Esther Ballou

• Note: The parentage of this individual is not to be trusted, Reese Meredith is shown in biography to have had only three children who lived, and one son, Johnathon, who died in infancy:

Reese Meredith (1705-1778)
Reese (Rhys or Rice) Meredith, Merchant, of Philadelphia

Spouse

Martha (Carpenter) Meredith (1718-1769)

Children

1. Elizabeth (Meredith) Clymer (1739-1815)
2. Samuel Meredith (1741-1817)
3. Anne (Meredith) Hill (1743-1787)

He was born at Leominster in Herefordshire, descended from the Meredith family of Presteigne in Radnorshire. He was educated at Oxford University and as a Quaker he came to Philadelphia in 1727 to practise his faith without fear of reprisal. He became a successful merchant but was later disowned by the Quakers for funding the privateer Warren. He married Martha, grand-daughter of Samuel Carpenter of the Slate Roof House, a business partner of William Penn and Deputy-Governor of Colonial Pennsylvania. Reese Meredith kept a townhouse on Walnut Street below Second and for a country home purchased "Green Hill" from Richard Hill on the west bank of the Schuylkill River opposite Fairmount. His silver service was marked with the crest of the Merediths of Radnor (see images): a demi-lion, rampant, collared and chained.

Birthplace noted as "Dublin, of Welsh ancestry".Dublin, Ireland is unlikely as her father immigrated to the American colonies in the 1830's. Rees Meredith being a wealthy merchant may have actually made a trip to Ireland. This is, of course, pure conjecture. The data provided for her children lack logical birth dates for them to be actually hers. Will list here for convenience but I am not of the conviction of any accuracy: Bennett Ballou, Rees Meredith Ballou, Owen Meredith Ballou, Leonard Ballou, and Elizabeth Johnston (Ballou).