Capt. Stephen Bloomer Balch Veteran

Birth: 5 Apr 1747
Deer Creek, Harford County, Maryland, USA
Death: 22 Sep 1833 (aged 86)
Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA
Burial: Oak Hill Cemetery

Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA Show Map GPS-Latitude: 38.913116, Longitude: -77.0585292
Plot: Chapel Hill, Lot 632 1/4
Memorial ID: 14448211 View Source

Presbyterian Minister, Educator, Revolutionary War Officer. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1774 and became head of the Lower Marlborough Academy in Calvert County, Maryland. During the Revolution he served as a Captain and led a charge of students on missions that harassed the British along the Chesapeake Bay and Patuxent River, a strategy that the more famous Joshua Barney would copy during the War of 1812. In 1780, Balch established Georgetown Presbyterian Church, which was the second church in Georgetown (now part of Washington, DC). He also served as headmaster of the Columbian Academy in Georgetown.

Bio by: Fred Sanford

Inscription

Sacred
To the memory of
STEPHEN B. BALCH, D.D.
who died September 22nd 1833
in the 87th year of his Age.
He was the founder of this church,
and for more than half a century
its revered Pastor.
He planted the Gospel in this town,
and his exemple was for many years
a light to its inhabitants.
He being dead yet speaketh.
------
RELIQUIAE MORTALES
SUB HOC MARMORE
INHUMANTUR
----------
His children have erected this tablet, to record
the virtue of the dead and the gratitude of the living.

[Bronze plate]:
Revolutionary / Soldier / 1775-1783. / State Historical Committee / District of Columbia / Daughters
of the American Revolution.

[Bronze plate added in 2007].
Stephen Bloomer Balch was the revered pastor
of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church from
1780 to 1833. He also attained acclaim as a
leader in Georgetown civic and cultural affairs,
most notably as the founding principal of the
Columbian Academy and as a co-founder of the
Columbian Library. Earlier he served as a
captain in the Revolutionary Army from 1775
to 1777. This site was restored in 2007 by
members of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church.