Tombstone Tuesday ~ Colonel Charles E. Balch, buried 1884 at Manchester, New Hampshire

These tombstones were photographed at the Valley Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire.

COL. CHARLES E. BALCH                                   EMELINE R. BROOKS

BORN IN FRANCESTOWN MAR. 17, 1834     BORN IN GILFORD SEPT. 2, 1842

DIED IN MANCHESTER OCT. 18, 1884     DIED IN MANCHESTER NOV. 1, 1901

Charles Edward Balch, son of Mason Balch and Hannah Holt, was born on 17 March 1834 in Francestown, New Hampshire, and died 18 October 1884; married on 30 July 1867 in Bath, Maine to Emeline R. Brooks, the daughter of Reverend Nahum Brooks and his wife Rebecca.  She was born in Gilford, New Hampshire on 2 September 1842.

Charles Balch was a clerk and cashier for many years at the Manchester Savings Bank until January 1884.  He was also a trustee of the bank for 21 years until just before his death. A schooner built at Bath, Maine was named for him, the C. E. Balch.  It was 840 tons and launched on 15 July 1882.  He belonged to the Washington Lodge of Masons in Manchester.  He served for two years in the New Hampshire Militia under Governor Nathaniel Head, where he received his title of “Colonel”.  Governor Head was the Adjutant General of the New Hampshire Militia from 1864 to 1870.

Charles and his wife, Emeline, had no children.  They lived at a mansion at 1799 Elm Street in Manchester, designed by James T. Fanning who also built the First Congregational Church.  Emeline's memorial page at the Find A Grave website has an interesting story about a possible suicide, written up by Manchester historian Pat Van Den Berghe.  See this link: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=63695924   

Charles Edward Balch is the 6^th great grandson of his immigrant ancestor, John Balch (d. 1648) of Beverly, Massachusetts.  He is my sixth cousin 3 generations removed.

For the truly curious:

"Captains of Industry" from cities like Manchester during the Victorian era often have their genealogy or biographies written up in a lot of “brag books” you can find online. 

Genealogy of the Balch Families in America, by Galusha B. Balch 1879 available at Internet Archive https://achive.org    see #1564 on page 380 - 381 for a sketch of Charles E. Balch.

At the “Balchipedia” website “The Encyclopedia of Balch History” there is a sketch of Charles Edward Balch at this link:  http://balchipedia.wikidot.com/col-charles-e-balch 

Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men, by John B. Clark, 1882, page 141 for a photograph and sketch of Charles E. Balch.

Manchester, A Brief Record of its Past and A Picture of Its Present, by John B. Clark, 1875, pages 375 – 376 for a sketch about Charles E. Balch.

History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, by J. W. Lewis & Co., 1885, page 134 for a sketch of Charles E. Balch.

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Colonel Charles E. Balch, buried 1884 at Manchester, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 1, 2017, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/08/tombstone-tuesday-colonel-charles-e.html: accessed [access date]).