Surname Saturday ~ WELCH of Kittery, Maine

WELCH

This is another “brickwall” ancestress mystery.  Margaret Welch was born about 1796.  I don’t know if she was born there or not, but Kittery was listed as her birthplace on her death record.  (Interestingly, her son William F. Locke is listed as the town clerk on the death record in Chichester, New Hampshire)  There are WELCH families listed in the vital records of Kittery and York County, Maine, but I could not find a match to Margaret, who is my 4^th great grandmother.   Phillip Welch (about 1638 – 1700) of Ipswich, Massachusetts was a colonial settler who left many descendants in York, Maine through his son Moses.

In 1823 in Chichester, New Hampshire Margaret Welch married Captain Richard Locke, who was a sea captain.   He was listed in the 1850 and 1860 Federal censuses as living in Chichester, New Hampshire as a farmer.  In the 1860 census Richard Locke was living with a widowed daughter Abigail (Locke) Batchelder and her 11 year old grandson, George, my 2^rd great grandfather.  He was also living with her other widowed daughter, Mehitable (Locke) Brown, and her little granddaughter, Etta, age 3.  Poor Margaret had died about a month before this 1860 census record!

Sometimes, just knowing an ancestress’s maiden name can help break a brick wall, but in this case I still don’t know Margaret’s parents or even her true place of birth. 

My WELCH lineage:

Generation 1:  Margaret WELCH, born about 1796, maybe in Kittery, Maine, and died 1 March 1860 in Chichester, New Hampshire; married on 21 October 1823 in Chichester to Captain Richard Locke.  Three children.

Generation 2:  Abigail M. Locke m. George E. Batchelder

Generation 3:  George E. Batchelder, Jr., m. Mary Katharine Emerson

Generation 4:  Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

Generation 5:  Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ WELCH of Kittery, Maine", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 28, 2016,  (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/05/surname-saturday-welch-of-kittery-maine.html: accessed [access date]).