THE BALTZER/BALSOR FAMILY IN NORTH AMERICA ***** THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHANNES CHRISTOPHER BALTZER 2003 The BALTZER/BALSOR Family in North America TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv DATA ON COMPACT DISK iv COPYRIGHT NOTICE v FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND vi TIME-LINE AND EARLY BALTZER/BALSOR LINEAGE 1 EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION 9 THE IMMIGRANT FAMILY OF JOHANNES CHRISTOPH BALTZER (#1) 14 THE DESCENDANTS OF CHRISTOPHER HENRICH BALTZER (#2) 16 THE DESCENDANTS OF PETER BALSOR (#600) 130 MISCELLANEOUS BALSOR FAMILIES 181 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: COATS OF ARMS 182 APPENDIX B: RAFTING DOWN THE RHINE 193 APPENDIX C: GENEALOGICAL DIFFICULTIES 194 APPENDIX D: THE DESCENDANTS OF ELIZABETH BALSOR 196 INDEX 200 Note: The PDF document page numbers do not match the actual page numbers due to the use of Roman numerals for the introductory pages. Page ii The BALTZER/BALSOR Family in North America INTRODUCTION Members of the BALTZER family were pre-Loyalist settlers in Lunenburg and Annapolis Counties of Nova Scotia. Consequently many Annapolis Valley families can trace their origins back to one of the children of Christopher BALSOR or Peter BALSOR, the two sons of the immigrant settler, Johannes Christopher BALTZER. Daughters of son Christopher BALSOR married into the McBRIDE, ENGLISH, BURNS, MARGESON, THOMAS and DANIELS familes. Daughters of son Peter BALSOR married into the BARTEAUX, RICE, RILEY and PORTER families. To research all these families, as well as other female lines from the next generation, are in themselves family histories, and would have been an over whelming task so these branches of the family receive only brief coverage in this family history. A brief overview of the European connection for the BALTZER family has been included as well as background on the life and times of Johannes Christopher BALTZER, our immigrant ancestor. Since the arrival of the first German immigrant Christopher BALTZER the family name "BALTZER" underwent significant spelling changes over the years. Many variations of the surname are found in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Eastern United States. The most predominant spelling are BALSOR, BALSER, BALSAR, BOLSOR, etc. In recent years several branches of the family have chosen to revert back to the original spelling of the family name "BALTZER". In this document every effort has been made to try and retain the spellings of the surnames used in the various source documents. Often a given individual will, over his lifetime, appear in several documents with a variety of surname spellings. If any reader wishes a surname spelling 'adjustment' please contact the authors. This is not the first edition of a family history on the BALTZER family in North America with the most recent being issued in 1977, nor will it be the last. Additions, corrections, suggestions, etc. are always welcomed by the authors for future editions. There are many current BALTZER/BALSOR/ BALSER families, spread out over North America, which are not incorporated in this document. Hopefully in future editions many of these families will be included. The reader will notice significant changes in ancestry for many families in this edition over the 1997 edition. Since the issuing of the 1997 edition, W.E. Calnek’s (1822-1892) original manuscript for the printing of “The History of the County of Annapolis” in 1897 (actually published by Judge Savary after Calnek’s untimely death), was located, copied and added to this record. This original manuscript contained much information which was not published in the 1897 book. This additional information required the realigning of several branches of the family and answered numerous questions concerning ancestry of several families. One of the earliest and principal BALTZER family researchers in Nova Scotia, Greta Mae (DAVIDSON) BALSOR, passed away on 26 January 1996. Her husband Roy BALSOR passed away latter in the year on 29 December 1996. Both are buried in the Aylesford Union Cemetery in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. The current principal BALTZER family researchers in North America are: a. Philip BALTZER, 6128 Weobley Lane, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27614; [email protected] Philip initiated placing all early existing research into a computer database and researched the immigration process in detail. Later he has initiated the research of the German origins of our BALTZER lineage. b. Wayne BALTZER, RR #2, Centreville, Kings County, Nova Scotia, B0P 1J0; [email protected] Wayne has done extensive research in Nova Scotia and more recently has concentrated on researching those BALTZERs who have left Nova Scotia. Page iii The BALTZER/BALSOR Family in North America c. Wayne W. Walker, 191 Huntridge Priv., Ottawa, Ontario, K1V 9J3; [email protected] Wayne is the initiator and author of all previous editions of a history of the BALTZER family. He has done the major researching of the Annapolis Valley BALTZER lineage, as well as collecting, integrating and collating what others have done. In this new edition he has asked the other principal researchers to play a more active part in it's preparation. Please feel free to contact any of the above concerning this document. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No work of this nature could ever be brought to fruition with out the generous assistance of many people. Family history work is never financially rewarding but always a labour of love. Sharing family data and information uncovered through dedicated research is the lifeblood of a research project. This is indeed the case with this Genealogy of The Baltzer Family in North America. Many fellow researchers have provided vast amounts of compiled family history for this work. At the risk of omitting some of these generous 'cousins' a few should be acknowledged for their efforts. Hilma Woods of the Digby Museum has culled the holding of the museum for family related information and she appears in this work in family group 720.. Charlotte Nichols-Vardy, a fellow researcher, has also provided data especially on the New Brunswick branch of the family. Charlotte appears in family group 415. Tim Sanford, a great culler of obituaries and other newspaper items, provided many birth, marriage and death notices from Nova Scotian newspapers. The contributions of numerous family members of their own family information must also be acknowledged. DATA ON COMPACT DISK This family history is available on CD for Windows based computers through the Wayne W. Walker in word processing formats such as WordPerfect 8.0, ASCII, or ADOBE .PDF. The data has also been added to a Personal Ancestral Files data base and is also available on diskette. For a "GEDCOM" file of the database including related European "BALTZERs" contact Philip BALTZER at the following e-mail address: "[email protected]". If requesting a CD please specify desired format of data. Because of the size (8.5MB) of the PDF file, distribution would most efficiently be by free, unmodified download form one or more web sites, which we will try to establish before this book is finalized. The PDF file is designed to facilitate direct printing into 230 pages and since there are few colour photos, a preliminary scan of the book is suggested so that those pages, requiring colour printing, can be printed separately. Printing by using just black and white, those colour photos should still be recognizable. Hopefully, those without computer facilities at home will be able either to take our CD directly, or a website address, to a properly equipped copy/printing company for direct printing of the whole book. To use the CD information on your home computer, without printing out the entire book, we suggest that you copy the PDF file from the CD to your hard drive as your hard drive is must faster to access that your CD drive. Then for your convenience we suggest that you create a “shortcut” to that file for your desktop. Then your new Baltzer Book is just one click away! Page iv The BALTZER/BALSOR Family in North America COPYRIGHT NOTICE Individuals may copy selected portions of this document for genealogical or family history purposes. Researchers are requested to reference this book when information is being extracted for publication purposes. Duplication of this document, for commercial gain, is permitted only through prior permission of the authors. This document may be placed on microform for further distribution. Page v The BALTZER/BALSOR Family in North America FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND This family history used a modified 'Register' system for the listing of families. Please refer to the following sample (which has not been shown complete here). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 169. William S. BALTZER (Austin H., Hiram, Christopher, Christopher) According to his memorial stone William was born 1 Aug 1882 and died 8 Jul 1966 (or 1961?) and he is buried in the Free Baptist Cemetery, White's Corner, Kings County. William was aged 25 when he married 7 Jan 19087 at Waterville, Baptist, Mary Jane SALTZMAN, aged 17 born in Berwick the daughter of William and Whatie SALTZMAN. William spelled his name BALTZER and said he was born in Black Rock. Children: 170 i. Lester Blaine BALTZER; b.c. 19091; ii. Lex BALTZER; of Waterville; b.c. 19102 in Grafton, Kings Co.; d. 24 Sep 1988 aged 78 in Halifax; bur. Harris Cemetery Moschelle; m. Georgie Mae FOOTE, b.c. 1911 at Black Rock, the daughter of George and Ina (BALSOR) FOOTE, d. 29 Nov 1994, aged 83 in Grand View Manor, Berwick, bur. East Black Rock Cemetery; no children listed in their obituaries; sources: (1) obituary Lester Blaine BALTZER; (2) obituary Lex BALTZER; (3) obituary William S. BALTZER from McCormick Collection; (4) obituary Dorothy Inez CHASE; (5) obituary Georgina Mae BALTZER; (6) obituary REL; (7) Kings County Marriage Records, PANS RG32 series; 170. Lester Blaine BALTZER (William S., Austin H., Hiram, Christopher, Christopher) His obituary listed his parents as William S.