Balch Family Papers, 1815-1936

Collection number: MC 68
Size: 1 box (0.33 cu.ft.)

About the Balch family

The Balch family first came to America in 1623 and resided in northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The best known member of the family was the author Elizabeth Arabella Balch (1851-1934), daughter of Wesley P. (1794-1856) and Elizabeth Balch (1815-1892). E.A. Balch wrote Glimpses of Old English Homes (1890), and two other works are attributed to her: Mustard Leaves, or Glimpse of London Society (1885), and An Author’s Love (1889).

About the Balch Family Papers

The Balch family papers contain correspondence, legal documents, photographs, and genealogical notes. The papers include brief correspondence between E.A. Balch and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

This collection is open.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], [Folder], [Box], Balch Family Papers, 1815-1936, MC 68, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Donation, W. Dennis Chesley (Accession number: 7917)

Collection Contents

Series 1: Correspondence, 1815-1935

Box 1
Box 1, Folder 1		Rebecca Battle (d. 1820), wife of Wesley P. Balch, and her brother Hezekiah Battelle, 1815-1821 (11 letters)
Box 1, Folder 2		Wesley P. Balch (1794-1856) and Elizabeth Ann Picard Jones Brackett Balch (1815-1892), his third wife, with various family members, 1847-1856 (8 letters)
Box 1, Folder 3		Elizabeth Arabella Balch (1851-1934), daughter of Wesley and Elizabeth, with various family members (mainly concerning genealogy), 1902-1932 (10 letters)
Box 1, Folder 4		Sarah Battelle to Rebecca Battle, 1815; William Henry Balch to Mary Elizabeth Balch, 1849 (2 letters)
Box 1, Folder 5		Miscellaneous correspondence, mainly regarding Balch family genealogy, 1897-1935 (4 letters)
Box 1, Folder 6		Miscellaneous correspondence, includes: Oliver Wendell Holmes and Ezra Stearns (N.H. Secretary of State), 1852, 1891, and 1898 (9 pieces)

Series 2: Manuscripts, 1913-1923

Box 1, Folder 7		Poems: Hezekiah Battelle, Rebecca Battle, and C.L. Dalend, 1913
Box 1, Folder 8		Poems: E.A. Balch, undated
Box 1, Folder 9		Accounts: Wesley P. Balch, account book, 1833-1852; Balch House Trust account, 1922-1923
Box 1, Folder 10		Poems: E.A. Balch, undated

Series 3: Legal Documents, 1818-1933

Box 1, Folder 11		Wills: W.P. Balch 1854, 1855 and 1857 inventory of estate); E. Balch 1888; and E.A. Balch 1933
Box 1, Folder 12		Survey plan of house lot, 1818
Box 1, Folder 13		Land deeds and agreements: Seigniory of Perthuis in Montreal, Quebec, 1841-1930
Box 1, Folder 14		Contract agreement between Thomas Brackett/Charles Kendall and William Varney to build a house, undated

Series 4: Materials about the Balch family, undated

Box 1, Folder 15		Genealogical notes
Box 1, Folder 16		Genealogical notes: Morse, Jones, Drew, Balch, and Gleason families
Box 1, Folder 17		Genealogical notes: Jones, Gleason, Balch, and Baker families
Box 1, Folder 18		Genealogical notes: Balch family
Box 1, Folder 19		Newspaper clippings, etc., 1894-1937

Series 5: Photographs, 1850s-1902

Box 1, Folder 1		Ella Adelaide Brackett Richardson (1840-1880), her daughter. Sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 2		Ella A. Richardson, sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 3		Ella, with a baby. Daguerreotype, 2 x 3
Box 1, Folder 4		Franklin Richardson (1835-1880), Ella’s husband, with sons. Daguerreotype, 2 x 3
Box 1, Folder 5		David Thomas Richardson (b.1873), son of Franklin and Ella, sepia, 4 x 5
Box 1, Folder 6		William Henry Balch (1849-1911), son of Elizabeth and Wesley Balch, as a boy. Oval, sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 7		William Henry Balch as a man. Oval, sepia, 3 x 5
Box 1, Folder 8		Elizabeth Balch as a baby. Oval, b/w 4 x 5
Box 1, Folder 9		Elizabeth Arabella Balch, aged 17, 1868. Sepia, 1 x 2
Box 1, Folder 10		Elizabeth Arabella Balch, feathered hat, N.Y. Postcard, sepia, 3 x 5
Box 1, Folder 11		Elizabeth Arabella Balch, with parasol, sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 12		Elizabeth Arabella Balch, with group in hayrack, bluetoned, 3 x 3
Box 1, Folder 13		Elizabeth Arabella Balch, with group, reading, by Washburn, Lowell, Massachusetts, sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 14		Elizabeth Arabella Balch, with snowy background, sepia, 3 x 3
Box 1, Folder 15		Elizabeth Arabella Balch in boat (includes negative), sepia, 4 x 5
Box 1, Folder 16		Elizabeth Arabella Balch reading book, outdoors, b/w, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 17		Elizabeth Arabella Balch looking at camera, book in hand, outdoors, b/w, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 18		Elizabeth Arabella Balch in long dress, shawl, sitting in a rocking chair next to a window, sepia, 3 x 3
Box 1, Folder 19		Elizabeth Arabella Balch in long dress, shawl, in front of mirror sepia, 3 x 3
Box 1, Folder 20		Kingston Market, March 25, 1902, sepia, 3.5 x 3.5
Box 1, Folder 21		Gateway, foliage, house, sepia, 3 x 3
Box 1, Folder 22		Brick building, native, sepia, 3 x 3
Box 1, Folder 23		Young native with sugar cane, sepia, 3 x 4
Box 1, Folder 24		Mr. Baxter with fish, on boat, sepia, 4 x 4
Box 1, Folder 25		Adams, Charles Francis (1807-1886), sepia, 3 x 4
Box 1, Folder 26		Andrews, John Albion (1818-1867), sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 27		Douglas, Stephen A., sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 28		Seward, William, sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 29		House in Medfield, Mass. Birthplace of EAB, sepia, 3 x 5
Box 1, Folder 30		Home of Sophia (Gleeson) and Benjamin Jones, b/w, 3 x 4
Box 1, Folder 31		House, b/w, 3 x 4
Box 1, Folder 32		House, b/w, 3 x 4
Box 1, Folder 33		Unknown man, dressed in Civil War uniform, Brady's National Photographic Portrait Galleries, sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 34		Different unknown man (somewhat resembles U.S. Grant), dressed in Civil War uniform, sepia, 2 x 4
Box 1, Folder 35		Unknown man, with horses (sepia, 3 x 3)
Box 1, Folder 36		Elizabeth Ann Pickard Jones Brackett Balch (1815-1892), sepia, 4 x 6
Box 1, Folder 37		William Henry Richardson (1868-1886), son of Franklin and Ella, by Morrill, Lowell, Massachusetts, sepia, 4 x 6
Box 1, Folder 38		Jamaica, 1902: Group by thatched hut, sepia, 5 x 6
Box 1, Folder 39		Tree in H.C. Morse yard, Nashua, NH, sepia, 4 x 5
Box 1, Folder 40		William Henry Balch and Julia Elliott Balch, his wife, both 4 x 7
Box 1, Folder 41		Sketch of “Ye Olde Homestead on South Hill” in pen and ink, sepia, 4 x 8