Missouri became home to many immigrants from Germany during the 19th century. Travelers from Germany such as Gottfried Duden visited Missouri and wrote glowing reports of the fertile soil, the availability of land, and the opportunities for success available to those willing to work hard. The travelers also praised the political and personal freedoms of the United States.
Some immigrants sailed to New Orleans and traveled up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to the western states. Other immigrants landed at the East Coast ports and moved overland to the west. The German immigrants brought their skills and often their tools, as well as their knowledge of farming, mechanics, building, winemaking, and brewing.
Like many immigrants, Germans formed organizations that celebrated their ethnic heritage. They also established churches which taught and preached in the German language.
Many German immigrants came to Pettis County where they established thriving farms. Those who settled in Sedalia often became merchants and businessmen. One of those was Fred Helm, described in the Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson and Pettis Counties in 1895, as “one of the most enterprising businessmen in Sedalia.”
Helm was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1852. His father, Andreas Helm, was a farmer and manager of a hotel. His mother, Annie Maria Esslinger Helm, bore seven children, six of whom survived into adulthood. He attended schools in Wurtemberg until he was 18, when he began to study to become a baker and confectioner.
In 1872, the steamship Hohenzollern left Bremmen, Germany, with Helm on board. He landed in Baltimore and traveled to Kansas City. He worked as a baker there for about three years before moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. Louis, before settling in Sedalia in 1875. He worked in Sedalia as a baker and confectioner for four years until poor health forced him to change occupations.
Helm married Mary Siebe. The couple had one daughter, Ida, before Mary died. Helm later married Maggie Wolf.
Helm opened a bottling works on Main Street and managed it well for seven years. He moved to Kansas City, opened a grocery store and purchased property, but returned to Sedalia in 1890, keeping his Kansas City real estate. He became a member of Heurmann and Company when he purchased J. S. McFadden’s interest in the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association, a large beer brewery located in St. Louis. Within a year, he became sole agent for the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company in Sedalia.
The business was located at 213 South Osage Avenue. At 213 South Osage Avenue, Helm also maintained a steam powered bottling works which was able to keep two delivery wagons busy. His business buildings included an icehouse, storerooms, and stable.
Helms also maintained a “large interest” in real estate, owning buildings and lots in Sedalia and maintaining properties he had purchased while living in Kansas City.
A strong supporter of the Democratic Party, Helm was interested in politics. He maintained his connection to his German heritage as a member of two organization in which he held offices. He served as the secretary of Sons of Herman for many years and was a trustee in the Leiderkrouz.
Helm’s success certainly demonstrated the accuracy of Duden’s assertion that a German immigrant willing to work hard could succeed in Missouri.
