[Index]
Abraham BALCOMBE (1781 - )
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Ann BALCOMBE (1810 - )
Sarah BALCOMBE (1812 - 1816)
Mercy BALCOMBE (1814 - 1892)
Mary BALCOMBE (1815 - )
Sophia Sarah BALCOMBE (1817 - )
Harriett BALCOMBE (1818 - 1832)
Hannah BALCOMBE (1821 - )
Abraham BALCOMBE (1823 - )
George BALCOMBE (1825 - 1825)
Eliza BALCOMBE (1826 - 1827)
Abraham BALCOMBE (1781 - )

+

Mercy WEBB (1787 - 1832)
Thomas BALCOMBE (1749 - 1780)











Susanna COLLINS (1749 - 1823)












b. bef 07 Jan 1781
m. 13 Oct 1809 Mercy WEBB (1787 - 1832) at New Romney, Kent, England
Parents:
Thomas BALCOMBE (1749 - 1780)
Susanna COLLINS (1749 - 1823)
Children (10):
Ann BALCOMBE (1810 - )
Sarah BALCOMBE (1812 - 1816)
Mercy BALCOMBE (1814 - 1892)
Mary BALCOMBE (1815 - )
Sophia Sarah BALCOMBE (1817 - )
Harriett BALCOMBE (1818 - 1832)
Hannah BALCOMBE (1821 - )
Abraham BALCOMBE (1823 - )
George BALCOMBE (1825 - 1825)
Eliza BALCOMBE (1826 - 1827)
Grandchildren (17):
Sophia PILGRIM, Alfred BLANCH (1832 - 1898), Robert BLANCH (1835 - 1844), George BLANCH (1837 - 1838), Maria BLANCH (1839 - 1938), Abraham BLANCH (1841 - 1920), John BLUNDELL (1843 - 1927), Susan BLUNDELL (1844 - 1875), George BLUNDELL (1846 - 1933), Abraham BLUNDELL (1847 - 1884), Richard BLUNDELL (1848 - 1917), William BLUNDELL (1850 - ), Isaac BLUNDELL (1851 - 1910), Jacob BLUNDELL (1853 - 1927), Mary Jane BLUNDELL (1855 - 1873), Rosanna BLUNDELL (1858 - 1939), Catherine BLUNDELL (1860 - 1950)
Events in Abraham BALCOMBE (1781 - )'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
abt May 1780 Death of father Thomas BALCOMBE (aged 31) 18
bef 07 Jan 1781 Abraham BALCOMBE was born
13 Oct 1809 28 Married Mercy WEBB (aged 22) New Romney, Kent, England 18
30 Apr 1810 29 Birth of daughter Ann BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
14 Jun 1812 31 Birth of daughter Sarah BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
22 May 1814 33 Birth of daughter Mercy BALCOMBE Rolvenden, Kent, England New Romney
02 Oct 1815 34 Birth of daughter Mary BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
abt 04 Apr 1816 35 Death of daughter Sarah BALCOMBE (aged 3) New Romney, Kent, England 18
05 May 1817 36 Birth of daughter Sophia Sarah BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
12 Sep 1818 37 Birth of daughter Harriett BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
25 Mar 1821 40 Birth of daughter Hannah BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
1823 42 Death of mother Susanna COLLINS (aged 74) Brightling, England 18
03 Feb 1823 42 Birth of son Abraham BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
10 May 1825 44 Birth of son George BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
abt 19 Sep 1825 44 Death of son George BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
18 Sep 1826 45 Birth of daughter Eliza BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
abt 06 May 1827 46 Death of daughter Eliza BALCOMBE New Romney, Kent, England 18
abt 09 Jan 1832 51 Death of wife Mercy WEBB (aged 45) Ticehurst, England 18
abt 26 Feb 1832 51 Death of daughter Harriett BALCOMBE (aged 13) Ticehurst, England 18
24 Sep 1832 51 Immigration New York, New York, USA per 'Soverign' 18
08 Apr 1892 111 Death of daughter Mercy BALCOMBE (aged 77) Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 11271/1892 Brundell 6
Personal Notes:
The Family of Abraham Balcomb
Abraham Balcomb was born at Burwash in Sussex and baptised there 7 Jan 1781. His father, Thomas Balcomb, had died eight months earlier at the age of 3 1 . In 1783 Abraham's mother, Susanna Collins, married William Kemp and moved to Brightling, Sussex, where she had another four children to add to the five she had had by her first husband. Susanna died at Brightling in 1823 aged 74.
On 13 Oct 1809 Abraham married Mercy Webb at New Romney, Kent. They had 10 children:
1. Ann Balcomb, born 30 Apr and baptized 9 Sep 1810 in New Romney, Kent.
2. Sarah Balcomb, born 14 Jun and baptized 2 Aug 1812 in New Romney, Kent. She was buried 4 Apr 1816 in New Romney, Kent.
3. Mercy Balcomb, born 22 Mar and baptized 8 May 1814 in New Romney, Kent.
4. Mary Balcomb, born 2 Oct 1815 and baptized 26 Nov 1815 in New Romney, Kent.
5. Sophia Sarah Balcomb, bom 5 May and baptized 22 Jun 1817 in New Romney, Kent.
6. Harriett Balcomb, bom 12 Sep and baptized 18 Oct 1818 in New Ronmey, Kent.
7. Hannah Balcomb, bom 25 Mar and baptized 5 Apr 182] in New Romney. Kent.
8. Abraham Balcomb, born 3 Feb and baptized 9 Feb 1823 in New Romney, Kent.
9. George Balcomb, born 10 May and baptized 19 Jun 1825 in New Romney, Kent He was buried 19 Sep 1825 in New Romney, Kent.
10. Eliza Balcomb, born 18 Sep and baptized 27 Sep 1826 in New Romney, Kent. She was buried 6 May 1827 in New Romney, Kent.
Abraham worked as a labourer and, during the period after the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1819, the area was relatively prosperous. However, the condition of the greater part of the country, particularly in the industrial areas, was steadily deteriorating, and a great agricultural depression began in 1822 and 1823. In the New Romney area the worst of this terrible depression was fiom 1822 to 1832
By 1830 the plight of the Balcomb family had become desperate. Abraham had abscouded, probably to London to avoid Debtors Prison, and his destitute wife and four underage children became the responsibility of the Parish. Under the existing Poor Laws a woman adopted her husband’s home parish as her own when she married. On 24 April 1830 Mercy, with children Sophia Sarah, Harriett, Hannah and Abraham, was removed from New Romney, which in this instance meant to the Ticehurst Union Workhouse. The Ticehurst Workhouse covered eight
parishes, one of which was Burwash.

Mercy’s health collapsed and she died in January 1832 at Ticehurst aged 45 (buried 9 Jan 1832), followed in February by her 14 year old daughter, Harriett (buried 26 Feb 1832).

At the time Mercy and her children were sent to the Workhouse, her eldest daughter, Ann, had already married John Thomas Pilgrim at Dover 7 Jan 1829. On 12 Oct I831, the second surviving daughter, Mercy, married Robert Blanch at Biddenden in Kent and on 12 Aug 1832. The next daughter, Mary married Robert Blanch‘s younger brother, James Blanch.

To escape their plight Abraham Balcomb migrated to America. Using his mother's maiden name of Collins, he arrived in New York on the “Sovereign" on 24 September 1832. With him were four children, his eldest daughter, Ann, with her husband John Thomas Pilgrim and daughter Sophia Pilgrim, Sophia Sarah, aged 15, Hannah, aged 11, and Abraham, aged 9.

Abraham’s fate in America is not known, not is that of his daughter Hannah. His daughter, Ann Balcom Pilgrim, settled at Cameron, Steuben County, New York, and appears to have still been alive at the time of the 1840 Census with her husband and five children. She died before 1850 when her husband was living at Barrington, Yates County, New York, married to Jane, aged 24.

In 1850 Abraham Jr was living at Cameron and his sister Sophia Sarah Hargrave was living at Senia, Ontario County, New York. In 1860 they were both living at Cameron.

The remaining daughters, Mercy Balcomb Blanch and Mary Balcomb Blanch, migrated to Australia with their families in 1838.

Life with Robert Blanch must have been difficult for Mercy because, in August 1842, she absconded with an ex-convict, Joseph Blundell, and adopted her grandmother’s name of Susan. The Blundells became pioneers in the area that later became Canberra, the Australian capital Susan Blundell (formerly Mercy Balcomb) died in April 1892. She had had five children by Robert Blanch and ten by Joseph Blundell.

Mary Balcomb Blanch died at Plattsburg, New South Wales, in 1904 at the age of 89, having had seventeen children, seven of whom survived her.
Source References:
6. Type: Book, Abbr: Queanbeyan Register, Title: Biographical register of Canberra and Queanbeyan: from the district to the Australian Capital Territory 1820-1930, Auth: Peter Proctor, Publ: The Heraldry & Genealogical Society of Canberra, Date: 2001
- Reference = Rachel Heath 7 Oct 2012 (Name, Notes)
18. Type: E-mail Message, Abbr: e-mails general pool, Title: e-mails general pool
- Reference = Rachel Heath - 8 Oct 2012 (Immigration)
- Reference = Rachel Heath - 8 Oct 2012 (Marriage)

This public tree has about 60,100 people. Every person in the tree is related by birth or marriage to at least one other person in the tree - no strays. The people in the tree come mainly from four projects.
  1. My family tree. The original project begun about 1998. ID numbers less than about 6,000
  2. Canberra and Queanbeyan Pioneers. The next 30,000 begun about 2004. Sourced almost entirely from HAGSOC's excellent 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan'. The project began when I decided to add siblings, spouses and parents for a relation with an entry in the Register. 12 years work.
  3. Wagga Pioneers. I moved to Wagga and thought I would extend the Queanbeyan project by adding people from Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society's 'Pioneers of Wagga Wagga and District'. About 10,300 people added over about a year.
  4. Tumut Valley Pioneers. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, I decided to extend the above projects by adding pioneers of the Tumut Valley. Initial sources were Snowden's 'Pioneers of the Tumut Valley' and 'Relict of ... Lives of Pioneering Women of Tumut and District'. Excellent references published by Tumut Family History Group. I've also added material from newspapers of the time - especially, death records, obituaries and weddings from 'Tumut and Adelong Times'. This project is in its early stage and might take a few years. I plan to extend to the upper Monaro (Adaminaby, Kiandra, Cooma, Jindabyne).
I upload new information to this website about every 3 months. My motivation for these projects is to provide public information for people seeking to trace ancestors and what became of them. Much of the information I provide can be difficult to find.
If you find errors - anything incorrect (dates, places, wrong parents, wrong children), and you have evidence, I would love to fix them. Or, if you have information that would extend my projects, do not hestiate to contact me on the email link below. I do not publish information on living people - which means I'm not much interested in people born after about 1920, and I usually distrust material from before about 1770 without extremely good sources.
g.bell@bigpond.net.au
When you click the mail address abouve, if it does not open your email app, copy the address on the screen.
Geoff Bell, September 2020