Thomas Balch (minister)

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Thomas Balch (1712-January 8, 1774 [1] ) was a Colonial minister in South Dedham, Massachusetts. [2] [3]

Balch was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1712. [4] He was graduated from Harvard College in 1733. [4]

Balch first took the pulpit on June 30, 1736. [4] [3] [1] The Balch School was named for him in 1867 in Norwood, Massachusetts. [3] [5] A new school was built on the same site in 1913 and is also known as the Balch School. [3]

When Norwood separated from Dedham in 1872, Balch was a potential name for the community. [3] His daughter, Mary, married Manasseh Cutler, and Cutler studied under the elder Balch for the ministry. [2] Another daughter, Hannah, married Jabez Chickering. [6] They also had a son named Jabez Chickering, Balch's grandson.

Balch died on January 8, 1774, 38 years after being ordained. [1] [4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Worthington, Erastus (1827). The history of Dedham: from the beginning of its settlement, in September 1635, to May 1827. Dutton and Wentworth. p.  116 . Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  2. 1 2 McCullough, David (May 7, 2019). The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West. Simon & Schuster. p. 4. ISBN   978-1-5011-6869-7 . Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Cole, Brad (March 5, 2013). "Balch School to celebrate its centennial". Norwood Transcript. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Burgess 1840, p. 515.
  5. Slafter, Carlos (1905). A Record of Education: The Schools and Teachers of Dedham, Massachusetts 1644-1904. Dedham Transcript Press. p.  232. 1642-3.
  6. Cutler, William Parker; Cutler, Julia Perkins (1888). Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D. R. Clarke. p. 56. Retrieved June 5, 2021.

Works cited