I’m glad to be writing about John Balch now, especially
since I attended the Balch family reunion in Beverly, Massachusetts this fall,
and at this meeting the newest edition of the Balch genealogy was debuted (see
below). It’s always fun to see your own
name in print (check out pages 668 and 743!)
I’m also glad to write about the Balch family because the homestead of
John Balch is still standing and is located just a few blocks from where I grew
up in Beverly, Massachusetts. For
twelve generations in a row this lineage has lived in the city of Beverly.
John Balch arrived in the New World as part of the
Dorchester Company, which came to Cape Ann, Massachusetts to fish. Some of these men decided to stay and settle,
and eventually joined the colony at Salem headed up by Conant. These families
are known as “The Old Planters”.
According to Charles Edward Banks in his book Planters of the
Commonwealth, John Balch arrived in 1624 aboard the Zouch Phenix, a consort of the Unity,
with the Balch, Woodbury and Gardner families. Other Old Planter families include Trask, Jeffrey, Palfrey, Allen, Norman and Knight. I
descend from the families highlighted in yellow.
John Balch was granted land in Salem and in the area that is
now the city of Beverly, Massachusetts. This land was bequeathed to his wife
Annis/Agnes and to his oldest son Benjamin (my 8th great
grandfather). This is the land where the
Balch house still stands, operated as a museum by the Beverly Historical
Society. Archeological digs in the front
yard show that a much earlier house once stood there, probably John Balch’s
original homestead.
Benjamin Balch married Sarah Gardner, the daughter of
another Old Planter. All his children
were born in the Balch house. He was
married three times. The Balch family
was only slightly involved with the 1692 Salem witch hysteria. There is a deposition by the wife of Benjamin
Balch, Junior against Sarah Bishop, and a mention of the Balch family in a
deposition by Mary Gage against Dorcas Hoar of Beverly. Benjamin’s son, Freeborn Balch (1660 – 1729),
married Miriam Moulton, who brother, John Moulton, was married to Elizabeth
Corey, the daughter of Giles Corey who died while being tortured to confess as
a witch on 19 September 1692 in Salem.
For the truly curious:
Descendants of John Balch, by Robin Balch Hodgkins (an update
to Genealogy of the Balch Family in America by Galusha Balch, 1897), published
by the Beverly Historical Society, Beverly, Massachusetts, 2014.
The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620 - 1633,
by Robert Charles Anderson, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston,
Massachusetts, 1995, page 84 -86.
My Balch Genealogy:
Generation 1: John
Balch, born in England and died 25 May 1648 in Salem, Massachusetts; married
first to Margery Unknown (mother of his
children), she died 1682; he married second to Annis Unknown. Three
children.
Generation 2:
Benjamin Balch, born about 1628 in Beverly, died after January 1715 in
Beverly, married first about 1650 to Sarah Gardner (mother of his children),
daughter of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Frier; married on 5 February 1688/9 in
Marblehead to Abigail Clarke; married third 15 March 1691/2 in Beverly to Grace
Mallet. Eleven children.
Generation 3: Mary
Balch, born about 1667 in Beverly, died 12 March 1737 in Beverly; married on 26
March 1689 in Beverly to Nathaniel Stone, son of Nathaniel Stone and Remember
Corning. He was born 15 September 1663 in
Salem and died 23 February 1741 in Beverly.
Nine children.
Generation 4: Josiah Stone m. Dorithy Fuller
Generation 5: Josiah Stone m. Martha Ashby
Generation 6: Josiah Stone m. Susanna Hix
Generation 7: Eunice Stone m. Peter Hoogerzeil
Generation 8: Peter
Hoogerzeil m. Mary Etta Healey
Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell
Hitchings
Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer
Allen (my grandparents)
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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/surname-saturday-balch-of-beverly.html
Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
I like your blog very well. I have just started a similar one with my own ancestors. I descend through Freeborn. We took a vacation a few years ago to the area and were very excited to find his headstone! Massachusetts has done a fantastic job in preserving history. I loved all the historic name plates on the houses and the streets are all named after my ancestors still.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by my blog! I wish you had left the URL of your new blog, especially since we have a cousin connection.
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