^^ '"Hi L . o > ^°-v -4. o " . . o • A* O - . , • »c a" * j\\ s» /)l "^ /%,• ,* v W g^ "k "^?rr* y at 1 » X v jfirst Reunion anb ©rgamjatton of tfje $5alcf) Jfamtlp gls&octatton ON Thursday, June 29, 1905, at the invitation of the Old Planters Society of New England, more than fifty descendants of John Balch met on the land granted to him in 1635, at the old Balch homestead, corner of Cabot and Balch Streets, North Beverly, Mass., and a family association was organized by the choice of the following officers : President Galusha B. Balch, M.D., 136 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, N. Y. Vice-President George W. Balch, 656 Jefferson Ave., Detroit, Mich. Secretary William Lincoln Balch, 406 Ruggles St. (Back Bay P. O.), Boston, Mass. There was a very pleasant informal gathering and reception, including a basket luncheon, in the orchard of the old place, the more formal exercises being opened by an address of welcome by Dr. Frank A. Gardner, of the Old Planters Society, introducing Dr. Galusha B. Balch, the historian of the family, who, more than any other individual, had made the gathering possible by an expenditure of time, labor, and money in years of genea- logical research that only the satisfaction attending a good work well done can ever compensate. Dr. Balch pre- siding, the officers above named were chosen. REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF Prayer was offered by the Reverend H. J. White, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Beverly. Frank A. Gardner, M.D., of Salem, Vice-President of the Old Planters Society, next made a very interesting historical address, detailing the sequence of events which brought John Balch and his associates to this particular spot. George W. Balch, Esq., of Detroit, Mich., then read a lengthy and instructive paper upon the Balch family and its characteristic traits of steadfast probity and patriotism. He was followed by Francis Noyes Balch, Esq., of Boston, who dwelt upon the significance of the close interweaving of the threads of descent by which the present representatives of all the first settlers of New England are now connected by three-fold cords, and then warned his hearers — as the descendants of an immigrant who, at the end of a long life of faithful endeavor, was u worth" only some $500 or $600 in worldly goods, aside from the land that had been given him — not to pride them- selves too much upon unmixed blood or an assumed superiority to those other immigrants who are still coming to this country by the thousand, animated by the same ambitions and cherishing the same high hopes that induced John Balch to try his fortunes in a new world. Samuel W. Balch, Esq., of New York City, son of Dr. Balch, who had already contributed largely to the success of the meeting by the preparation of elaborate genealogical " family trees" of the main stem of the Balch tribe and its branches, closed the exercises of the day by reading a clever and ingenious paper on " Heredity," in which he supplemented and reinforced the general line of thought of the preceding speaker. The following list of persons of the Balch name or blood who were present is very likely imperfect, and the secretary would like to have his attention called to any 4 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION error or omission noted. The numbers prefixed to the names refer to those in Dr. Balch's history of the family : Descendant of (5) Dea Samuel, (21) Dea Samuel, (66) Nathaniel (603-1272- ) Mrs. Daisie Baich Wake, St. Johnsbury, Vt., 33 Pembroke St., Boston, Mass. Descendants of (5) Dea Samuel, (22) Joseph, (70) Ebenezer (625- - ) Galusha B. Balch, M.D., i36Warburton Ave., Yonkers, N. Y. (625-1294- ) Mr. and Mrs. Samuel W. Balch and three young sons, Samuel Andrews, Thomas Vickroy, and William Atlee Balch, 67 Wall St., New York (h. Montclair, N.J.)- Descendants of (6) Benjamin, (31) Joseph, (91) Benjamin, (168) Captain Hart (670-1333- ) Francis E. Balch, 6 Washburn St., Water- town, Mass. Represented by his son (2042), who was present. (670-1333-2042) Frederic H. Balch, 6 Washburn St., Water- town, Mass. (670-1333-2043) Mrs. Addie Balch Richardson, 6 Palfrey St., Watertown, Mass. Carl Balch Richardson, 6 Palfrey St., Water- town, Mass. (672-1337- ) John H. Balch, 181 High St., Newbury- port, Mass. Represented by his son (2049), who was present. (672-1337-2049) John H. Balch, Jr., 62 Washington St., Newburyport, Mass. (673-1345- ) Mrs. Helen Burton Balch Fowler, 164 High St., Newburyport, Mass. 5 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF Descendants of (6) Benjamin, (31) Joseph, (91) Benjamin, (170) Nathaniel, (334) Captain Nathaniel (679-1346- ) Mr. and Mrs. William Lincoln Balch, 3 Austin St., Back Bay, Boston, Mass. Descendant of (6) Benjamin, (31) Joseph, (91) Benjamin, (172) Captain Joseph (681-1349-2052) Miss Mary Howard Balch, 272 Benefit St., Providence, R. I. Descendant of (6) Benjamin, (33) Abigail Mrs. Henry W. Wilkinson, 168 Bowen St., Providence, R. I. Descendant of (7) John, (39) John, (97) Andrew, (100) John, (175) John (687-1359-2059) Miss Edith Maria Balch, 135 Orange St., Chelsea, Mass. Descendants of (7) John, (39) John, (97) Andrew, (179) Lieutenant Benjamin (71 i-i 429-2 146) Alfred C. Balch, 227 South Sixth St., Phila- delphia, Pa. (h. Lansdowne, Pa.). (741-1480- ) Karl O. Balch, Lunenburg, Vt. Descendants of (7) John, (40) Israel, (103) Joshua (393- ~ ) Miss Amelia S. Knight, Providence, R. I. (193- — ) Mrs. Francis A. Foster, 1 Quincy Park, Beverly. (193- ) Mrs. S. J. Foster, 265 Lafayette St., Salem, Mass. (193- — ) Mrs. William James Kavanagh, 26 Prospect Ave., Winthrop, Mass. (193- - ) Leslie B. Grant, 30 Ridgeway St., Lynn, Mass. (Descendants of John Balch Grant.) 6 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION (822-1603- ) Mr. and Mrs. William H. Balch, 365 Main St., Stoneham, Mass. (838-1612- ) Mrs. Henry G. Gowing, 23 Yale Ave., Wakefield, Mass. (838-1613- ) Miss Annie Gertrude Balch, 23 Yale Ave., Wakefield, Mass. Descendants of (7) John, (47) David, (115) John (926-1666-2323) Miss Grace W. Balch, 434 Westford St., Lowell, Mass. (942-1710-2355) Miss Estella E. Balch, Johnson, Vt., Thompson's Island, Boston, Mass. (946-171 1-2555) John Neil Balch, Kennebunkport, Me. (960—1734- ) Ossian E. Balch, 28 East Brookline St., Boston, Mass. (974— — ) Benjamin Johnson Balch, Topsfield, Mass. (Senior Balch present.) Descendants of (9) Freeborn, (52) Benjamin, (51) Freeborn (1000— - ) Elizabeth Genthner, Waldoboro, Me. (1000- - ) Mrs. Herbert A. Hastings, 56 Walnut St., Somerville, Mass. Miss Gladys Balch Hastings, 56 Walnut St., Somerville, Mass. (Descendants of (233) Wesley Perkins Balch. ) (1004- - ) Mrs. Elizabeth L. Tuttle, 66 Chestnut St., Boston, Mass. (1007- - ) Miss Elizabeth A. Balch, 92 Charles St., Boston, Mass. Descendants of (9) Freeborn, (52) Benjamin, (124) Rev. Thomas ( 1 027-1 799-2391) Mrs. Ida Balch Yoe, Syracuse, N. Y. (1069- - ) George W. Balch, 656 Jefferson Ave., Detroit, Mich. 7 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF (1069-1839- ) Mrs. Elizabeth Balch Ranney, 130 Alfred St., Detroit, Mich. (124- - ) Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Torrey, Man- chester, Mass. Descendants of (9) Freeborn, (58) Rev. William, (127) Dea William (108$- - ) Mrs. Ann Mary Balch Pemberton and husband, Mr. Luther K. Pemberton, Groveland, Mass. Descendants of (9) Freeborn, (58) Rev. William, (131) Nathaniel (1 145-1899- ) Miss Anne L. Balch, Prince St., Jamaica Plain, Mass. (1 145-1903- ) Mr. and Mrs. Francis N. Balch, 52 Eliot St., Jamaica Plain, Mass. (1151- _ j Miss Laura A. Balch, 232 High St., New- buryport, Mass. (11 54- - ) Mrs. Mary Nelson Balch Blood, 232 High St., Newburyport, Mass. John Balch Blood, 232 High St., New- buryport, Mass. Benjamin Balch Dodge, Beverly, Mass., born in the old house. Mrs. Mary Ann Bowden, residing in the old Balch homestead. Mrs. Mary A. Lufkin, residing in the old Balch homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Herrick, Bev- erly. Mrs. Frank Foster, Beverly. Mrs. Foster, Salem. Mrs. W. W. Bartlett, Roxbury. Mrs. Lucy Carr. 8 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION Others present with Dr. Frank A. Gardner, who opened the proceedings, were his mother, Mrs. S. W. Gardner, and his daughter, Miss Pauline Gardner. Miss Lucie M. Gardner is Secretary of the Old Planters Society, to whom the thanks of all present are due. Sid- ney Perley, editor of the Essex Antiquarian, was also present. It is hoped that the many pleasant acquaintances thus begun may not be allowed to drop, but that interest in the Association and its purposes will greatly increase. Any suggestions to that end will be gladly welcomed. Notices of the occasion, of varying degrees of length and correctness, appeared in the Boston Globe, Transcript, and Record of Thursday evening, June 29 ; the Boston Advertiser, Post, and Herald of Friday morning, June 30 ; and the Beverly Times of Friday evening, June 30, the accounts in the last two mentioned being the longer. Respectfully submitted, WILLIAM LINCOLN BALCH, Secretary. Boston, July I, 1905. Herebttp By SAMUEL W. BALCH 67 WALL STREET, NEW YORK Every genealogical investigation opens a new avenue of approach in the study of the operation of the laws of life along lines of descent. Heredity is well understood to be a tremendous force, and a right understanding and conscien- 9 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF tious regard for its laws is of enormous importance in the progress of mankind. The Balch genealogy has not been a work of as great a magnitude as that of some other families, but I believe that as to male lines of descent the family may take par- donable pride in the possession of a work that is unusu- ally complete. Although the individual records have been unavoidably brief, they are sufficient to emphasize the fact that inheritance has an irresistible force which too often results in misery and extermination, but which, if intelli- gently directed, can be made a power for progress and human welfare. About two thousand five hundred descendants of John Balch bearing his name were enumerated and named when the book was published ten years ago. A close watch of directories since that time has added but two small families who are supposed to be his descendants, but the connection is not clearly established. One of the families commencing with William D. Balch, published as detached in the book, because found while the manuscript was with the printer, is descended from Allen Balch. This leaves four detached families : the ill-fated Danforth Balch, who crossed the plains in 1847, anc ^ staked his claim on what has since become a part of Portland, Oregon ; Israel Balch, whose descendants are hidden away in the little hamlet of Plymouth Union, Vermont ; a family of Co- shocton, Ohio; and a family with brothers and sisters in Cleveland, Ohio, Brockton and Leominster, Massachu- setts. The census along male lines shows an increase from generation to generation, with the exception of the first two and the incomplete generations after the eighth, in almost exactly the ratio of two. A close estimate of the whole number of descendants might therefore be made by doubling the exponent and calculating each generation 10 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION from the preceding by a ratio of four. This gives a total of one hundred and thirty-five thousand descendants of John Balch. All of these are also descended from his wife, Margery, and from Benjamin, his only son leaving descendants. Most of them, including all on male lines, are also descended from Benjamin's first wife, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Gardner, overseer of the first Cape Ann plantation. The descendants of four of your old planters could easily divide between them the present pop- ulation of Boston, but for the fact that owing to inter- marriage the present New England representatives run back to each of the old planters on several lines, thereby reducing the actual number of descendants. We commonly regard ourselves as half of each of our parents and one-fourth of each of our grandparents. The survivors of the eighth generation are each the one-one- hundred-and-twenty-eighth part of John Balch. The ninth generation are each the one-two-hundred-and-fifty- sixth part. The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth generations are respectively the one-five-hundredth, the one-one-thou- sandth, and the one-two-thousandth part — seemingly small fractions, looking only at the denominators. But how about the numerators ? Half of a parent in each of four children doubles the parent in his children. One-fourth in each of sixteen grandchildren adds four more. The one hundred and thirty-five thousand in the numerators of the smaller fractions swell the total to five hundred and twelve John Balches and double this number for Benjamin, who is one generation nearer. These figures need no allow- ances because of intermarriage, since the effect of such is balanced in the numerators and the denominators. Allow- ing fifty years to an individual gives John Balch two thousand five hundred years to his credit and five thou- sand to Benjamin, with more to come as long as the human race shall endure. REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF The chart which I have prepared shows graphically the hereditary character of longevity and virility. The eye can readily find the branches in which lives are notably long, and contrast them with other branches in which the length of life averages much less. Again, it is easy to find branches which leaf out vigorously, and others in which each genera- tion leaves but a single descendant to represent it in the next one for several successive generations. It is the children of large families that in turn have large families of their own. An effort has been made to ascertain the older ones among the descendants now living, and I have prepared the following list of those over seventy-five. (716) Almira A. Balch Rowell 8 , Brookline, Mass., 94. (787/) Emilia Abigail Balch 8 , Stapleton, N. Y., 89. (787^) Natilie C. Balch Freeman 8 , Matawan, N. J., 87. (1509) Philander Balch 9 , Elgin, 111., 86. (606) Emeline Balch Leason 8 (d. July 31, 1905), 86. (725) James Britton Balch 8 , Maine, N. Y., 86. (957) Mrs. Elizabeth Balch Philips 8 , Watertown, N. Y., 84. (607) Harriet Celeste Balch, Sheboygan Falls, Wis., 83. (151 1) Albert Balch 9 , Oleander, Cal., 82. (1073) Mrs. Abigail Balch Carleton 8 (d. July 14, 1905), 82. (727) Doctor Franklin Balch, Binghamton, N. Y. (1337) John Hiram Balch 9 , Newburyport, Mass., 81. (73°) J°h n Wetherby Balch 8 , St. Johnsbury, Vt., 81. (608) Frederick A. Balch, Meilsville,Wis. (d. July 3, 1905), 81. (974) Benjamin Johnson Balch 8 , Topsfield, Mass., 79. (1123) Miss Lucy Hodge Balch 8 , Newburyport, Mass., 79. (623) Albert Vestus Balch 8 , Weyauwega, Wis., 77. (988) Walter Byron Balch 8 , Lawrence, Mass., 77. (1 178) Joseph Balch 9 , Frankfort, N. Y., 76. Although John Balch lived to be only sixty-nine, a tendency to a much greater age seems to have been char- acteristic of the stock from which he came and was trans- mitted to his descendants. His son Benjamin lived to his 12 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION eighty-sixth year, and recent arrivals from Somersetshire have the same story of long-lived ancestry. Ruth Balch, reported in the book as a descendant of John, but now believed to come independently from the English stock, was the mother of Edward Drinker, of Philadelphia, who lived to be one hundred and one, America's first cente- narian. A family in Detroit, with a different spelling of the name, reports five generations living at one time in Somersetshire, and Henry Balch, of Westchester, New York City, who was born at Bruton, in Somersetshire, has passed his seventy-seventh birthday. The tremendous force of inheritance is by no means random in its action, although interspersed with so many seeming exceptions that the transmission of no characteristic can be considered certain. In the union of forces there is apparently usually a struggle in which the stronger ele- ments succeed. All life has its weak as well as strong parts, and this is nature's way of repairing defects if the opportunity be given in the union of natures not too closely allied. It is like my children's two sets of picture blocks, each with many defective faces, but by building from the two sets almost perfect pictures can be constructed. Manifestly this would not be possible if both sets were de- fective in the same particulars, or if they were quite un- like. The outcome of the Eastern war emphasizes this point to my mind. It is the overpowering of an empire whose individuals have long unbroken life-histories by a hybrid island tribe. The English stock from which we have sprung owes its strength to its hybrid character, its successive conquest by Dane and Norman, and subsequent mingling of conquered and conquering people. The penalty of violation of the laws of heredity is ex- termination. Whether or not you are to leave descendants depends on whether these laws are kept. The pruning back is most relentless. 13 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF John Balch left three children, — two were cut off in early manhood, — but for that the family might have been three times the size. Half of Benjamin's children nature deemed unfit. This cut down the actual to one-sixth of the potential. In the third generation the family was again halved, making one-twelfth, and so on each generation, till from the eighth we have but one in two hundred survivors of nature's pruning. The force of natural selection has been as though twenty million had been placed on proba- tion, and nature had said to nineteen million, nine hundred thousand, " weighed and found wanting." These forces of natural selection have gradually changed the type. These faces before me do not mirror the average appearance of the faces that thronged these roads two hundred years ago. You have but to glance through the pictures in the book to assure yourselves of that. Up to the eighth generation a distinctly British type of face prevails ; beyond, the face is as distinctly American. Nature insists that her laws be kept, and only by meeting her ways can there be hope of the eternal life which this world has to offer. H gbbreg* Bv FRANCIS N. BALCH 52 ELIOT STREET, JAMAICA PLAIN, MASS. ¥ Ladies and Gentlemen : Our good friend, Dr. Gardner, who is a Balch, and who has proved himself worthy to be one, is actually able to say with regard to most of the North Shore families, if 14 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION not " quorum pars fui" at least " quce met pars fuerunt" undoubtedly called on me to speak to you to-day, first because I was a Balch — which I admit is a good reason as far as it goes — and second because I was a lawyer. Dr. Gardner probably supposes that now, as in the days of the immortal Daniel, lawyers made their living by open- mouthed eloquence. But we have changed all that, and nowadays lawyers make their money by keeping their mouths shut. So I am no orator. Not only no orator, but I have been furnished with no subject-matter, and no popular toast, such as " The Ladies" or " Our Country," has been assigned to me to hang witti- cisms on and give an automatic point to my remarks. Accordingly I shall have to speak as best I can on nothing in particular. This is a family gathering and genealogy would seem to be the appropriate subject, but, unfortunately, I have no head for genealogy. I am something in the condition of the man who visited the insane asylum. A respectable- looking old gentleman approached him and said, " Sir, I am Julius Caesar!" The visitor expressed polite acquiescence. As he was leaving, the same old gentleman came up and said, " Sir, let me introduce myself as Napoleon Bona- parte." This time the visitor could not suppress some sur- prise, and said, " But only just now you told me you were Julius Caesar." " Quite right," said the old gentleman, " but that was by a different mother." That is about as far as my genealogical knowledge goes. But yesterday I looked myself up in Dr. Galusha Balch's big book and I find I am properly described as the son of Francis V. 8, son of Joseph 7, the son of John 6, the son of Nathaniel 5, the son of William 4, the son of Freeborn 3, the son of Ben- jamin 2, the son of John 1. And if that is not a good introduction to the Balch family, besides sounding almost Biblical, then I don't know what is. 15 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF A cousin of mine, not on the Balch side, unlike me, took such an interest in genealogy that he made it his pro- fession and is now a pursuivant or a herald or a king-at- arms or something of the sort in the Heralds' College at London. His knowlege of genealogy is not confined to Old England, but, as might be expected of a Newburyport man, he has a wide acquaintance with New England fami- lies. He once told me some interesting results of his studies, most of which I have forgotten. But I remember two which struck me, and illustrate clearly the real truth that we New Englanders not so much consist of families as constitute a family. For instance, he said, if I remem- ber correctly, that the New Englanders, in the ten genera- tions or so they have been here, have intermarried about three times. Of course, you understand, this is not an exact statement, only a rough approximation to a fact. Perhaps you do not understand what I mean. I mean that each New England line of descent may be said on the average to connect with every other line through about three different intermarriages. Any one of us could prob- ably, if all New England genealogies were worked out, show connection with any other Yankee he chose by any one of about three different points of connection. To illustrate further, imagine a line of strings hanging loose from a stick. Each string represents a line of descent. These strings are constantly, as marriage goes on, knotted together as they would be in making a net, but each time to a different thread in rotation, say, though, of course, in practice the rotation is not artificial or perfect but only such as chance produces. Well, every thread has now been knotted to every other thread at least three times on the average, although there are only ten knots in each thread. This is not at all an exact figure, because actually each thread in the network after each knot (that is, marriage) splits into as many resultant threads as there 16 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION are fertile children. But it will serve to bring out my meaning. Of course, if new threads — that is, new blood, new families — were constantly being introduced, this would not happen. It shows how closely interrelated we New Eng- enders are. The other statement of my cousin's which I recall is this. He says that probably the two extremes of the pure Anglo-Saxon race, the two pure Anglo-Saxons who, in the course of all this time, have drifted farthest apart, in India, let us say, and in Tennessee, just for illus- tration, are about thirty-third cousins to each other. Of course, thirty-third cousins are pretty distant relatives. Even a Scotch Highlander never counted kin so far. And the statement may not seem to you striking. But to me it is very striking. We do not often stop to realize, as this makes me do, in what a literal and broad sense we are all one family here. Now I shall break off the thread of what I have been saying and turn to a different line of thought. But perhaps before I am through I shall be able to bring the threads of my discourse together again. I do not think it is decent for a man to speak at a gathering of John Balch's descendants without saying some- thing of John Balch, but my contribution is very small. Last autumn I was at work in the Salem Probate Court and took the occasion to look up the probate of his estate. His will is given by Dr. Galusha Balch in the Genealogy, but the inventory of his property is not, and I have before me a literal copy of so much of it as I could read — for in large part it was illegible. I will read it to you — not the whole of it, but such parts as seem interesting and charac- teristic — and I think you will find it interesting, with the old house standing right behind you here, to reconstruct before your mind's eye, with the help of this minute list of John Balch's possessions, the homestead as it must have 17 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF been at his death in 1649, with its " oxsen" and " steares," its " 9 ackers of wheate and 6 of indiane," its " frute- trees in orchard," its " 3 hides a-dressinge," — out by the back-door there somewhere, probably, — its " 2 old chists," its " bras pan, 2 bras cettles, a little bras pott & 2 iron cettles," its " one warmeinge pan," its " bead-seads," " bolisters," " bead-coverings," and u shates" and " pil- lobehres," also its " cheayse-pres," its invaluable " fowlinge- peece," and indispensable " cannoe." Notice that, last but not least, " several bookes" are combined in a single item with " one calfe" — " bound with calf" as it were. Strange to say, he appears to have had no rum, which often cuts such a figure in our old records — but who can tell what is hidden in those illegible lines ? I want you to notice the way the broad English accent comes out in the frequent lapses into pseudo-phonetic spelling — doubtless " sheets" were spelled " shates," " cheese" " cheayse," and " bed" " bead" or " bade," because they were so pronounced. But I don't see much trace of Somersetshire dialect in it. I believe that is characterized by a softening of S's into Z's, R's into H's, etc., is it not ? Perhaps the scrivener of his inventory was not from the same shire as John Balch. (With this and similar comment the speaker read ex- tracts from the inventory of John Balch's estate, the whole of which is printed hereafter. He then continued as follows :) Now I have had the curiosity to take up these items one by one and give their values in modern money. Of course, it is a very rough process indeed, and my guess might perhaps be doubled or halved, but I believe that, ex- clusive of the land, which I suppose he got for nothing, John Balch's worldly wealth at the end of a prosperous life, counting in the crops standing on the ground and all his possessions down to " 2 old sheets," amounted to some five or six hundred dollars gross — about enough to enable 18 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION him to squeeze by Ellis Island if he had delayed his coming till our day. We see clearly that he was in truth an " immigrant" — not merely the grand-sounding " immigrant-ancestor," but just an immigrant, turning his back for one reason or other on home conditions which did not suit him, and fleeing, almost penniless, but prepared to win his way and found a new home, to the new country of hope. Now I want to break ofF my thread once more and prove I really am a lawyer by asking you a question. What is the justification for such a gathering as this ? Of course, I leave out the pleasure of the outing and of meeting each other. I mean, why do we get together to celebrate the fact that we are all descended from this same old immigrant ? In the light of what I said about the New England blood it is clear that in all probability we are related to one another in several other ways than through him. Why should we be proud to say John Balch or Peter Palfrey or John Woodbury was our great-great- great, etc., -grandfather ten generations back ? Doubtless they were fine, stalwart, adventurous men. But every day the steamers land on our shores thousands of fine, stalwart, adventurous men, certainly immigrants and potentially an- cestors, who seek this country with the same high hopes, the same noble discontent with oppressive home conditions, which the old planters showed, but no one seeks them out to do them honor. I grew up with an idea, caught I don't know where, certainly not from my father or mother, certainly not from my school or college, perhaps from the air of old Boston, that the " real Americans," as we fondly call ourselves, were the rightful leaders and rightful owners of New England ; that the Irish and Italians and the other nations whose successive waves have so changed the old city were intruders discreetly to be steered clear of, natural inferiors 19 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF in ability, in religion, in morals, in wealth — above all, natural, social, and political inferiors. Not that I ever formulated any of this, but I fear that was my subcon- scious feeling. I fear it is the subconscious feeling of a very large number of New Englanders indeed. Now, that is not right. It is totally incorrect. For a comparison of religions I leave every one to make for himself, or try to make, I would say, for in my belief it cannot be made. For ability any lawyer who has measured himself against a witty Irishman, any business man who has measured himself against a keen Jew, any artist who has measured himself against a subtle Italian, any scientific student who has measured himself against a hard-thinking German, will tell you, I fancy, that the Yankee has no monopoly. If an Irishman were speaking to you now in- stead of a Yankee, you would hear something worth listening to. For wealth, I grant you, the Yankee still has the best of it, but a glance is enough to show he must look to his laurels. Another generation or two, possibly, the lead may last, but I think no longer. For morals and for social and political qualities I wish to expand a little. In accordance with those ideas of mine I have spoken of, I felt that the old Yankee blood held all the virtue ex- tant, and that the corruption of politics and of business and of personal morals was the work of the " ignorant foreigner," the " Irish politician," the " flood of immi- grants." This is absolutely not so — in Boston, at any rate. To take politics and business. For the past five years I have been more or less deep in so-called " reform" work in politics, which has opened my eyes a bit. Now it is a fact that for out-and-out slick, smooth, political corruption you can give me your straight Yankee with a fine old name that takes you right back to cocked hats and knee-breeches. 20 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION Also it is my deliberate conviction that, making due allow- ances for opportunity, there is more real good citizenship in the North End than there is in the Back Bay. At all events, our immigrant North-Enders do not howl that the country is being sent to the dogs by the foreigners, and then do nothing about it ; they do not sulk at home and refrain from voting because their candidates are not always elected ; they do not wave away all interest in public affairs and duties and go fishing on election day with the mere remark that politics is a dirty business. No ! They do their level best to understand public needs and do their political duty so far as their light goes. If that light is not very bright, — or, at least, if it does not continually get brighter, — whose fault is it ? — theirs or ours ? And in business I think our immigrants' business code of morals is more likely to reform our Yankee code than vice versa. Now for the social side. There, it seems to me, is the gravest danger for us New Englanders. Shall we hang to- gether in a clannish spirit ? Shall we go on weaving our network of blood, without introducing new strands of German, Irish, English, Scotch, Italian, until we are all related to one another not three times over but thirty times over ? We can, but there is a penalty. We have only to look around our dear old New England a very little way, with our eyes really open, to see what will happen to us if we do. Down on Martha's Vineyard is a little settlement of fine old New England blood, all cousins, I believe, and all deaf mutes. In the back country towns where a few fine old names comprise all the families, however numer- ous, a little observation shows, along with strong represen- tations of all that we like to think of as typically New England, the degeneration of nerves, the lax moral code, and the poor physique that come with the decay of a race. And this is not in any one town or section, but generally. 21 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF In the city it is more masked, but you can see it. Is it solely mince pie or the strenuous life that makes the New Englander figure in the funny papers as a nervous dyspep- tic ? No ! It is the dry rot of isolated blood. I tell you signs are not wanting that if the fine old New England blood despises the ignorant foreigner and stands aloof from him, there will soon be another interesting example of a fine old stock — and our Planters' stock is a fine old stock, and a sturdy stock — making a pathetic and unedifying end. The Yankee of the future, the Yankee that is to possess our dear old New England and the farms we have aban- doned, to build up and purify our cities, develop our industries, solve our problems — this new Yankee will not be Irish, he will not be Jew, he will not be an Italian, or a " Polack" — but in my mind it is absolutely certain he will not be a pure and unalloyed descendant of the Old Planters. But he will, I hope, be based upon the old stock. That is the kind of " graft" — and the only kind — New England needs. The New Yankee must and will have much new blood and many names strange to old New England ears, but he must have the Old Yankee's stamina, his ingenuity, his fundamental instinct for freedom, his oaken hardihood, and at least a share of his irritating history-making con- science. Now I am ready to answer my own question of " What is the justification of such meetings as these ?" If they are to foster pride of blood in the wrong sense, if they are to stimulate a clannish spirit, if they are to pufF us up with a sense of long descent from an " ancestor," and make us gather up the hems of our garments from such as are not blessed with the like, then they are not justified. If they are to remind us that we are the custodians of certain fine traditions, that as representatives of pioneers and ten enlightened generations we have larger responsi- bilities than more recent comers, and, finally, if they remind THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION us that we, like Pat and Hans and Luigi, are come from poor immigrants, and that they can get along without us as well as we can get along without them, that we are the warp but they are the woof in the splendid fabric of New England's future, then I think that is the justification for these meetings — that and the pleasure of meeting one an- other — and our justification for thanking Dr. Gardner for getting up such a successful gathering. A true inventory of " the lands, and goods cattell & chattels of John Balch late of Salem deceased," prized by us, whose names are underwritten : Imprimis ***** Item * * dwellinge house & barn It. one farme of meddow & upland containing 210 ackers It. 9 ackers of wheate It. 6 ackers of Indiane It. one acker of * * oates It. 2 acres of * * pease, barley & hemp It. 3 yehoke of oxsen of 10, 11 & 12, each yoke It. yehoke of steares It. 3 cowes & two heifers It. Two yearlinge heifers It. one yehreling mare fole It. wheeles, chaines & yokes with other implements of husbandrie It. Frute trees in the orchard It. 5 yehrds & y^ of broadcloth It. 1 1 yehrds of serge It. 22 yehrds * * It. 1 3 yehrds of cottin cloth It. 2 feather beads, 2 bolisters & 2 pillows It. one pair of shats It. Two bead coverings It. one Rugg 23 £ s. d. 51 10 16 56 9 6 1 2 33 8 10 22 4 5 3 10 3 6 2 »5 1 2 1 H 8 5 5 8 10 16 10 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF £ s. d. It . one bead & bolster 1 10 II . one blanket & covering 8 It . one pair of sheets 5 It . 4 shetes & ^ 1 10 It . 2 pillowbehres 4 It . 6 napkins 6 It . 2 Beadseads 12 It . 2 tables 7s, 2 trouks 6s, one chest 5s 18 It . one warmeinge pan 6 It . yehrne, flakes & hempe 1 4 It . chares & stoles 3 It . 1 2 bushels of indian corne 1 16 It . 4 bushells of make 16 It . one iron spit & 3 chges (? kegs) »4 It . Toobes & barrells & other wooden ware 1 It . Three hides a-dressinge 15 It . Two old chists 2s, Tooles & old iron is 3 It . 1 bras pan & 2 bras cettles 1 I . a little bras pott & 2 iron potts 1 I . Pewter 10s, one cannoe 10s 1 I . Two muskets, one fowlinge peece & other small armes 2 I . * * * * * * H 1 . * * * * * * •5 I . cheayse & chease pres 1 6 I :. one hog 1 6 8 I t. Several bookes 12s, one calfe is 1 12 Jane Porter Peter Palfrey Jefferie Massey Nicholas Patch ^220 13 4 22 acres of meddow added to the inventory by Benjamin Balch, Executor 22 2mo., 1648. 24 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION By GEORGE W. BALCH DETROIT, MICH. At a gathering of this kind, the precursor of many to follow, let us hope, a statement more especially concerning the origin of the family seems to be in order. This, as the result of painstaking search, undertaken several years ago, verified at the time by collateral testimony of satisfac- tory character, I venture now to offer, believing the same to be generally correct : John Balch,* the great progenitor of the family, arrived in America in September, 1623. He belonged to a very ancient family which had, at least from the eleventh to near the eighteenth century, inhabited the county of Somer- setshire, in the west of England. In 1066 the name was rendered Balchman. John Balch was born in 1362, was in 1392 made Sheriff of Somersetshire, and died in 1420. George Balch was born in 1398, died in 1468, and * Some twenty years ago there was published at Bridgewater, England, a book entitled " Tom Balch, "which dealt with the period of the Monmouth Rebellion, and which purported to give an account of the exploits of the young man named, with others of the family, in that contest. The story told is undoubtedly somewhat apocryphal in character, but is probably founded on a modicum of fact. The Monmouth Rebellion attained its greatest force in Somersetshire. The Duke was acknowledged in form by the Mayor and Aldermen of Bridgewater, and that region was made the battle-ground, as it was afterwards the field of Judge Jeffreys's terrible visitation, when doing the work of vengeance for his master, King James II., on the occasion of his judicial " circuit of blood." The story of "Tom Balch" as told is highly moral and religious in tone. It is worthy of mention here as confirmatory of the existence and as showing the standing of the family at the period named. 25 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF was the founder of the family seat at St. Audries, near Bridgewater, which continued as such to the end of the eighteenth century. The successive male members of the family of whom we have record were: James, born in 1428; John, 1466; Henry, 1469; George, 1499; Henry, 1504; George, 1536; George, 1575 or 1577; an( * John, after- wards the Beverly planter, 1579. Early in the seventeenth century Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who was born in Somersetshire about 1566, and who had served in the Spanish wars and thus presumably acquired a taste for adventure, conceived the idea of erecting a dominion in North America, of which he should become, under the English Crown, the miniature sovereign. The story of his success in obtaining territorial grants, his re- buffs, and his ever-changing fortunes is told in the history of the time. But no substantial results looking to the estab- lishment of a permanent colony for the material develop- ment of the country within the proper bounds of Gorges's supposed grants ensued from his efforts. What might have been accomplished by a man who undoubtedly possessed a genius for adventures of the kind, had not the whims of a monarch and the machinations of numberless enemies at court kept him at home, it is impossible to state. Accounts of the country, given by returning travellers, had not been particularly effective in securing emigration of the more desirable classes. The trials and privations experienced by the Plymouth colonists were not reassuring, while the revelries, amounting to positive sacrilege, prac- tised by those who had at a later period found lodgement at Wessigussett, had not only scandalized the English name, but tended to intimidate those who were inclined to seek other climes on account of religious persecutions at home. Gorges undoubtedly saw that there must be a new departure ; a better class of emigrants must be secured, and 26 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION at least one colony representing something of the condi- tions of English life must be established in the territory covered by his grant. Representations of this character being made to King James, that monarch's favor was at once secured. The King became the direct patron of an expedition whose or- ganization and whose membership was to represent more nearly the State and the Church of England than any of its predecessors. It was to be especially commissioned by the English Primate, and the intended colonists were to be composed only of persons supposed to be useful in an en- tirely new country. There were to be farmers, mechanics of various kinds, traders, etc., with a fair representation of the orthodox clergy, but there were to be no drones. To what extent Gorges's knowledge of John Balch's character, both being of Somersetshire, worked in causing the latter to join the expedition is problematical. The causes heretofore mentioned still kept the elder Gorges at home, and Robert, his son, was made commander of the expedition. It set sail from Plymouth, England, in July, and arrived on the Massachusetts coast in September, 1623. Charles Francis Adams, in his admirable recent publication, " Three Episodes of Massachusetts History," has given a detailed account of the circumstances which eventuated in the practical failure and the abandonment by young Gorges of the scheme whose inception had received encouragement so exalted. Disintegration was rapid. Some departed for Virginia, others sought refuge farther north, on the coast of Maine, where an incipient colony already existed, while many returned to England with Gorges. There were some, however, who had evi- dently burned the bridges behind them, and Roger Conant, John Woodbury, John Balch, and Peter Palfrey, " names," as has been said, " to be remembered," were of these " men made of sterner stuff," who were, after all, in their 27 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF own way, under Divine guidance, destined to work out the original purpose for which the pretentious expedition had in the first instance been exploited. Without being able to trace the individual wanderings, or to place the habitations of all of these men during the succeeding three years, we know that John Balch, with his wife, Margery, found lodgement at first on Cape Ann, and that the four persons named reached Salem in 1626, con- structed there permanent homes, and became in that year the founders of that ancient town. Living thus in an unknown and unmapped country, in a political condition amounting to expatriation, the courage, persistence, and fidelity of these men excite our admiration, and it is to be regretted that their exertions in marking out the highways and the by-ways of the future city, the parent, so to speak, of many others in a great Commonwealth, should receive so little reward, materially or otherwise ; and that those who, coming two or three years later, clothed as they were by regal power and authority, should have so overshadowed their modestly conceived achievements as to not only deprive them of many of its legitimate fruits, but render even their names unknown and unrecognized for many succeeding years. Obscured as these pioneers were by the glamour of offi- cial belongings, the average historian has trodden only in beaten paths in recording the earlier events in Massachu- setts history. Research by painstaking local authority, prompted by the desire so conspicuously manifested in New England, as shown by the institution of numerous historical and genealogical societies, to establish correct history, has to a great extent supplied the deficiencies of the ordinary his- torian ; and we have through that instrumentality come to know much of interest as to individual families and in the correction and elaboration of history that would otherwise have been to us a sealed book. 28 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION The " History of Essex County" and kindred authorities give evidence of the characters of these pioneers, and par- ticularly of the estimation in which John Balch was held. He had at home acquired a fair education for the times. He and his wife were of firm orthodox religious faith, and as such became original members of the first church of Salem, which was established early in the history of the town. He held various offices of trust, frequently acted in a magisterial capacity as arbitrator or umpire, and in like character was, as Mr. Adams informs us, once sent as a conservator or mediator to a neighboring community whose turbulence and sacrilegious orgies were hurtful to the reli- gious welfare of the neighborhood. He was the principal land surveyor, and was denominated a worthy and useful citizen. His first wife, Margery, or Margaret, by whom three sons were born, having died, he married Annis, or Agnes, Patch. Benjamin, the eldest son, was born in 1629, John in 1630, and Freeborn in 1631. It was claimed for Benjamin that he was the first male white child born in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, for, be it understood, the community of which Conant, Woodbury, Balch, and Palfrey had become the founders was, in fact, the first place settled, and thereafter continuously occupied, by Europeans on the shores or in the territory directly con- tiguous to Boston Bay, and is fairly entitled to the distinc- tion of being called the progenitor, so to speak, of the multitude of cities, towns, villages, and hamlets that now occupy the soil of that grand old Commonwealth ; and, by the same token, Benjamin Balch aforesaid is entitled to the distinction attributed to him as above. It is true that the distinction has been claimed for the son of one Massey, but the error thereof is conclusively proven in the fact clearly shown after careful investigation that Balch's birth antedated Massey's by two years. John Balch continued to reside at Salem until, receiving 29 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF a grant of two hundred acres of land, he removed to Bass River (Beverly) in 1638. He died there in 1648. His will has been preserved intact and is a curious memento of a time marked by paucity of wealth and luxury and prac- tices of extreme economy. His house at Bass River still occupies the original location, and is said to be intact in many of its interior arrangements. Benjamin Balch, born, as stated, in 1629, married Sarah Gardner, daughter of Thomas Gardner, merchant, and granddaughter of Thomas Gardner, overseer of the former plantation on Cape Ann. They had four sons : Samuel, born in 165 1, married Mary Newmarch ; John, born in 1654, married Hannah Denning; Joseph, born in 1658, was killed by Indians in the Battle of Bloody Brook in 1675. Freeborn, youngest son of Benjamin and Sarah Balch, was born August 9, 1660, died June 11, 1729. He first married, in 1681, Miriam, daughter of Robert Moulton, of Salem, and had three children : Miriam, born in 1681 ; Freeborn and Benjamin, born in 1688 ; and by Elizabeth Fairfield, his second wife, had six children, of whom the youngest was the well-known preacher and patriot, Rev. William Balch, of Bradford, who was born in 1704 and died in 1792, and also Mary,* born in 1703 and died in 1786, who married Rev. Paine Wingate. Benjamin, son of Freeborn and Miriam Balch, was born * Mary, daughter of Freeborn Balch, married Rev. Paine Wingate, who was born in 1703 and died at Amesbury in 1786. They had twelve children, of whom the sixth, Paine, was born in 1739 and died in 1838. This son graduated at Harvard in 1759. He first preached at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, but abandoned the pulpit for the law, and became successively member of Congress, United States Senator, and Judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. He married Eunice, sister of Timothy Pickering, Secretary of War in Wash- ington's first administration. Their combined ages lacked only one year of two hundred years. 30 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION April 17, 1688, and married, January 4, 17 10, Mary, daughter of Solomon and Hepzibah Dunton Prentice. They resided at Charlestown, Massachusetts, where, on October 17, 171 1, Thomas, afterwards the noted minister of Dedham, and on June 4, 17 14, Mary (died in 1782) were born. The latter married Isaac Brown and had four sons and six daughters. The advent of Thomas Balch marks a most interesting period of the family history. We have only slight knowl- edge of his youth, beyond the fact that the family was in straightened circumstances, necessitating his individual exertion in the acquirement of the excellent fundamental and college education received by him. He graduated at Harvard in 1733, completed studies for the ministry, and was settled in 1736 as minister of the Congregational Church at South Dedham. He married, October 11, 1737, Mary (born in 171 7), daughter of Edward Sumner, a prominent citizen and wealthy landowner of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The Sumner family in social standing marked the best of Massachusetts people of the time, while their stalwart characteristics made decided impress on the political affairs of the Commonwealth throughout the succeeding critical period of its history, extending through and long after the Revolutionary War. Increase Sumner, nephew of Mrs. Balch, became in 1797 Governor of the Commonwealth, and died in 1799. Mrs. Balch survived for nearly a quarter of a century the death of her husband, always the central figure of a high social circle, and a cultivated and pious woman. She died in 1798, in her eighty-first year. Of the character of the Rev. Thomas Balch, of Dedham, tried by the usual standard, it seems almost impossible to speak too highly. The records of the South Church, over which he presided for thirty-eight years, kept with the most punctilious care with respect to every function performed 3i REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF by himself or by his substitutes in case of temporary absence, show alike the methodical habits of the man and his con- scientious regard for the duty imposed by his priestly office. Whether in recording births, marriages, baptisms, etc., there are no evidences of neglect, and hence the volume published by the Dedham Historical Society containing them has be- come a most interesting and valuable adjunct to the history of that place and its environment. Nor was he lacking in the duties of citizenship. There are abundant evidences of his patriotic ardor. His services for sixteen months as chaplain of the Massachusetts contingent furnished at the siege of Louisburg, 1744-5,* of which he gives a particular account, a position taken at the " request of the Committee of War" and assumed by him " by the consent of his Parish," betokens his patriotic instincts ; and when, two years later, his eldest son became a member of Captain Bacon's (Dedham) Company, in an expedition to Crown Point (Lake Champlain), in the so-called Second French War, in which his young life was sacrificed, the full measure of contribution expected of him to his country's cause seems to have been filled ; and we shall find that the virtue of patriotism was transmitted in no uncertain quan- tity to sons who signalized the same by many years of devoted and continuous services covering the entire Revolu- tionary period. Rev. Thomas Balch was named in the list of literati of * Having an inclination and being desired by the Committee of War to attend the army as one of the chaplains in the expedition against Cape Breton, I accord- ingly obtained the consent of my people on March II, 1744, and on the 13th took leave of my family and people. Arrived in safety and health at Canso on the second of April. Sailed from Canso to Cape Breton on April 29th, entered into Chappeourouge Bay on the next morning, and soon after went on shore. The siege of Louisburg continued until June 1 7th, on which day we entered and took posses- sion of that strong and important place upon terms of capitulation. Sailed from Louisburg for New England July nth, arrived safely at Boston on the 27th of said month, 1745 — Laus Deo. 32 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION his day. He guided a large number of young men in their theological studies. " As a Christian he was widely and deservedly esteemed ; as a minister he was wise to win souls to Christ, and ranked high as a preacher." He died January 8, 1774. Mr. Cutler in his diary, January 13, 1774, says : "This day the Reverend Mr. Balch was interred. The Parish buried him in a very honorable manner. Eight ministers were appointed as pall-bearers, and four under-bearers or porters. He was carried from his own house to the Meeting-house. The Rev. Mr. Dunbar prayed, then two hymns in the Funeral Thoughts were sung ; then the Rev. Mr. Payson prayed. The coffin was opened and all the people had an oppor- tunity to see the corpse, after which the funeral procession began and was very long. The Sexton went first, then the Church, then the body, then the mourners and friends, then the parish, then strangers." Note. — An original portrait of this excellent man and preacher, supposed to have been painted about the year 1760, is in the possession of Dr. Briggs, Marlborough Street, Boston. Its preservation has been perfect. The fine face is impressive. It was taken in surplice with the usual ministerial insignia. Parentage so marked in all that so nearly constitutes human perfection most happily bore fruit in sons who were imbued with decidedly patriotic impulses, and daughters whose many accomplishments and Christian virtues made the parsonage and the family home the centre of cultivated social life in Dedham for many years. All that we know of the eldest son, Thomas, born in 1 738, is contained in the following record made by the faith- ful preacher in the Dedham church book : " September 29, 1756. Died at Albany, my dear son Thomas, being 33 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF eighteen years and eighteen days old. He was on his return from Lake George, being of Captain Bacon's Company in an expedition to Crown Point. He died of camp-disorder." Mary, born in 1740, married, September 7, 1766, Reverend Manasseh Cutler. The Life of Mr. Cutler, published by Robt. Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, 1888, com- piled and edited by his grandchildren, William Parker Cutler and Miss Julia P. Cutler, of Marietta, Ohio, is full of interest to all claiming family kinship. No word of ours can add anything to the estimation, both public and private, in which the memory of that great man is held. Endowed with the full measure of sense attributable to the genus Yankee of olden time, tempered in early life by inherent high moral and religious principles, reinforced, if possible, by early dedication to the ministry of the gospel, his life was a constant contribution to moral worth and religious growth, wherein his influence abounded ; and whether as schoolmaster, merchant, minister of the gospel, scientist, politician, patriot, or in Congressional life, he met accept- ably every requirement, and in each sphere of action in which his versatility of genius successively placed him he not only acquitted himself with honor, but achieved much for the public welfare. The impress of his genius, piety, and practical common- sense, in many of the provisions of the famous Ordinance of 1787, not the least of which is the portion thereof relating to the encouragement of religion, morality, and education as being necessary to good government, should endear his memory to all. While Mr. Cutler did not take up his permanent home in the West, his two sons, Ephraim and Jarvis, became prominent and most useful citizens of Ohio. Two granddaughters of Manasseh Cutler, Miss Julia P. Cutler and Mrs. Dawes, are living at Marietta, Ohio, worthy descendants of an honorable ancestry. 34 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION Dr. Cutler has been described as being of fine figure, courtly manner, and having a benevolent, genial, and hand- some face. His manner was of the old-style courtly type, his courtesy dignified, affable, and alluring, comporting well with habits of free hospitality. His talented wife was small in figure, handsome, and a pronounced brunette. Her virtues, pleasing manners, piety, and benevolence fitted well her position as a parson's wife. She died November 2, 1 8 15. Dr. Cutler died seven and a half years later, July 28, 1823. Elizabeth Balch, born in 1746, married in 1766 Jonathan Dean, of Dedham, member of an old and highly honorable New England family. They reared a numerous family and died at advanced ages. Jonathan Dean died September 8, 1805, aged seventy-five years, and his wife died September 15, 1820, aged seventy-four years, leaving many descendants in South Dedham. Lucy Balch married Rev. Moses Everett, of Dorchester, on November 24, 1774, who was the brother of Judge Oliver Everett and uncle of the distinguished scholar and statesman, Edward Everett. She died about two years after marriage, leaving an only son, Moses Everett, who grad- uated at Harvard in 1 796, and who emigrated to Ohio early in this century and died there unmarried. Rev. Moses Everett was born in Dedham July 15, 1750. He was prepared for college by Rev. Thomas Balch and graduated at Harvard in 1 7 7 1 . He entered the ministry, after preparation therefor by his father-in-law, Rev. Thomas Balch, and was settled over the church in Dorchester in 1 774. After eighteen years' acceptable and useful pastorate he requested dismission on account of declining health. He was elected a representative to the General Court for Dorchester in 1 793, and was commissioned a special Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1 808 he was appointed to fill the vacancy on the bench occasioned by the death 35 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF of his brother, Oliver Everett (father of the late Hon. Edward Everett). He died March 25, 18 13. Irene Balch married Dr. Elijah Hewins, of Sharon, a well-known physician and member of a prominent New England family. She died in 18 15. Hannah Balch married, in 1777, Rev. Jabez Chickering, the successor of her father as pastor of the South Church. He died March 12, 18 12, in his fifty-ninth year. Rev. Joseph Chickering, their son, was minister first at Woburn, then at Phillipston. His son was the late Rev. John W. Chickering, formerly settled at Portland, Maine, and later a most useful follower of Christ in various religious callings. He took great interest in foreign missions and was ever ready in any good work. A daughter of Rev. Jabez and Hannah Chickering married Dr. Briggs; whom she survived and whose descendants are well known in and about Boston. Of the services of Rev. Jabez Chickering and his prede- cessor, Rev. Thomas Balch, who successively occupied the pulpit of the South Dedham Church from 1736 to 181 2, a Dedham historian says : " The successful labors of these two ministers in a period of seventy-five years were pro- ductive of peace. No quarrel or discord is known to have existed worthy of notice. A more unequivocal evi- dence of their merit and of the religious and good moral health of this people cannot be given. Both of these gentlemen were respected by their people and professional brethren." This is indeed high praise. Thomas Balch (the second), " so named to bear up the name of my dear son Thomas, deceased," as the faithful preacher and chronicler records his birth in the church register, was born in 1761, and was a young man who, having the advantage of training such as his excellent paternal home afforded, and surrounded by cultivated women, as were his sisters, with connections with such men as 36 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION Cutler, Dean, and Everett, gave promise of an honorable future. His education was undertaken, after the death of his father, by Manasseh Cutler, who also taught him the art of navigation. He had scarcely reached the age of thirteen when the death of his father occurred, which event was soon followed by mutterings of impending warfare. He joined the militia at a very early age. His name as corporal of a Dedham company of troops was enrolled when he was under seventeen years of age, and he was thenceforward, to I 780, constantly employed in the mili- tary service. In that year an arrangement was made wirh one Captain Edwards for a voyage to Bilbao, Spain. When only a few days out his vessel fell in with the British 50-gun ship Chatham and was captured. Sub- sequently the Chatham captured another American vessel from a southern port which, unhappily, had both small-pox and yellow fever raging on board. The two captured crews were inhumanely compelled to occupy the same ship. The result was the diffusion of these terrible diseases among all the prisoners. Young Thomas fell a victim to the fever after arrival at Halifax, having nearly recovered therefrom on the first attack, but subsequently suffered relapse. His remains were interred at Halifax in an unknown grave. Having thus traced the lineal descent of our branch of the family to and including the fifth generation, from John Balch to the Beverly planter, in regular succession with- out running the same into unnecessary prolixity, but, to the contrary, having omitted therefrom everything except- ing certain essentials necessary to continuity that are con- tained in the many historical and genealogical works to be found in abundance in New England libraries, we may possibly be excused for now calling attention to the high standard of excellence with respect to the mental, moral, and religious worth exhibited in the case of each. 37 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF In tracing the life-work of Rev. Thomas Balch and his excellent wife we have been particularly struck with the high characteristics of both, marking, as we believe, the highest standard, whether considered morally or so- cially, of the New England habitant of the time. Whatever of affluence they possessed beyond the somewhat meagre pay of a New England pastor probably accrued to the family through Mrs. Balch, who was the daughter of a wealthy man. Otherwise its pecuniary resources must have been limited, and yet we know that every one of the eight children received more than average educational accom- plishments ; and we further know that these were acquired, in the case of the sons, largely from individual earnings, and so also to a considerable extent in the case of the daughters of the family. Benjamin, while yet at Harvard, taught the village school at certain seasons of the year, while both Mary and Elizabeth successively were also teachers in the same school. Nathaniel Ames's (elder brother of Fisher Ames) diary gives evidence of the attractiveness of the parsonage to the young male society element of Dedham, some passages in which, withal, indicating that the young man was consider- ably impressed by Mary, the eldest daughter, who after- wards married young Cutler. A niece of Mrs. Balch, Polly Sumner, at the time a miss of eighteen, and who was an inmate of the parsonage, seems, however, to have quite captured the then callow youth of twenty years. He refers to her as the " adorable P. S." being present at a fashionable ball, of which he gives an account. If other evidence of the attractions of the daughters of the family and their religious, moral, and social culture were lacking, the exceptionally good marriages contracted by each would certainly supply the deficiency. There can be no doubt of the absolute purity of the social, moral, 38 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION and religious atmosphere pervading the Dedham parsonage then and afterwards during the seventy-five years of its continuous occupancy by members of the Balch family of the fifth generation. Rev. Benjamin Balch was born at Dedham in 1743. The story of his early life can easily be told in surround- ings such as have been related in the foregoing. He entered at Harvard College when he was sixteen years old, and graduated therefrom at twenty in 1763. His positive natural characteristics were tempered by high moral and religious surroundings, well fitting him for the ministry, to which he was early dedicated. He taught the village school in the winter of 1762-3, and perhaps previously, as an aid to his maintenance at Harvard, making frequent passages between Dedham and Cambridge meanwhile. On his graduation he was promptly fitted for his future calling by his father, and soon after took a temporary engagement at Scarboro, continuing thereafter in simular employment, possibly at first as a mere licentiate, until about the year 1764, when we find him preaching at Machias, as told in the following interesting letter written by the late Major Jervis, son of Dr. Cutler, and recently furnished us through the courtesy of Miss Julia P. Cutler, of Marietta, Ohio. The letter is written to Judge Eph- raim Cutler : " Evansville, Ind., Dec. 30, 1 84 1 . " Dear Brother : " I have forwarded you one of our papers in which you will see an article from Cooper's ' Naval History.' The hero in that article is nearly connected with our family. You, most likely, remember all about it, but lest you do not, I will tell you now what I remem- ber about the matter. Our uncle, Rev. Benjamin Balch, was preaching at Machias and fell in love with Miss O'Brien, sister to Jeremiah O'Brien, whom he married. She was a beautiful little Irish woman, spoke broad Irish, but in such a pleasant way as to 39 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF delight those who heard her speak. I recollect her as vividly, and more so than any of those old ancient people. They were settled at Danvers New Mills, and many is the time I ran away there to play with my cousins." As indicated above, he was married to this estimable young woman about one year after his graduation from Harvard, and seems to have returned to Scarboro, where, on October 2, 1765, their first child, Thomas, was born. We next find him, in the spring of 1767, at Mendon, Massachusetts, where he was under a temporary engage- ment of a few weeks, probably on trial, with a view to permanent incumbency of the pulpit there. This resulted in his formal settlement over the church at Mendon (South Precinct), his formal ordination occurring on September 14, 1768, preceded, however, by several months' " supply" in the same year of that pulpit. "Mendon, South Precinct, Feby. 14, 1768. " We, the subscribers for ourselves and heirs do promise to give to Mr. Benj. Balch the sums hereafter expressed, provided he will settle with us in the ministry for said precinct, the same hereafter mentioned to be by us paid yearly until the above said Mr. Balch hath got himself a farm and then the sums mentioned to cease, and then we promise, as above, that we will do all the work on his farm that shall be thought needful in order to the produce thereof until such time as that his salary shall be raised to such a sum and paid as shall be thought sufficient for his maintenance, said sum not to be thought sufficient less than ^50. As witness our hands this day and date above written." Subscriptions under this agreement were in products of the farm, led by one Benoni Benson, a prominent parish- ioner, whose yearly donation consisted of two bushels Indian corn, two bushels rye, twenty pounds pork, twenty pounds beef, ten pounds butter, and twenty pounds cheese, contributions in each case being in kind, and in none is 40 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION money mentioned as a consideration. Continuing under this agreement for a period of five years, until 1773, in consequence of the claim made by the minister that the wood for family use should be delivered at his door, con- tention ensued, which speedily ripened into a considerable " church quarrel," eventuating in his withdrawal from the Mendon parish. Leaving Mendon as stated, the Rev. Benjamin Balch first preached for a time at Clapboard Trees, near Dedham, but soon after removed to Danvers New Mills (Danvers- port), which, for the succeeding eleven years, became the place of family residence. The political condition of the country became greatly disturbed. The exactions of the Crown on American colo- nists had progressed rapidly from bad to worse. Public discontent, owing to new schemes of taxation by the home government, was everywhere prevalent. There was no well-defined purpose of separation at that period, but resist- ance within their supposed rights had become a determined purpose on the part of the colonists. In the absence of a numerous press, the stump and the pulpit naturally became then, as now and ever since, under like conditions, the means of concentrating, exposing, and exploiting public sentiment. The Episcopal clergy, true to the affinity with the Established Church of England, hesitated in outspoken denunciation of British methods, but those of Presbyterian or Congregational leanings were practically unanimous in sympathy with the popular cause, and thus became potent factors in cementing public opinion, as they also became powerful allies to those outspoken patriots, like Adams, Warren, and others, who not only formulated but gave direction to measures intended to secure better treatment by the British King. In this crisis there was no uncertainty with respect to the position of the young preacher of Mendon. He was 41 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF outspoken in loyalty to the people's cause. The " History of Danvers," in illustration of the all-pervading spirit, says : " The zeal of these times may be learned by the fact that March 6, 1775, the Third Alarm list chose its officers as follows : " Captain, Deacon Edward Putnam, Lieutenant, Rev. Benjamin Balch, Ensign, Deacon Tarrant Putnam." This was six weeks before the Battle of Lexington, on which occasion he was certainly under arms, for we find in the archives of the Capitol at Boston the muster roll of the Danvers Company, in which the reverend gentleman, as a member thereof, is duly credited with services rendered.* On October 6, 1775, we find his name entered as chaplain of Colonel Ephraim Doolittle's regiment,! in camp * Muster roll of Alarm Company in Danver6, commanded by Capt. Edmund Putnam, who marched in defence of the country on the 19th of April, 1775. Edmund Putnam, Captain Benjamin Balch, Lieutenant J Pay, ^9 2S. 2d. T. Putnam, Ensign >■ Days service, a. Benj. Putnam, Sergeant 1 Miles travelled, 40. Benj. Porter, Sergeant On March 14, 1776, Capt. Edmund Putnam made oath as to correctness of this roll and compared with the original by Josiah Johnson and E. Starkweather, Committee. f Field officers : Col. Ephraim Doolittle, from Petersham. Lieutenant Col. Benj. Holden, from Princetown. Major Willard Morr, from Paxton (was killed at Bunker Hill, June 17). Staff officers : Chap. Rev. Benj. Balch, from Danvers. Adjutant J. Woodward, from Westminster, guar. Master Benj. Howard, from Shrewsbury. Surgeon Enoch Dole, from Lancaster. Mate Nathan Burnap, from Hopkinston. In camp on Winter Hill, Oct. 6, 1775. 42 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION at Winter Hill. At this time his family had increased to five children, and constant effort was requisite to keep the wolf from the family door. This was accomplished only by his meagre pay as chaplain and such other employ as came from occasional supply of vacant pulpits when not thus employed as chaplain, either in the army or navy, but his energies never relaxed in the endeavor by every means to forward the cause of the people against the now open enemy. He preached for a while in Boston, but outside of the regular duties was most active in and among the nu- merous camps in ministerial work and in the encourage- ment of the cause generally. In this service he was joined by Rev. Manasseh Cutler, who also was most earnest in the good work. They frequently exchanged pulpits and places, as is shown by the numerous entries in the diary kept by Dr. Cutler, extracts from which are published in the " Life" of the latter, and others have come to us from un- published manuscript in the hands of his descendants, all showing conclusively that both he and Cutler were most earnest and active in every patriotic work. The Rev. Benjamin was also employed in sea-service at about this time, being attached as chaplain to the frigate Hancock and other vessels going on short cruises, but in consequence of the irregular manner in which the records of naval vessels employed in the Massachusetts Bay State service were kept at the time, we are unable to give the names of ships, previous to 1778, on which he was thus engaged. He seemed to have been out of public employment in the summer of 1778, and was then tem- porarily supplying the pulpit of Rev. Mr. Hitchcock, at Beverly. Being a resident of the town of Danvers, he became in May or June of 1778 a conscript at a draft for soldiers held in that place. The family exchequer was then at its lowest ebb. Twins had, the year before, been added to his already well-filled household, increasing the number 43 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF of his children to seven. The story of his previous services to the public and his present pecuniary condition is best told in a petition presented by him to the General Council at Boston praying for relief from the draft aforesaid, the original of which, in the reverend gentleman's own hand- writing, may be found on file at the State-House in Boston. This we give in full, as follows : " To the Hon ble the Councill and Hon' House of Representa- tives of the State of Massachusetts Bay. " The Petition of Benjamin Balch humbly sheweth that your Petitioner has from the Commencement of the War, been employed as Chaplain either in the Army or Navy, excepting some Intervals of short duration and is still ready and willing to serve his country in the same capacity should a door open for it ; and which for several Months past he has been wishing for, which time he has improved in preaching to vacant congregations, which yealds him a Scanty Pittance for the support of himself and Wife and Seven Small Children ; notwithstanding which the Militia officers of the Town of Danvers have drafted your Petitioner to go as a Common Soldier into the Army, or to pay a heavy fine, which will greatly distress his family. " Therefore your Petitioner humbly prays that the Hon b,e Court will be pleased to give such orders for his relief as they in their Wisdom and goodness shall see meet. "And your petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c. (Signed) " Benj a Balch. " Boston, June 6 th , 1778." While this petition seems to have been acted on adversely by the Council, probably for fear of public dis- content from exceptions being made in any case, his prayer for employment other than that of a common soldier whereon to support his family seems to have been granted soon after, for in October following his 44 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION name appears among the staff officers of the frigate Boston.* Rev. Benjamin Balch's eldest son, Thomas, was at this time thirteen years of age, and his second son, Benjamin, was about eleven years old. It has come down through traditions of the family that these two sons went with their father on cruises, being thus employed as powder-boys, or " monkeys," as such were sometimes designated, but being under age, the two were, on one occasion at least, entered as one man and drew pay as such. The name of the ship in which the father was chaplain and the boys as above then served has escaped memory, but in looking over the roster of the frigate Boston, under the date of December i, 1778, we find the name of Benjamin Balchf entered as " landsman," from which we conclude that the name of the younger son only was entered, and that the Boston was the vessel to which three members of the family together were at one time attached in the service of their country. This expedient was undoubtedly resorted to in conse- quence of the hardship of the times, compelling every possible means of sustaining the family to be utilized, a sad commentary on the evils of war, but also giving addi- tional evidence of the determination of the people to main- tain their rights. The years 1779, 1780, and 1781 covered * The frigate Boston was officered as follows : Samuel Tucker Commander David Phipps ist Lieutenant Hezekiel Welsh 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin Bates 3rd Lieutenant Wm. Pearson Master Seth Buxton Capt. Marines Jere. Reed 1st Lieut. Marines Wm. Cooper 2nd do. do. Thos. Burns Surgeon Benj. Balch Chaplain "j" This young man was born January 5, 1768, and continued to follow the sea until he was drowned, April 10, 1809. 45 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF a most important period in the history of Rev. Benjamin Balch's naval services. He continued to serve in the frigate Boston under the valiant Tucker during most, if not all, the succeeding year (1779), which is tantamount to saying, in view of the valor, aggressiveness, and consummate ability of that naval officer, that those on board were most actively employed. Tucker was first, last, and all the time aggressive and a fighter. He made during the spring and summer of 1779 several remarkably successful cruises. During the month of June alone he captured no less than seven prizes, of which six were armed vessels. Of these the most important was the Pole, a frigate of 200 tons burden, mounting 24 guns, and the sloop-of-war Thorn, of 16 guns. The Pole was sold for ;£i 03,000, and the sale of her coal and provisions subsequently increased the amount to ^120,000. The frigate Boston fell into the hands of the British on May 11, 1780, by the surrender of General Lincoln at Charleston, when the vessels in harbor were also included in the capitulation, but it is not known that the Rev. Ben- jamin Balch, or any of his family, were at that time attached to her. He became attached as chaplain to the new frigate Alliance,* said to have been the first frigate actually owned * The frigate Alliance was of great renown in the Revolution, in that respect ranking with the Constitution in the War of 1 8 1 2 or the Kearsarge in the War of the Rebellion. She was swift and was easily handled, but it is said her interior arrangement was somewhat awkward. The ship was known to have made upward of fourteen knots an hour and on one occasion crossed the Atlantic in twenty-three days. The Continental Congress caused several frigates to be built during the year 1778, of which the Alliance was the first. Shipwrights of sufficient means to undertake alone the work of building vessels of the required class were not numer- ous, while, on account of the depreciated currency and the uncertainty of political affairs, there was always a scarcity of bidders for the construction of Govern- ment ships. John Hackett, a shipbuilder of Salisbury, undertook the construction of the Alliance, and, being unable to find others to join him, completed her alone during the year. She sailed from Boston on her first voyage January 11, 1779, for Europe, on 46 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION by the Continental Congress, probably in the latter part of that year, on which his sons, as before stated, also served. We are able through a number of affidavits, which were made at Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1820, to fortify the claim of Thomas, the eldest son, for a United States Government pension, to arrive at the main facts incident to the employment. Otherwise family traditions are relied upon. These affidavits are as follows : "Thomas Balch, aged fifty-six years or thereabouts, declares on oath (third Monday of September, 1820, before the Circuit Court in Newburyport) that he served in the Navy of the United States in the War of the Revolution in the frigate Boston, commanded by Captain McNeil, several months, and afterwards, in the summer of 1780 or in the course of that year, he enlisted and served on board the private armed ship Hannibal, of twenty-five guns, commanded by Captain Jeremiah O'Brien, of Marblehead, and in the latter part of that year was taken prisoner by the British and imprisoned in the Jersey prison ship at New York, and, as nearly as he can now recol- lect, in the month of September of that year was, with several other prisoners, exchanged, and immediately afterwards arrived at Boston and there enlisted on board the United States frigate Alliance, Cap- tain James Barry, in the month of December of that year. Sailed in her for France in the spring of 1780, and continued on board as which occasion Lafayette was a passenger. In consequence of an unfortunate selec- tion by her commander of an unruly and mutinous if not treasonable crew, the Alliance, on her first voyage, came near falling into the enemy's hands. It is a curious fact, in connection with our family, that Richard Hackett, son of John Hackett, who also continued the business of shipbuilding after his father's decease, became the husband of Martha, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Balch, in 1806. Soon after the close of the war the Alliance, with other frigates of the United States Government, was sold to private parties. She was refitted and afterwards made several East Indian voyages in the merchant service. From the " H istory of Salisbury : " " This village had the honor of one of the most skilful naval architects of New England at the time of the Revolution, a true patriot and prominent in every matter of public welfare. As a builder of the first frigate (Alliance) for the Continental Congress he will live in the history of the nation. After the refusal of other noted shipwrights to join him in the undertaking, he fearlessly contracted to build her, etc." 47 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF a mariner until her return to Boston, about December, I 78 I. That on the passage home he was on board said frigate when she was en- gaged with and captured a British ship and a brig off Halifax, after a severe engagement. That he was discharged from said frigate at Boston, 1 78 1." '< I, Phoebe White, wife of Henry White, Esq., of Beverly, on oath, do testify that I was intimately acquainted with the Rev. Ben- jamin Balch and his wife, Joanna, from 1775 to 1784, and that in the year 1781 I frequently conversed with her respecting the ab- sence of her husband and her son, Thomas Balch, then on a cruise in the ship Alliance, James Barry, commander. The said Benjamin was at that time chaplain of the said ship, and on the return of the ship I saw the said Benjamin and his wife, and he, the said Benja- min, stated that he and his son, Thomas Balch, had been very much exposed, had had a severe engagement, and that the conduct of his son was becoming a mariner." Note. — It must be remembered that these affidavits were taken with especial reference to the application of Thomas, the eldest son, for a pension. Benjamin, the younger son, died in 1809. " I, Joseph O'Brien, of Newburyport, on oath, testify that I am well acquainted with the Thomas Balch who is now making appli- cation for a pension ; have known him since he was a child. . . . His father married my sister, and I had a brother who was on board the Boston as a midshipman. Said Balch' s father was chaplain. . . " In the much to be regretted absence of the reverend gentleman's own account of services rendered on the occa- sion of his employment on this and other ships, as before stated, we are compelled to rely on traditions thereof, such as have come down through so many years of family changes, with all the uncertainties so common with respect to details pertaining to the history of events thus perpetuated. But it is said that on the occasion of the engagement between the Alliance and the two vessels referred to in the affidavit of 48 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION Thomas Balch, the reverend father, forgetting for the moment the usual place and sphere of the " cloth" and impelled only by the desperate circumstances in which the Alliance was placed at one time, through the dying out of the wind and being then exposed to the raking fire of one of the vessels, seized such firearms as came most handy and did good execution on the enemy. He is said to have received the appellation of the " fighting parson" from this engagement. After the fray it is said that he searched the ship in greatest anxiety for his son, and finding him unharmed gave expression of his thanks to God therefor. The events in which the Rev. Benjamin was concerned the succeeding year we will not undertake to give for the reasons stated, but it is known that he was actively em- ployed until peace was declared early in the year 1783. About one year afterwards the Rev. Benjamin Balch and family removed from Danvers to Barrington, New Hampshire, from whence he had received a call, and where he was installed as pastor of the Congregational church August 25, 1784, and which relation he maintained for nearly thirty-two years. He died there May 4, 18 16. He occupied the pulpit to within two or three days of his death, which occurred suddenly, on occasion of his taking leave of the old parsonage, his failing health and faculties having incapacitated him for further ministerial service. There is something pathetic in the circumstances of his taking leave of the old parsonage in which he had so long resided, and where a large family had been reared, educated, and from whence all had been sent out into the world. It is related that, after visiting the parsonage for the last time, he set out on foot to the house of his daughter, about two miles distant, which had been arranged by his congregation for his future home, and had nearly reached there when he was seen to walk unsteadily and to sit down by the wayside, where he died. 49 REUNION AND ORGANIZATION OF It is pleasant here to note the perfect peace that char- acterized his long ministry at Barrington, and the consid- eration and kindness that was there shown him by his congregation, by reason of his patriotic devotion to his country and the Godly service rendered by him to his people. Thus we have traced, in the main features only, the career of this patriotic son of Massachusetts ; and who shall say that he did not " act well his part" ? A lineal descendant of the firstborn of her soil, he was an American in the highest sense, and as such redeemed every obligation of fealty to the country in time of her need. Born of a parentage than which none was better, socially or morally considered, he honored the same by a life of probity and honorable living. Dedicated to the Church, his life was a constant contribution to the religious and moral betterment of society. His achievements as a minister and a patriot, while perhaps characterized by modesty and unostentation, were nevertheless earnest, painstaking, and fruitful of the best results. Living in a time whose rush of events compelled every citizen to quickly take position for or against the cause of freedom, he became first, last, and all the time a staunch republican, and he affiliated with none who failed to draw inspiration from the same fountain, as is shown by his constant companionship with men of unequivocal patriotism — men who, undoubtedly having prescience of something attainable in their political well-being somewhat akin to their spiritual aspirations, but devoid of a prototype or model, seemed to be guided by Divine light in its final attainment. The disposition, at present so manifest, to bring to light the earnest labors and achievements of the host of patriots who contributed so much to the cause amid modest surroundings, and whose names in consequence have not 50 THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION been preserved on history's pages, is one of the happy signs of the times. Nothing can be more contributive to the perpetuation of patriotic impulses, nor have a greater tendency to render the form of government that these men worked out and placed in successful operation stable and enduring. In this view, and with the design of contributing something to a purpose so laudable, the foregoing record has been prepared. The sterling qualities of this Revolutionary patriot is further shown in the fact that during all the years of politi- cal strife, which had their beginning almost at the birth of his firstborn, and which were productive from the start of social as well as religious disintegration in communities, together with hardships of living such as at this time are difficult to realize, he succeeded in rearing a large family in a most creditable manner. He had twelve children, of whom ten reached mature and even extreme old age. Benjamin (born in 1 768) was a shipmaster, and was drowned at sea when forty-one years of age, and Joseph, the young- est, died in infancy. Three only, Jeremiah, Hannah, and Joseph, were born at the Barrington parsonage. The presence of the revered father and intelligent and affectionate mother served to make the old parsonage the Mecca towards which the eyes of all the children turned for many years. Aided by the educated paternal head of the house, who, in accord with the practice of the times, de- voted much time to the education of his children, together with such facilities as the village school afforded, each and every one received good fundamental learning and some high educational training ; and as a further tribute to the character of this man and his excellent wife, and in a manner also accentuating the influence of an honorable existence and, in every way, correct living, it may be said, without equivocation, that in every instance these children fully redeemed the pledge of good citizenship, 5i THE BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION which is the proper inheritance of good parentage and an honorable ancestry. Mrs. (Joanna O'Brien) Balch died at Barrington, New Hampshire, September, 1820. The Children of Rev. Benjamin and Joanna Balch. Thomas Balch, born 1765 Benjamin Balch, born 1768 Mary, » 1770 John, « ♦ 1772 William, " 1775 George Washington, * ' 1777 Horatio Gates, " 1777 Joanna, ' ' 1780 Martha, " 1783 Jeremiah, '« ' 1785 Hannah, " 1791 Joseph, ' * 179+ 4 PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY PHILADELPHIA SECOND REUNION SQalcf) JJamtip Qjfefoctatton AT SALEM WILLOWS, MASSACHUSETTS WEDNESDAY : AUGUST FIRST : NINETEEN HUNDRED AND SIX /^^^ QeJLuJU £. 12 JUL, A- & SECOND REUNION :: OF THE (Qaicf) fjamtip Qsgoctatton AT SALEM WILLOWS, MASSACHUSETTS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND SIX OFFICERS : 1905— 1906 PRESIDENT GALUSHA B. BALCH, M.D. i}6 Warburton Avenub YONKERS, N. Y. yiCE-PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BALCH 656 Jefferson Avenue DETROIT, MICH. TREASURER ALFRED C. BALCH 227 South Sixth Street PHILADELPHIA, PA. COUNSEL FRANCIS N. BALCH 60 State Street BOSTON, MASS. SECRETARY WILLIAM LINCOLN BALCH 8 Franklin Chambers Cleaves Street BOSTON, MASS. g>econb Reunion of tije |Pa(cf) tfamilp gggoctatton :: g>alem OTtllotog, iflasa., August 1, 1906 Boston, November I, 1906. HE second reunion of the Balch Family Association was held on Wednesday, August 1st, 1906, at the Pavilion, Salem Willows, Mass., with a very gratifying attendance. Shortly after 10 A.M. mem- bers were met at the Boston and Maine Railroad station in Salem by the President and Secretary of the Association and Dr. Frank A. Gardner of the Old Planters Society. Two parties of forty members each were formed. One, headed by Dr. Galusha B. Balch, took a trip by trolley to North Beverly, where a group photograph was taken in front of the old John Balch homestead, while the other, under the guidance of Dr. Gardner, proceeded to view the interesting sights of the Witch City, passing through Norman, Summer, Broad, Cambridge, Essex, North, Fed- eral, Washington, Essex, Central, Charter, Liberty, Essex, Union, Derby, and Turner streets. Among the places seen were : The old Pickering Mansion, Witch House, North Bridge monument, Court House, Town House Square, old Custom House, Grimshaw House, Charter Street Burying Ground, Essex Institute, Hawthorne's birthplace, th Custom House, where he worked, the Derby Mansion and the " House of Seven Gables." e SECOND REUNION OF THE Between 12.30 and 1 o'clock all assembled for luncheon at the Pavilion, and at 2.20 President Galusha B. Balch called to order in the upper hall a business meeting, which was opened with prayer by the Reverend William H. Savary of Groveland, Mass., a descendant of 'ohn Balch. The Secretary's report for the preceding year, which is appended, was read and adopted. The roll of those who had signified their intention to be present was then called, and one hundred and twenty-four persons — Balches by birth, marriage or descent — responded to their names or were added to the roll. The question of an assessment was taken up and dis- cussed, and a proposition that adult male members pay a registration fee of $1 and women and children one of 50 cents only was opposed by a lady member, and thereupon withdrawn. Dr. Gardner of the Old Planters, from his experience with similar organizations, advised an active membership fee of $1 per annum, a contributing membership fee of $5, and a life membership fee of $25. This suggestion was put in the form of a formal motion by Mr. William Hoyt Balch of Boston, and carried unan- imously, and it was voted that the first payment be made to the Secretary. Those whose names are marked by a star in the appended list of those present thereupon paid their dues for 1906. Any error or omission discovered in the list should be reported to the Secretary. The proposed purchase and preservation of the old John Balch Homestead on North Beverly was then con- sidered, the Secretary reading extracts from a preliminary report on the property made by the Counsel of the Associa- tion, Francis Noyes Balch, Esq., of Boston. President Balch thought that the place should be bought by the Association, by subscription, and that all Balch descendants should be solicited to purchase shares. It was 4 BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION also his opinion that the City of Beverly should be requested to take charge of the old house and grounds as a public park, released from all taxation. Dr. Balch suggests that the place be called Old Planters Park. Dr. Gardner, an officer of the Old Planters Society, welcomed the Park idea, and said that the present is the time to act, and see how such a suggestion will be met. Mr. William Hoyt Balch of Boston moved that a com- mittee of three, of which the Counsel of the Association shall be one, be appointed by the President, with full power to act for the Association in taking such measures as may be necessary to incorporate for the purpose of purchasing and holding the old homestead property. This motion was carried, and the President appointed as the Committee: Chairman, William Hoyt Balch; counsel, Francis Noyes Balch; secretary, William Lincoln Balch, all of Boston. A motion was made and adopted that the present offi- cers receive the hearty thanks of the Association, and be re-elected for another year. Dr. Gardner expressed the hope that the Association might be able to secure the old homestead, and hold its next gathering there. It is the oldest house in Beverly, and should be made a depository of Balch relics and a shrine for the pilgrimages of Balch descendants. He promised the co-operation of the Old Planters Society, and invited the Balches to meet next year with the Gardner family, as all descendants of John Balch are also descendants of Thomas Gardner. The question of the frequency of Association gather- ings was then taken up. Mr. William Hoyt Balch thought, from his knowledge of societies of somewhat similar char- acter, that once in three years is often enough to call such meetings. SECOND REUNION OF THE Mr. Arthur G. Sawyer of iVIilton favored annual meet- ings. Indeed, he would like to attend such gatherings as the present as often as once in six months. Dr. Gardner thought that, to ensure continued interest, triennial gatherings would be found sufficiently frequent. As a result of the debate it was : Voted, that a meeting of the Association be held next year, at the call of the officers, at the Old Balch Home- stead if possible, and thereafter once in three years. Adjourned. Since the Reunion, the Secretary has received further delayed replies from invited members who could not be present, including Major-General Adolphus W. Greely, U. S. A., commanding the Department of the Pacific, who wrote : " I very much regret that my duties' in San Francisco were of such an exacting character as to oblige me to neglect my personal mail — otherwise I should have sent a word of greeting to my assembled kinsmen on August I." The Secretary has also received and been gratified by assurances that a thoroughly " good time" was enjoyed by all present, and hopes that next year's assemblage may be much larger and more successful still. WILLIAM LINCOLN BALCH Secretary. BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION gkcretarp'g Report for 1905*6 ¥ Salem, August i, 1906. Ladies and Gentlemen : Little more than a year since the Balch Family Associ- ation was organized at a gathering held at the old John Balch Homestead in North Beverly at the invitation of the Old Planters Society. Five hundred invitations were sent out, and about fifty descendants of John Balch assembled. A President, Vice-President, and Secretary were chosen by vote, and the President subsequently appointed a Treas- urer and a legal adviser. The Treasurer, although without a treasury, very generously printed a handsome pamphlet report of the proceedings of that first meeting, and copies were mailed to a large number of Balch descendants and also to numerous public libraries, genealogical and historical socie- ties, etc., many of which, — including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution at Washington — acknowledged their receipt and placed them on their shelves. Those who would like to purchase copies of that report, containing a fine view of the old Balch Homestead, can obtain them here now. Early this season, a movement for the present meeting was begun, and the Secretary sent out nearly two hundred circular letters of enquiry to those who had shown an interest in the family and its history. The most distant points sent to were New Brunswick, Honolulu and Ber- muda. The responses received were two to one in favor of a gathering at this time and place, and the Treasurer, SECOND REUNION OF THE besides making a generous cash contribution, again at his own expense provided a thousand printed invitations and envelopes, and also a thousand post-cards planned by our President, who is the family historian, designed to elicit additional facts and figures for the genealogy. The Secre- tary, as his share of the expenses, paid the postage on these preliminary letters and circulars. The invitations were responded to in the same ratio as in the previous year, and about one-tenth of some thousand persons invited sent in acceptances. As was stated at last year's meeting, the last survivor of the seventh generation of John Balch's descendants lived to see the first day of the 20th century. Those of the eighth generation who remain are in advanced years, but many of them, it is a pleasure to know, still hale and active. Last year we had with us Mr. Benjamin Johnson Balch of Topsfield, almost eighty years of age, and our Vice-President, Mr. George W. Balch of Detroit, who is seventy-four. This year we have Mrs. Almira Balch Rowell, of Brookline, Mass. who is ninety-five, and Mr. Daniel Stickney Balch, nearly seventy-five, has come from Lyons, Iowa, to be present here with his younger sister, Miss Sarah Helen Balch of Groveland, who is only seventy. It is noticeable that it is not the younger ones — those upon whom will devolve the duty of carrying on this organization, if it is to live — who show the greatest inter- est in the family, and in the preservation of its most valued relic, the John Balch Homestead. While nothing definite has been done in that direction, it is the earnest desire of your officers that some practical step be taken, before it is too late, to ensure the pres- ervation of that ancient landmark. During the past year the Secretary has noted in the public prints numerous accounts of family gatherings similar to ours. While most of these family associations would appear to be numeri- 8 BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION cally and financially stronger than ours, none, certainly, has a more picturesque and interesting "old homestead" to rally about, and we ought to be alive to our opportunity and our duty to preserve it to posterity. It is, we believe, the oldest dwelling in this country that has been continu- ously occupied by descendants of the pioneer builder One of the Balch descendants, David Moore Balch, a native of this city of Salem and many years a resident, but now living at Coronado, California, writes as follows: "June 20, 1906. «' I hope Balches enough may be found to make the gathering at Salem Willows a success. Personally, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to assist, if it were possible, but a journey across the continent for that purpose is not to be thought of : con- sequently I must confine myself to wishing a most enjoyable day to all present. " The idea — with whomever it originated — of buying the old homestead to be held as family property, is excellent, and to the credit of its originator. The price should not be high, and there should certainly be enough of us found ready to contribute our mites for such a purpose. Let the matter be debated at the meeting. "The Balches — and a few other allied families — descending as they all do from Thomas Gardner, undoubtedly the first Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony — or rather, of the nucleus that expanded into that colony — may be considered as among the pioneers of the pioneers in the settlement of the chiefest part of the United States." If our own mites cannot be collected in sufficient amount to buy the old homestead, it has been suggested that the cities of Beverly and Salem and their historical and antiquarian societies should be induced to take part in the matter and assume perpetual care of the Balch home- stead as a place of historic interest. One of the officers of one of these societies has expressed the opinion that, if we show that we are in earnest by taking some definite step, 9 SECOND REUNION OF THE there will be found many public-spirited persons outside of our body ready to give their aid. An interesting report on the Balch Homestead title has been prepared by our counsel, Francis N. Balch, Esq., for the information of this Association. A number of representatives of antiquarian institutions were invited to meet with us today, some of whom were unable to be present, and letters of regret have been received from General Francis H. Appleton, President of the Essex Institute of Salem, Mr. Sidney Perley of the Essex Antiquarian, Salem, and Mr. A. A. Galloupe of Beverly. But we have with us the Vice-President and the Secretary of the Old Planters Society — Dr. Frank A. Gardner and Miss Lucie M. Gardner — whose advice and assistance have been most valuable. Among the Balch descendants who wrote regretting their inability to attend were Hon. Charles Warren Lipp- itt, ex-Governor of Rhode Island, and Dr. A. W. Balch, and family, of the United States Naval Medical School, at Washington, D. C. A few of those who could not come sent contributions toward the expenses of the gathering, and others expressed a desire to pay any necessary assessment for that purpose. The whole amount contributed by members aggre- gated $29.50, and this has been expended by the Secretary for postage, badges, and the use of this hall. The Association now owes nothing, and has nothing, and whatever action this meeting may take requiring ex- penditure should be accompanied by measures for raising the needed funds. Respectfully submitted, WILLIAM LINCOLN BALCH, Secretary. BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION £ JLtgt of ^egcen&antg of Present and enrolled at the Second Reunion, at Salem, August ist, 1906. The numbers in sub-headings and prefixed to names are those used to designate lines of descent in Dr. Balch's Genealogy. The stars prefixed to names indicate those who have paid annual dues for 1906. I.— SAMUEL. (5) Samuel (2 1 -63-1 34-277-556-1 179), Andrew J. (1937) Mr. and Mrs. George A. Balch, 223 Howard Avenue, Utica, N. Y. (245 1 ) Miss Marguerite Balch, 223 Howard Ave., Utica, N. Y. (5) Samuel (21-66-143-292-606), Emeline B. Leason (606) Miss Ida E. Leason, Sheboygan, Wis. (5) Samuel (22-70-150-304), Gustavus (621) *Joseph Henry Balch, 17 West Montgomery St., Johns- town, N. Y. (5) Samuel (22-70-153-309), Alvah B. (625) *Galusha B. Balch, M.D., 1 36 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, N. Y. (1294) *Samuel W. Balch (67 Wall St., N. Y. C), Mont- clair, N. J. (1295) *Dr. H. Elizabeth Balch, State Hospital, Flatbush, L. I., N. Y. (5) Samuel (23-78), Deborah Dodge (78) *Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Balch Dodge, 388 Cabot St. Beverly, Mass. SECOND REUNION OF THE *Mrs. John Perley Stone, 228 Rantoul St., Beverly, Mass. ^Mrs. Horace E. Durgin, Wenham, Mass. fames Clinton Durgin, Melrose Highlands, Mass. Mrs. Sadie L. Riddle, 5 Chestnut St., Beverly, Mass. Ralph L. Riddle, 5 Chestnut St. Beverly, Mass. Edward F. Caswell, 5 Chestnut St., Beverly, Mass. II.— BENJAMIN. (6) Benjamin (31-91- 168-333-663 ), Nathan (1314) *Mr. and *Mrs. Edson D. Sawyer, Milton (Hyde Park P. O.), Mass. ^Esther M. Sawyer, Milton (Hyde Park P. O.), Mass. *Leita L. Sawyer, Milton (Hyde Park P. O.), Mass. (1314) *Mr. and *Mrs. Arthur G. Sawyer, Milton (Mattapan P. O.), Mass. Roger E Sawyer, Milton (Mattapan P. O.), Mass. (6) Benjamin (3 1 -91-168-333-670), Er (1331) Mrs. Edwin C. Farwell, 10 Pine St., Hyde Park, Mass. Miss Minnie G. Farwell, 10 Pine St., Hyde Park, Mass. (1331) Mr. and Mrs. George Balch Pierce, 11 Lincoln St., Hyde Park, Mass. (2039) ^George L. Balch, 24 Parker St., Watertown, Mass. Fanny E. Balch, 24 Parker St., Watertown, Mass. (2042) Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Horace Balch, 6 Washburn St., Watertown, Mass. (2477) Wilfred Veysey Balch, 6 Washburn St., Watertown, Mass. Paul Conant Balch, 6 Washburn St., Watertown, Mass. Ruth Balch, 6 Washburn St., Watertown, Mass. Horace Er Balch, 6 Washburn St., Watertown, Mass. (6) Benjamin (3 1-91-168-333-672), James Parker (1341) *Mrs. George P. Balch, 185 High St., Newburyport, Mass. (6) Benjamin (3 1-9 i-i 70-334), Capt. Nathaniel (1346) *Mr. and Mrs. William Lincoln Balch, 8 Cleaves St., Boston, Mass. (1347) *Miss Kate Balch, Tewkesbury, Mass. (1348) Mr. and *Mrs. J. Albert Simpson, East Milton, Mass. 12 BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION III.— JOHN. (7) John (39-97-i77"357-7°i ), John (1403) *Frank Ceylon Place, 128 Margaret St., Plattsburg, N. Y. (1405) *Mrs. William L. Whitcomb, 4 Arcadia St., North Cam- bridge, Mass. (1406) Mrs. William L. Buker, 20 Oliver St., Everett, Mass. (7) John (39-97-369-712), Abner (2146) *Mr. and *Mrs. Alfred C. Balch (227 S. Sixth St., Philadelphia), Lansdowne, Pa. (2524) *Walter B. Balch, Lansdowne, Pa. ^Frederick S. Balch, Lansdowne, Pa. ^Bertram S. Balch, Lansdowne, Pa. (1434) Mrs. Theodore F. Hovey, 62 Harvard St., Brookline, Mass. (1437) *Mr. and Mrs. Frank Mortimer Balch, 633 Main St., Wakefield, Mass. (1443) *Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Alden Balch, 8 Edith Ave., Everett, Mass. *Frank Anderson Balch, 8 Edith Avenue., Everett, Mass. (1444) Mrs. Almira Balch Rowell, 62 Harvard St., Brookline, Mass. (7) John (40-100-18 1 ), John Augustus W. Balch, Pennsylvania Avenue, Matamoras, Pa. (7) John (40-103-187-390-804), John (2271) *Percy I. Balch, 23 Irving Street, Cambridge, Mass. *Mrs. Amy Moulton Balch, 23 Irving St., Cambridge, Mass. (7) John (40-103-187-374-806-1 574), Lowell Levi (2291) Mrs. Charles Cowdrey, Windsor, Vt. Allan Whitney Cowdrey, Windsor, Vt. (7) John (40-103-191-407-838), Theodore E. (161 2) Mrs. Mary Ellen Balch Gowing, 23 Yale Ave., Wake- field, Mass. (1613) Miss Annie Gertrude Balch, 23 Yale Avenue, Wakefield Mass. 13 SECOND REUNION OF THE (7) John (40-103-191-408-849), John H. (849) Mrs. John H. Balch, 22 Abbot Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass. (1622) Miss Gretchen Balch, 22 Abbott Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass. (1623) John Balch, 22 Abbott Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass. (1624) Clarkson Balch, 22 Abbott Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass. (7) John (40-103-193), Betsey Grant (193) *Mrs. Catherine Grant Simmons, 128 Fayette St., Lynn, Mass. (193) *Mrs. William James Kavanagh, 26 Prospect Ave., Win- throp, Mass. Leslie B. Grant, 30 Ridgeway Street, Lynn, Mass. John Herbert Grant, 30 Ridgeway Street, Lynn, Mass. (193) *Mrs. S. J. Foster, 265 Lafayette St., Salem, Mass. (193) Mrs. Francis A. Foster, 1 Quincy Park, Beverly, Mass. Harold Foster, 1 Quincy Park, Beverly, Mass. (7) John (40-103-287-396-822), William (1603) *Mr. and *Mrs. William Hoyt Balch, 365 Main St., Stoneham, Mass. *Miss Frances Putman Balch, 365 Main St., Stoneham, Mass. * William Balch, 365 Main Street, Stoneham, Mass. (7) John (47-115-220-440-926), Nehemiah (2323) *Miss Grace W. Balch, 434 Westford St., Lowell, Mass. (7) John (47-115-222-447-942), Abigail (1710) Almon Balch, Hyde Park, Vermont. (2355) Miss Estella E. Balch, P. O. Box i486, Boston, Mass. (7) John (47-115-222-447-950), Hannah (950) *Miss Hannah Haseltine, Lexington, Mass. (7) John (47-1 15-222-452-955), Margaret D. (955) Mrs. Estella O. Nay, 13 Jay Street, Cambridge, Mass. (7) John (47-115-222-452-960), Ezra D. (1734) *Mr. and Mrs. Ossian E. Balch, 28 East Brookline St., Boston, Mass. (2375) Lester W. Balch, 28 E. Brookline St., Boston, Mass. Glenn A. Balch, 28 East Brookline St., Boston, Mass. 14 BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION IV.— FREEBORN. (9) Freeborn (5 i-i i 7-232-446-987), Asahel Adams (1779) *Miss Louise Shattuck Balch, 1 Cherry St., Haverhil!, Mass. (9) Freeborn (5 i-i i 7-232-464-980), Warren Banford (980) Harriet Priest Balch, 309 Broadway, Lawrence, Mass. (9) Freeborn (5 i-i 17-233-472-1000), Sarah Elizabeth (1000) Mr. and *Mrs. Herbert A. Hastings, 56 Walnut St., Somerville, Mass. *Miss Gladys Balch Hastings, 56 Walnut St., Somerville, Mass. (9) Freeborn ( 5 i -i i 7-236-480), Wesley Perkins (1004) *Mrs. Elizabeth L. Tuttle, 66 Chestnut St., Boston, Mass. (1004) *G. Wesley Pettes, Custom House, Boston, Mass. *Miss F. Helen Pettes, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. (1007) *Miss Elizabeth A. Balch, 92 Charles St., Boston, Mass. (9) Freeborn (52-124-238), Mary Cutler (238) Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Torrey, Manchester, Mass. Rev. and Mrs. Temple Cutler, Ipswich, Mass. (9) Freeborn (52-124-239-493-1047), Mary W. Hackett (1047) Miss Mary Wadsworth Hackett, 74 Highland Avenue, Newtonville, Mass., (9) Freeborn (52-124-239-498-1065), Henry C. (1836) *Edward Crawford Balch, 167 Spring St., New York, N. Y. *Mrs. Kate L. Balch, Maplewood, N. J. Everett P. Balch, Maplewood, N. J. (9) Freeborn (58-127-250-505), Thomas H. (1077) *Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Tenney Balch, 11 Greenleaf St., Newburyport, Mass. (1078) *Charles Thomas Balch, Groveland, Mass. (1848) Mrs. Leonard Parker Balch, 287 Main St., Amesbury, Mass. (9) Freeborn (58-127-235-509), Louisa Savary (509) *Rev. William H. Savary, Groveland, Mass. 15 BALCH FAMILY ASSOCIATION (9) Freeborn (58-127-250-505-1082), Gardner P. (1082) ^Gardner Pickard Balch, 16 Montview St., West Rox- bury, Mass. *Sophia George Balch, 16 Montview St., West Roxbury, Mass. (1853) Malcolm Williams Balch, 16 Montview St., West Rox- bury, Mass. (9) Freeborn (58-127-250-505-1082), Ann Mary (1087) Mr. and Mrs. Luther K. Pemberton, 29 Gardner St., Groveland, Mass. (9) Freeborn (58-127-253-513), Moses Phippen ( 1 106) Mrs. George Phippen Balch, 373 Chatham St., Lynn, Mass. *Mr. and Mrs. John Steele Balch, 392 Western Ave., Lynn, Mass. *George James Balch, 392 Western Ave., Lynn, Mass. John Clifford Balch, 392 Western Avenue, Lynn, Mass. (11 13) Mrs. Clara R. Turner, Somerville, Mass. (11 14) *Louis Lauriat Balch, 1 93 1 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. *David R. Balch, 193 1 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. *Philip L. Balch, 1931 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. (9) Freeborn (58-127-254), Polly (254) Mrs. Francis Jacques, Bradford, Mass. (9) Freeborn (58-13 1-265-546-1 160), William Heman (1164) *Daniel Stickney Balch, 115 7th Street, Lyons, Iowa. 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