HISTORY – An early family of Madison: the Balches
MADISON – Have you ever driven Balch Road and wondered, ‘Where did it get its name?’ Today, I present to you an answer by examining the Balch family of Madison, a founding family of the town of Madison and Madison County.
Their story in North Alabama started when Hezekiah J. Balch, a native of Sparta, Tennessee, and his wife Tabitha Vaughn arrived in the Monrovia area in probably the mid- to late 1800s. Hezekiah was active in the Mt. Zion Baptist Church as a charter member and first Sunday school superintendent, and his and his wife’s graves are the oldest marked graves in the church’s cemetery.
In 1915, Hezekiah’s son, Samuel Williamson Balch, established the Balch family’s presence in Madison. Samuel left his c. 1887 farmhouse in Nebo, Alabama and purchased the 1880s Burton house at 312 Church Street along with two additional lots for just $625.
Samuel’s original Nebo farmhouse house now contributes to Burritt on the Mountain’s cabin park of historic pioneer homes and was the first structure moved to the park in 1985.
The National Register of Historic Places registration form from 2006 for the Madison Station Historic District describes Samuel’s 312 Church Street house as a “wood weatherboard cottage [that] contains elements of the Greek Revival Style. The house has a low-pitched, side-gabled roof and partial front porch that is supported by round Doric columns.”
From there, the family presence in Madison only grew.
Samuel’s son, Joseph Austin Balch Sr., later built the house neighboring his father’s. Joseph Sr. built 311 Church Street on one of the two additional lots purchased by his father. Then, in 1951, Joseph’s son and Samuel’s grandson, Joe Balch Jr., purchased Samuel’s house where Joe Jr. lived until his death in 1998.
According to the National Register of Historic Places registration form, 311 Church Street “was built in the Colonial Revival style, featuring a symmetrical front facade and side-gabled roof. The front entrance is accentuated with a pediment, sup- ported by paired Doric columns, which form the entry porch. Three gabled dormer windows are located on the front facade. The painted brick house has an exterior chimney on the south gable wall. The dormer windows are six over one sash with true divided lights; the remaining windows are one over one sash.”
These 2 Church Street houses represent the nationwide trend of Colonial Revival Style replacing Victorian architecture in the early 20th century. Though Madison was small at the time, it was not immune from national trends.
Additional members of the Balch family are also associated with the Clayton Balch House, also located on Church Street, and the I.C. Balch house on Sullivan Street.
Samuel and Joseph Sr. were active in Madison as mail carriers along with cousin Ira Clifton Balch. Another cousin, Merril Clayton Balch, was the manager of a cotton gin and an enumerator of the 1930 census in Madison.
Today, the Balch family legacy is memorialized through their preserved homes in downtown Madison and at Burritt on the Mountain and the naming of Balch Road.
