Place and Time

Another great-great-great-grandfather of mine, from a separate branch of my family tree was named John Balbach. John was born in 1820 in Mergentheim, Germany, and at twenty-eight years old he immigrated to America. After a long series of short stays in New York, Ohio, and Kentucky, John finally decided to try his fortunes in California. Once he reached the west coast in the early 1850s he became one of Santa Clara County’s earliest settlers. On the way there John and his fellow frontiersmen endured numerous hardships including flooding, the loss of vital supplies and run-ins with American Indians.