Balch, Alfred M.

Born: 1798-01-23 Logan County, Kentucky

Died: 1856-12-02 Coles County, Illinois

Flourished: Springville, Illinois

Alfred M. Balch was a farmer in Coles County, Illinois. In July 1819, Balch married Elizabeth Gammill, with whom he had eight children. Balch worked as a farmer in Bedford County, Tennessee until 1830 when he moved to Illinois, settling in Coles County. Between 1833 and 1836, Balch purchased 160 acres of public land in what would become Pleasant Grove Township. By 1850, he had amassed real estate worth $15,000.

Galusha B. Balch, Genealogy of the Balch Families in America (Salem, MA: Eben Putnam, 1897), 455, 467; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Coles County, 145:34, 39, 131, 817:20, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Muddy, Coles County, IL, 85; Gravestone, Lower Muddy Cemetery, Coles County, IL.