Today I walked by the place where the Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed King in 1685.
There is only one Balch recorded as being a Monmouth Rebel – Thomas Balch of Staple Fizpaine (just south of Taunton). Thomas Balch was recorded as being “out in the rebellion”. It was indeed fortunate that he was as he kept his head.
Thomas Balch was a son of the John Balch who emigrated from Somerset to Maryland in 1658. Thomas returned to Somerset at about age 20 and joined the Duke of Monmouth’s army. When Monmouth’s army was routed at the Battle of Sedgemoor Thomas was able to make his way to Bristol. Here, disguised, he sailed home to Maryland. Thereby avoiding the justice of Hanging Judge Jefferies.
Why do I mention Thomas Balch?
My brother has a distant Y DNA match (genetic distance of 10) to descendants of John Balch of Maryland. Geographic distance is certainly part of the reason for the genetic distance. But not necessarily all the reason. Before exploring this connection further we need to establish our own Balch or Baulch ancestry back to at least the Monmouth Rebellion. And this isn’t proving to be an easy task so far.
Sources:
Somerset Record Society, The Monmouth Rebels 1685 (Somerset Record Society, Taunton: 1983) page 8 (accessed at the Taunton Archives and available at The State Library of Victoria)
Thomas Willing Balch, Balch Genealogica (Allen, Land and Scott, Philadelphia, United States: 1901) pages 94-95 (accessed at Google Books) (Thank you to the FTDNA Balch project for making me aware of this book)