John BALCH was born in 1579 in Horton, which is located near Bridgewater, Somersetshire County, England.He is said to have come to America in August or September of 1623, with Captain Robert Gorges, and settled with the "Dorcester Company," sent out with the Rev. John White, or with Captain Gorges at Wessaguscus (Weymouth).He was one of the original "Old Planters," who with Roger Conant settled Salem, Massachusetts, and later Beverly, Massachusetts. The house that John Balch built is the oldest wood frame house in New England and is the only house of an "Old Planter" still in existence today.It can be viewed by appointment in Beverly, Massachusetts. 13 generations later my grandmother, Allie Merle BALCH was born on September 12, 1901, in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. I have much information on the Balch Family and other related families and would be willing to share what I have with other Family members. Other surnames that I am researching include:Balch, Murphy, Green, McCord, Jordan, Sawyer, Williams, Hill, Porter, Garrison, McCoy, Lewis, Goodwin, Garlick, Bloomer, Ree, Baylor, Camm, Waller, Meriwether, Cleves, Beale, Cresson (Crison), Bell, Gregory, Bullock, Walker, King, Warner, Crawford, Newmarch, Todd, Whiting, Miller, Pomfrett, Woodhouse, Gardner, Gould, Keats, Reade, Martian, Fryer, Smith, White. Sources Include: Balch, Dr. Galusha B., GENEALOGY OF THE BALCH FAMILIES IN AMERICA, Salem:Eden Putnam, Publisher, 1897. Ferris, Mary Walton, THE DAWES-GATES ANCESTRAL LINES, A MEMORIAL VOLUME CONTAINING THE AMERICAN ANCESTRY OF RUFUS R. DAWES, Chicago, 1931, 1943, Volume 1. Tindall, George Brown, AMERICA:A NARRATIVE HISTORY, Volume One, Second Edition, New York:W. W. Norton & Company.
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