union County, North Carolina^[20] on 19 January 1985 with Hartsell Funeral Home of Midland, North Carolina, was in charge of arrangements^[21]

Sources

1. ↑ Union County, North Carolina, Birth Certificates of eight children found in the Union County Register of Deeds Office, Monroe, North Carolina 28111 USA. Seena's age matches with year of birth on eight of ten children's certificates based on child's birth month and year. Rachel - Seena's age (26) in October 1932; (27) in January 1934; (29) in September 1935; (30) in April 1937; (33) in February 1940; Mary - Seena's age (34) in July 1941; Carolyn - Seena's age (35) in August 1942; (42) in November 1948
2. ↑ Union County, North Carolina, Birth Certificates of Seena's first five children found in Union County Register of Deeds, Monroe, North Carolina 28111 USA. Certificates include county and state of birth. The other five children's certificates only list state.
3. ↑ Helms, Seena Baucom, U. S. Social Security Act Application for Account Number dated 12 April 1965; Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-0001 United States of America. Call Number: SS-5: 245-80-0332; Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida. Includes name at application; name, date, and place at birth; and both parent's names.
4. ↑ Union County, North Carolina, Birth Certificates of two children. Union County Register of Deeds, Monroe, North Carolina 28111 USA. Seena's age does not match with year of birth on two children's certificates based on children's birth month and year. - (37) in November 1944; (38) in April 1946
5. ↑ Fall 1982 Valentine Smith Reunion Program (pdf); Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida.
6. ↑ Purvis, Munroe. Notes collected for a school project; Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida. Original notes were given to Debi Hoag by Munroe's mother, Laura Alice (Love) Purvis, after his death.
7. ↑ Outen, Essie May. Unionville 1885-1985 A History of the First Hundred Years (1986). Monroe Library, Union County, North Carolina. North Carolina Reference Section NC R 975.6 0; copy privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida. Page 54 is an undated (circa 1980s) reunion picture of the class of 1927 with most members named. Seena Baucom Helms is on the left in the third row.
8. ↑ Helms, Martin L and Baucom, Seena, Chesterfield County, South Carolina Marriage License #138; FamilySearch, database with images, Film # 007748157, "Chesterfield County, South Carolina original marriage licenses, 1911-1951" > Marriage licenses, folders 136-146, 1931-1932 > image 416-417 of 1849 > Mr Martin L Helms and Miss Seena Baucom (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91J-BWGM-5 and https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91J-BWR5-1 : accessed 26 September 2018); copy held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida.
9. ↑ Shiloh Advent Christian Church, Union County, North Carolina. Headstone pictures and transcription of headstone made by Rachel Helms McGee in August 1995; Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} Permutt, David. The Union Observer. Old Songs Add Bright Note To Seena Helms's Life. 27 September 1981. Page 3, Gives the story of their marriage (transcript); Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida.
11. ↑ Union County, North Carolina, Birth Certificates of ten children found in the Union County Register of Deeds Office, Monroe, North Carolina 28111 USA.
12. ↑ Shiloh Advent Christian Church, Union County, North Carolina. Headstone pictures and transcription of headstone made by Rachel Helms McGee in August 1995; Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida. Mary McNeely Helms headstone
13. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWQ2-SZG : 1 August 2019), Seena Helms in household of Martin Helms, Goose Creek Township, Union, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 90-7, sheet 12A, line 23, family 192, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2979.
14. ↑ The Enquirer-Journal (Monroe, Union County, North Carolina). 11 April 1982, Page 4D, Martin and Seena Baucom Helms 50th Anniversary gives details of the reception held in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Martin L Helms.
15. ↑ Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida.
16. ↑ Helms, Seena Baucom, July 1977 Germany Trip Diary. Original in the possession of and transcript created by her granddaughter, Debi Hoag.
17. ↑ SFC Audio Open Reel 11246: Seena Helms, Wingate; Bascom Traywick, Marshville : Side 1, Side 2 and SFC Audio Open Reel 11250: Seena Helms, Wingate, N.C. : Side 1, and SFC Audio Open Reel 11253: Karen Helms, Horace Helms, Bascom Traywick, Seena Helms, 3 November 1977: Side 1 in the Karen Helms Pressley Collection #20324, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
18. ↑ Seena Helms, playlist, iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com : accessed 26 December 2020).
19. ↑ Baucom, Seena Adeline, Standard Certificate of Death, Union County, North Carolina, Book 71, Page 155. Recorded 22 January 1985, Union County Register of Deeds, Monroe, North Carolina 28111 USA; Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida. Provides name, spouse's name, parents' names, dates and locations of birth and death, residence, funeral home, and cemetery. Note: at 9:00 pm of renal failure as a consequence of hypertension, diabetes and coronary disease. Other significant conditions contributing to death but not related to cause given earlier include metastatic carcinoma of right breast.
20. ↑ Shiloh Advent Christian Church, Union County, North Carolina headstone pictures and transcription of headstone made by Rachel Helms McGee in August 1995; Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida.
21. ↑ Baucom, Seena Adeline, Standard Certificate of Death, Union County, North Carolina, Book 71, Page 155. Recorded 22 January 1985, Union County Register of Deeds, Monroe, North Carolina 28111 USA; Privately held by Debi McGee Hoag, Leesburg, Florida. Provides name, spouse's name, parents' names, dates and locations of birth and death, residence, funeral home, and cemetery.

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://new.findagrave.com : accessed 04 October 2017), memorial page for Seena A Baucom Helms (2 Sep 1906–17 Jan 1985), Find A Grave: Memorial #32701240, citing Shiloh Advent Christian Church Cemetery, Monroe, Union County, North Carolina, USA; Maintained by DSM (contributor 46945108).
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML9F-3DX : accessed 26 December 2020), Sena Baucom in household of James T C Baucom, Goose Creek Township, Union, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 120, sheet 11B, family 164, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1134; FHL microfilm 1,375,147.
• "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZJ4-W7Y : accessed 26 December 2020), Sena Baucom in household of James T C Baucom, Union, North Carolina, United States; citing ED 146, sheet 2B, line 87, family 34, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1324; FHL microfilm 1,821,324.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X378-PHZ : accessed 26 December 2020), Seuie Baucom in household of Lana Baucom, Goose Creek Township, Union, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 7, sheet 2B, line 53, family 27, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1724; FHL microfilm 2,341,458.
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J28H-F3P : 4 December 2020), Seena Helms, Jan 1985; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

• North Carolina Folklife Festival, Elizabeth Cotten, Seena Helms, Algia Mae Hinton, Joe Holley, L. W. Lambert, Letha McDaniels, Wendy McDaniels, Ola Belle Reed, and Addie Randy Ward Smith. 1978. Folklife section collection. WorldCat record
• Department of Cultural Resources > Arts Council Record Group > Folklife Program: Master Tapes > Folklife Program: Master Tapes: Audio > audio cassette NCFF78 C-3-6 & C-3-7: Libba Cotten, Seena Helms: Folklife Section collection: Libba Cotten 375c-376c. SFC call #: PM 375-376; State Archives of North Carolina