John Balch

JOHN BALCH, son of Edward, was born about 1630/1631 in Bridgewater, Somersetshire, England. Bit and pieces can be learned about John: that he “belonged to the Presbyterian wing of the English church and his son and his grandchildren were brought up in that faith.” And that he “became possessed of large property and extensive influence.” John BALCH and Catharine CLELLAND (sometimes spelled McClelland, “of a Scottish family”) were married in 1659 in Deer Creek Settlement, Maryland Colony. Children are commonly stated to have been: Thomas Balch and Robert Balch. I don’t know when John died. The Lush Family History: p. 239

His emigration is documented by the following, on file in Liber 6, folio 89, in the Maryland Land Office at Annapolis: “John Baltch enters his own right transported in the year 1658, the which he assigned the following:

"I, John Baltch, do assign over unto John Lloyd all my right, title and interest of one right due unto me for my transportation in the province, as witness my hand this 30th day of December, 1663. The mark of X John Baltch." Witness, Dan'l Jenifer. [John made his mark on the document, because he was sick at the time, “but he could both read and write.” ]

This was land he was entitled to for providing his own transportation to the colony. The land was given to encourage settlement. A single man was given 100 acres, which was subject to a nominal yearly rental. This land he could transfer for a consideration, as the above entry shows. In 1683 the Proprietory proclaimed new "Conditions of Plantation," as the term ran, by which anyone could obtain warrants for any quantity of land, not already disposed of, by the payment of a small amount of purchase money, and afterwards of a trifling annual "quit rent." This system continued until after the Revolution.

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Details in THE LUSH FAMILY HISTORY

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• Balch genealogica (1907)
• https://archive.org/details/cu31924029819038
• https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029819038#page/n141/mode/1up
• Pg.94
• JOHN BALCH "OF MARYLAND."
• The second emigrant, John Balch "of Maryland," who came from County Somerset, crossed over to Maryland in 1658,(86) not to escape political or religious persecution but to improve his fortune. According to family traditions his immediate relations supported the Parliament during the Civil War, while more remote kinsmen fought for King Charles.(87) The 30th of December, 1663, he assigned his right to fifty acres, to which he was entitled from the Province for having paid his own transportation to Maryland, to John Floyde. To that instrument John Balch made his mark, being sick at the time, like Colonel Ninian Beall when he made his
• https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029819038#page/n142/mode/1up
• Pg.95
• mark to his last will and testament,(88) but he could both read and write.(89) He was born probably before 1635. In England he belonged to the Presbyterian Wing of the English Church.(90) In Maryland
• https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029819038#page/n143/mode/1up
• Pg.96
• he married Catharine Cleland of a Scottish family,
• https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029819038#page/n144/mode/1up
• Pg.97
• and left two sons who were brought up in the Presbyterian faith.(91)
  • 1. I. Thomas Balch.
  • 1. II. Robert Balch.(92)
• As the descendants of John Balch "of Maryland" were brought up in Presbyterianism in Maryland and not in Episcopacy, to which their kinsmen in England returned when it was re-established by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, it would seem that the Presbyterian form of church government was more in accord with the greater political freedom that then prevailed in the English colonies than in England itself. In other words that Presbyterianism was closer than Episcopacy to the Dem-
• https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029819038#page/n145/mode/1up
• Pg.98
• ocratic spirit of individualism that obtained in the colonies. Or as Dryden expressed the essence of Presbyterianism in an uncomplimentary way in his "Hind and Panther": — .... etc.
• The elder of these two sons, Thomas Balch, who was born about 1660, was of a restive and impulsive disposition, .... etc.
• https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029819038#page/n149/mode/1up
• Pg.102
• After returning to Maryland, Thomas Balch(96) married Agnes Somerville, and died in 1730.
• They had one son :
• 2. I. Hezekiah Balch. He was brought up in the Presbyterian faith, and received from his father
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• LINKS
• http://www.familytreedna.com/public/balch/default.aspx?section=yres...