Balderston

There are some excellent genealogies of the Balderston family, especially of the Colora branch. This web page does not attempt to either duplicate or replicate that, although it does draw upon others' work. Instead, this web page hopes to post as much detailed infrmation as can be found about the Balderston family from the immigrant John to Lydia Balderston who married Thomas S. Dunning in 1872.
Especially if you have documented data to fill out the biographies of any of the individuals on this page, I would be very grateful for additional information a reader might have, or corrections to what I have posted here. Please send e mail.
This web page was constructed using Mozilla and consequently looks much better with Mozilla as the browser. The Gates' software and clones thereof don't do quite as satisfactory a job.
The name was said by one family story to have been "Boulderstone", given by neighbors to a man who lived on a very rocky and stony place.[1] I am very skeptical of this etymology. For one thing, the geology of The Netherlands or of Norfolk tends to be sand or clay rather than rocky glacial debris. It reminds me of the explanation offered by Mrs. MacIntyre who claimed that her eponymous ancestor was engaged in makin' tires.
Be that as it may, the first identifiable ancestor in our line is JohnB Balderston, who emigrated with three children from the Netherlands to England, probably at the time William of Orange and his wife Mary (Stuart) came to the British throne in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It is not known if he was originally Dutch, or had gone into voluntary exile at the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660. John seems to have settled in or near Norwich.[2] See the explanation of the National Genealogical Society's Numbering System used on this web page.
Known children of John Balderston (his wife's name is not known to me):[3]
a) Timothy, married and had two daughters: (1) Mary, m. Stackhouse (or Stockhouse?) Thompson and had 2 children: Timothy and Ann; (2).Ann.
b) Bartholomew, unmar.
c) a daughter who m. Samuel HARMAND and had a son Samuel, 3 daughters whose names are not known, and a daughter Sarah who m. Robert SEWELL and had many sons and daughters living in Norwich, England.
JohnA Balderston married twice, after being a widower for many years. His second wife was Lydia Schaife or Scarf.[4] If she were Dutch, it would have originally been spelled Scheif.[5] Child of John and his first wife:
John1 Balderston was born in 1702 in Norwich, and died in 1778 in Pennsylvania. He and Hannah COOPER were married 21 October 1737 in Gwynedd Meeting. She was born on March 29, 1719 in Middletown, Bucks County, the daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (HIBBS) Cooper.[6]
In Norwich John learned the trade of weaving silk and worsted. In 1727 (the year George II came to the throne of Great Britain) John emigrated as a redemptioner to Pennsylvania.[7] A redemptioner was someone who had inadequate financial resources to pay for his or her own passage to the new world. Instead they signed an indenture, usually with a ship's captain. When they arrived at their destination, the captain sold the indenture to recoup the cost of passage. Usually the redemptioner agreed to work four years to pay off the passage. In exchange he or she were provided with room and board, and at the end of the indenture received a set of new clothes and sometimes the tools of their trade. I have not yet learned who purchased John's indenture, and whether he was employed as a weaver.
By 1739 John had not only worked off his indenture, but was established well enough to marry Hannah Cooper of Upper Makefield, Bucks County. They were married in Gwynedd Meeting in what became Montgomery County.[8]
The couple lived first in North Wales, then in Upper Makefield, and finally settled in Solebury. John requested a certificate of removal for himself, his wife, and his minor children Jacob, Isaiah, Mordecai, Sarah, Lydia, and Mary on 7 April 1767 from Wrightstown Meeting to Buckingham Meeting.[9]
John purchased 250 [except on the map it is labelled 350] acres in Solebury. The land was a quarter of an original grant of 1000 acres by William PENN to Richard THATCHER, dated 4 July 1682. Richard bequeathed 250 acres of it 13 December 1690 to his sons, Richard and Bartholomew Thatcher. They sold it to Samuel BEAKES 6 June 1700 who had it surveyed and confirmed by patent 14 March 1703. Beakes sold it to William CHADWICK 4 March 1725/6. Chadwick is believed to have erected the first buildings on it. But one day while being ferried across the Delaware River he fell overboard and drowned. His widow Ellen and children sold it to John Balderston 21 June 1766. It adjoined land of Samuel ARMITAGE, James HAMBLETON, Thomas HARTLEY, Paul WOLFE, Jebediah ALLEN, and Ezra CROASDALE. Sugan Road ran diagonally through it, west to east.[10]
When war broke out between the colonial rebels and the British army, Friends determined to uphold their witness for peace. Their testimony from their earliest days in the mid seventeenth century against oaths was put to a severe test. Whichever side controlled an area tried to exact an oath of loyalty from the inhabitants. Friends refused to swear, based on Jesus' clear injunction to "swear not at all". When John Balderston was tendered the Oath of Allegiance by the rebels/patriots, he refused on grounds of conscience to take it.[11]
Friends also refused to participate in the local militias. John, of course, was too old to be called up. But his sons John, Jonathan and Mordecai were listed as being members of Captain Lanning and Captain Kestor's regiments in Solebury.[12]
John died 9 July 1778.[13]
In 1784 the "widdow Balderston" owned 150 acres, one dwelling, a barn, and had a household of three white people. Hannah died 26 May 1792, in Solebury.[14]
Children of John and Hannah (Cooper) Balderston:[15]
a) Ann Balderston3, d.y.
b) Mark Balderston, twin, d.y.
c) Mirab Balderston, twin, d.y.
d) Hannah Balderston, m. 1817 John MITCHELL; no children.
e) John W. Balderston, m. 1800 Elizabeth BUCKMAN; resided in Fallsington; 7 children.
f) Ann Balderston, m. 1823 James SIMPSON; no children.
g) Ezra Balderston, d. as an infant.
h) Mark Balderston, b. 5m/1/1778 in Solebury; d. 9m/3/1823; m(1) Ann BROWN; m(2) 1805 Elizabeth LLOYD, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (CHILD) Lloyd (Elizabeth d. 10m/17/1826); 8 children.
a) William Cooper,
b) Mary Cooper who married ___ PETERS.
Isaiah2 Balderston, son of John and Hannah, was born 24 February 1753, and died 5 September 1817. On 10 November 1772 he married Martha ELY, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Hibbs [Lowther?]) Ely, and moved to Montgomery County.
In 1792 they removed to Deer Creek Meeting in Harford County, Maryland. Isaiah was recorded as a minister there. A Friends minister (before the latter half of the nineteenth century) was a man or woman whose spiritual life and messages offered in meetings for worship were recognized by members of his or her meeting to be authentic gifts of the Holy Spirit. There was a process by which such Friends were recognized and minuted. There was no single word to describe these Friends, however. They were referred to as recognized, recorded, or approved ministers. There were no shades of meaning differentiating these terms, that I am aware of. Ministers met for monthly, quarterly, and yearly "select" meetings for business with other ministers, elders, and overseers, in addition, of course, to attending the general monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings for business. A minister among Friends was expected to have a “competence”, that is a secular livelihood that supported the family and made possible the unpaid travel and ministry among Friends to which the individual was called. If a minister felt a Divine call to travel or undertake other ministerial labor, he or she brought it to the monthly meeting for Friends’ approval. If the meeting had unity with the minister and his or her proposed travel or project, the meeting would minute it. The minister would carry the minute to any other meetings visited, and the clerks of those meetings would endorse it with a few words evaluating the visit. In this way individual Friends were held accountable to the larger body.[21]
In 1792 Isaiah, Martha, and their family moved to Baltimore and became members of the Monthly Meeting of Baltimore for the Eastern District. Isaiah's recording went with him.[check dates and places of these two moves]
In 1797 Isaiah “opened to this [Baltimore] meeting a prospect that has for some time closely attended his mind of having some religious opportunities with the black people, who reside near this city, as also with those persons who are confined in the alms house.” In June 1797 a standing committee was appointed to look into the economic situation of blacks. This interest was extended in 1802 to a concern for their education. By 1816 the Quarterly Meeting had many times queried the monthly meetings to forward “accounts of their care respecting the education of those of the African race in friends’families.”[22]
In August 1799 Isaiah Balderston, an approved minister,
opened in [Baltimore] meeting a prospect that has attended his mind of having a religious opportunity with the few Friends residing near Elk Ridge Landing and others who might be disposed to attend$#151;as also a religious opportunity in several of the neighbourhoods adjacent to this city as Truth might open the way, which being considered is united with and he left at liberty to proceed accordingly. [23]Ennion Williams, Jospeh Townsend, and William Brown accompanied him on his visits to Elk Ridge Landing, “Reisters Town”, and “Gunpowder Forrest”.
With the population of Baltimore growing quickly, it was not surprising that Friends on the west side of town pushed for a new meeting more conveniently located to them. On 13 October 1803 Baltimore Monthly Meeting appointed a large committee of 21 men including Isaiah and Ely Balderston to unite with a similar committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting to look into the subject, and perhaps explore the possibility of beginning to raise funds. Things moved relatively quickly after that. Land was purchased on Lombard Street and a meeting house constructed. On 12 March 1807 Lombard Street Preparative Meeting requested monthly meeting status. The two meetings were to be called Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Eastern District and Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Western District. Isaiah and Hugh Balderston were among those who transferred their membership to the Western District. Relations between the two districts soured when, in 1809, the Western District inquired into acquiring a financial interest in a portion of the property of the Eastern District.[24]
He was religiously concerned for his fellow beings, who laboured under confinement, and with the approbation of his friends, frequently visited them in prison houses and other public institutions, and sympathising with them in their afflictions, was favoured to administer suitable counsel and advice. He was also much exercised respecting the African race, using endeavours, as way opened, to promote their liberation and religious improvement.
Sensible of the important station which he believed himself called upon to fill, and how liable he might be to deviate from the true Guide, he was desirous of the counsel and admonition of his friends, whenever it appeared necessary . . . .
He was not frequent in his appearances in the ministry at home, but concerned to labour after a right qualification in solemn silence, in which true worship is to be performed; and when favoured with clear openings, his communications were instructive and edifying.
His mind was at different times drawn in gospel love, to visit Friends in several of the neighbouring States . . . . In all such visits, he was careful to have the approbabtion of the meeting to which he belonged; and returned with the expression of those meetings amongst which he had been, that his services had been acceptably received.
He was remarkable for his free, open disposition, and for a becoming liberality towards those of other religious persuasions, which with his regular upright conduct through life, had a tendency to gain their affections and esteem. The sick and afflicted were also peculiar objects of his attention and sympathy, and by his frequent visits to such, he demonstrated his concern and fellow feeling for them . . . .
He was often exercised on account of a practice, too prevalent in the Society, of persons assembling at places of worship, and inconsiderately spending their precious time, conversing on worldly affairs before they retire into the [meeting] house . . . . [25]
Isaiah was a recorded minister for about 25 years. Isaiah died at 4 a.m. on 5 September 1817, in his 65th year. Martha died 9 December the same year, aged 77. [26]
Children of Isaiah and Martha (Ely) Balderston: [27]
Ely3 Balderston, son of Isaiah and Martha (Ely) Balderston, was born 9 May 1776 and died in 1853. On 16 November 1797 he married Esther BROWN at a meeting of Friends held at Baltimore. She was born 30 December 1775, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Brown.
The couple settled in Baltimore. Out of eleven children born to them, only five reached adulthood.
Ely suffered financial hardships.[28]
Esther died 12 February 1829 in her 54th year. Ely died 7 April or May 1853 after a long illness. He was in his 77th year.[29]
Children of Ely and Esther (Brown) Balderston: [30]
Samuel F.4 Balderston, son of Ely and Esther (Brown), was born 21 November 1810 in Baltimore, and died 5 January 1895 in Philadelphia. On 11 November 1835 Samuel and Martha Ann Griffith, the daughter of John and Rachel (Hackney) Griffith, were married in the Hopewell Meeting house.
Samuel attended Westtown School for two years. Then he served an apprenticeship to the leather business. But because of his father's financial difficulties Samuel learned the wall-paper business, which he carried on in connection with his father's queensware business in Frederick, Md.
At the age of nineteen Samuel made the decision to adopt plain dress, and with this he gave up everything which interfered with a consistent maintenance of the principles of the Society of Friends, "to which he was ever after a devoted adherent, believing that they represented the pure teachings of the Gospel of Christ." He was recorded a minister at the age of twenty-four years. "In the exercise of his gift as a minister, he was dignified, earnest, clear, forcible and convincing, ever having an eye single to the glory of God. He rarely repeated in his sermons any part of a former communication, but brought forth from the treasury matter both old and new, often quoting some extracts from pious authors to elucidate his subject."[31]
In 1833 he went to Frederick County, Virginia, and taught school. He then went to Ohio, where he taught for one year before returning to Frederick County. In 1835 he married Martha Ann Griffith, shown to the left as a much older woman.[33]
Next they removed to Bellefonte, Pa., where Samuel taught at the Academy.
He was unusually well qualified for teaching, combining great gentleness with firmness, and gained both the respect and affection of his numerous pupils. He managed, without difficulty, large boys and young men who had defied previous teachers, and, at Bellefonte, especially, brought a state of disorder and rebellion into order and discipline. [34]
Samuel then felt a leading to move to Philadelphia, to the Northern District of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Samuel and Martha Ann's lives centered on the North Meeting, although Samuel had a "day job". He opened a paperhanging business at 912 Spring Garden Street. In the 1870s he opened a second store, at 516 North Ninth. As his sons got older, the firm changed its name to "Samuel F. Balderston & Son", then to "& Sons", and finally, after his death, to "Samuel F. Balderston's Son". [43]
Samuel and Martha Ann lived at 1513 Oxford Avenue, Philadelphia, but by 1882 had moved to 2018 North Twelfth Street where they remained the rest of their lives.[44]
Samuel's eyesight failed in his old age. Martha died 8 November 1894, and Samuel died 5 January 1895. His obituary is in The Friend. "He was widely beloved for his great spiritual preaching, his knowledge of the scriptures and his saintly life."[47]
Children of Samuel F. and Martha Ann (Griffith) Balderston:
Lydia.5 Balderston, youngest child of Samuel F. and Martha Ann (Griffith) Balderston, was born in Philadelphia on 4 December 1849, and died there 27 June 1941. She was married on 8 October 1872 to Thomas Stevenson DUNNING, MD.
Lydia is pictured to the right, probably shortly after her marriage when she was no longer a Friend, and not feeling any obligation to wear plain dress.
Children of Thomas S. and Lydia (Balderston) Dunning:
To continue the story of this family, go to the Dunning page, or see 1328 North Fifteenth Street: the Dunning Family and Its Things, available on Lulu.com.
If you have additions or corrections to this web page, I would be delighted to hear from you. Contact me via e mail at kwg "at" cwru.edu just substituting the familiar "@" for "at".
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