The Coming of the Bolichs

The Bolich family in America traces its ancestry to six men who came here from the Continent of Europe and the British Isles in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Among 146 passengers on the ship Neptune which sailed from Rotterdam in Holland under John Mason, Master, and reached Philadelphia September 24, 1753 were two men named Andreas Balch and Johan Adam Bolch.

The following year there sailed from Hamburg, Germany, on the same boat, the Neptune, Johan Georg Bohlich who arrived in Philadelphia on December 13, 1754. William Malane was the captain and brought with him 149 passengers from Hamburg, Hanover and Saxony.

John Bollick landed in Philadelphia on October 13, 1769 having taken passage on the ship Minerva.

There is a tradition that three brothers came to America. This tradition has been handed down in the families of both Andreas Balch and John Adam Bolch.

In 1623 John Balch came to Massachusetts from England. Whether or not this branch belongs to the Bolich family is undetermined.

There is a marked similarity in appearance and traits of character between the descendants of Andreas Balch, Johan Adam Bolch and John Balch. In a letter to Samuel W. Balch of Montclair, New Jersey, Annie Balch Parrott of Newport, Tennessee, a descendant of Johan Adam Bolch, says, "My brother went to new England and heard of John Balch of Salem, gained information that we are all related because of marked agreement or similarity in family names, traits, religious inclination. I firmly believe that a connection is to be found with the family in England or Wales."

In 1658 another John Balch came to Maryland from England. His descendants are few.

Upon arrival at the port, each male immigrant of other than English ancestry and over sixteen year of age qualified for entrance into the Colony by taking an oath of allegiance to the British Crown and a declaration of abjuration and fidelity to the Proprietor and laws of the Province of Pennsylvania. Prior to 1727 this was not required. The oath of allegiance as administered follows:

"I, Andreas Balch, do solemnly, sincerely, and truly acknowledge, profess, testify and declare that King George the Second is lawful and rightful King of the Realm of Great Britain and all others his Dominions and countries thereunto belonging, and I do solemnly and sincerely declare that I believe the Person pretending to be Prince of Wales during the life of the late King James and since his decease pretending to be and Taking upon himself the Style and Title of King of England by the Name of James the Third...has no Right and Title whatsoever to the Crown of the Realm of Great Britain. And I do renounce and refuse any allegiance and obedience to him, etc."

The oath of abjuration runs in the following manner:

"I, Andreas Balch, do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will be true and faithful to King George the Second and do sincerely and truly Profess, Testifie and Declare that I do from my heart abhor, detest and renounce as impious and heretical that wicked Doctrine and Position that Princes Excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Power Jurisdiction Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within the Realm of Great Britain or Dominions thereunto belonging."

This latter oath was administered at the Court House at Philadelphia. Signatures of persons taking the oaths were secured and the lists of signatures have been preserved by the Commonwealth. The Captain of each ship was also required to list the names of the persons on board. Three lists are on file for the Neptune docking September 24, 1753. The Captain's list mentions Andreas Bolk and John Bolig. The Qualification list is signed "Andreas Balch" and "Johan Adam Bolch". The second list is endorsed by a man named Shoemaker as "A List of Men Passengers Names, Lately Arrived in the Port of Philadelphia, from Rotterdam, Anno Domi, 1753, Qualified 24th September, 1753". The third list that of Abjuration, is headed:"At the Court House at Philadelphia Monday the 24th of September 1753-

PRESENT
Thomas Lawrence, Esq.

The Foreigners who names are underwritten imported in the Ship Neptune, John Mason master from Rotterdam and last from Cowes did this day take the usual Qualification. N 106"

The signatures of Andreas Balch or Bolch and Johan Adam Bolch are written thereon. Also on file is the following interesting certificate.

"Sir: According to direction we have carefully examined the State of Health of the Mariners and Passengers on board the ship Neptune, Capt. Mason, from Rotterdam and found nothing amongst them which we apprehend can be injurious to the health of the inhabitants of the city.
To his Honor The Governour	Tho. Graeme Th. Bond
(Endorsed: ) Doctors certificate relating to the ship Neptune, 23d Sept. 1753."

The Captain's list for the Neptune, docking December 13, 1754 includes the name of Hans George Bohlig, age 36. The Qualification list is signed "Johan Georg Bohlich" and is headed "The Foreigners whose Names are underwritten Imported in the Neptune, Captain William Malane, from Hamburg, did on the 13th December 1754 take the usual Qualification to the Government before William Plumstead, Esquire, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia". John Bollick, too, took the oath of allegiance, but instead of signing his name he made his mark, and the recorder spelled it Bollick. Thus the name Bolich was spelled in four different ways on the original immigration lists. In the Index of Pioneers published under the title of "Pennsylvania German Pioneers" by the Pennsylvania German Society are listed Andreas Balch, Bolch, Bolk, Johan Adam Bolch, Johan Bolig and John Bollick. This variation in the spelling of the surname is hard to explain. Probably it was spelled as it sounded. In this narrative the spelling of the surname in each instance follows the spelling in the record from which the information is taken.

Great curiosity surrounds the meaning of the name in its various spellings. The following translations as taken from Adler's German and English Dictionary, published in 1874 by D. Appleton and Company, New York, show the English meaning of German words similar to the name.: Bolken -- to bleat, low, bellow.
Boll, Bollig -- brittle, hard, stiff.
Bollicht -- bulbous.
Balche -- a kind of fish found in the Lake of Constance.

Galusha Burchard Balch in his "Genealogy of the Balch Families in America" traces the meaning of the name to a canopy carried over Princes or Potentates in Eastern countries.

(Andreas Balch)

(Johan Georg Bohlich)

(Johan Adam Bolch)

The foregoing are facsimiles of the original signatures on file in the State Archives at Harrisburg.

From The Bolich Family in America by Mary Margaret Bolich, 1939 Schlechter's - Printers - Publishers, Allentown, Pennsylvania, pages 15-20.

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