In 1780 Helm's grandfather, Thomas Helm, emigrated to Kentucky from Prince William County, Virginia and founded the settlement of Helm Station near Elizabethtown, Kentucky in Hardin County, where John L. Helm was born on July 4, 1802.[1][2][3] He was the eldest of nine children born to George B. Helm, a farmer and politician, and Rebecca LaRue Helm, a descendant of a prominent local pioneer family.[2][4]