The surname BALLINGER is quite common in the county of Gloucestershire in England. There was a family of BALLINGER (and related spellings) living in Charlton Kings in Gloucestershire in the 1500s and the family appears to have spread from here around Gloucestershire and in to surrounding counties and also to the colonies of USA, and later Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is hard to say if the Gloucestershire BALLINGER�s are all related without a DNA study. A DNA Mailing List at Rootsweb has been set up for the BALLINGER surname. BALLINGER also appears in London with many of these families coming direct from France and Germany.
See also - Henry Ballenger & Mary Harding - from Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England to Burlington Township in the Quaker Colony of West Jersey, USA.
and - Ballinger Family HIstory - Generational Timeline.
It has been said that the surname BALLINGER originates from the French 'Boulangere' or baker. Maybe the original Charlton King Ballinger was a french baker??
Rootsweb also hosts the BALLINGER-UK mailing list. I also have a database of around 4500 BALLINGER entries from census, parish records etc for Gloucestershire. Mrs Pat Harwood of the GFHS kindly sends me entries that she finds for the surname. To access this database please go to - BALLINGER.
The earliest BALLINGER ancestor (for my husband) that I can trace is;
James BALLINGER (b1770 Norton, GLS — 1849 Westbury on Severn, GLS) married Mary ? and had two daughters and two sons;
Mary Ann BALLINGER born 1800 Tibberton, GLS
Susannah BALLINGER born 1802 Tibberton, GLS
William BALLINGER born 1804 Minsterworth in the Parish of Westbury on Severn, GLS
Thomas BALLINGER born 1807 Minsterworth in the Parish of Westbury on Severn, GLS
Thomas married Ann PAYNE around 1826. Ann was born in Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire in 1804, the daughter of William PAYNE and Sarah SOUTHAM of Stow on the Wold.
Thomas and Ann had a grocer�s shop in Cheltenham from around 1826 and it was here that their five children were born;
William Henry BALLINGER born 1826. Married Ann TURNER
John Thomas BALLINGER born 1830. Died 1831
Susan Ann BALLINGER born 1838. Married Walter Stephen WARD
Mary Ann BALLINGER born 1841. Married John ALLEN who worked for her father as a grocers assistant.
Frederick James BALLINGER born 1844. Married Martha Charlotte WATKINS. Died 1883
The following was found in the Cheltenham Examiner of 31 January 1849. Destructive Fire - A fire of a very destructive character broke out on the morning of Thursday last, at 22 Bath Street, a house in the occupation of Mr Ballinger, grocer, Winchcomb Street. Mr Ballinger, it appears, carries on business in both places, but latterly no one slept at the house in Bath Street. The alarm of fire was given shortly before 4 o'clock, and some fruitless efforts were made to extinguish the flames. Nothing effectual, however, was done until the arrival of the town and Phoenix fire engines. After some time the fire was got under, and was prevented from extending to the neighbouring houses. This was fortunate, inasmuch as their age would have rendered them an easy prey to the devourage element. As it is, the house was completely gutted, the floors having fallen in, and the stock and property on the premises being nearly altogether consumed. The premises were small. Owing to the timely arrival of the fire-engines, the roof was not much injured. The estimated damage done to the premises and stock is stated at GBP200. We have not heard whether Mr Ballinger is insured. The premises are situate exactly opposite the old theatre, which was wholly destroyed by fire a few years back.
Thomas died in 1878 and Ann in 1883, both in Cheltenham, GLS.
Their oldest child, William Henry BALLINGER married Anne TURNER in 1851. Anne was the daughter of Thomas Turner, butcher of Frampton-on-Severn, GLS and Sarah nee CLARKE. William was also a grocer and provision dealer but in Southgate Street, Gloucester. They had nine children, three sons and six daughters;
Thomas William BALLINGER born 1853. To New Zealand 1880. See below
Sarah Ann BALLINGER born 1855. Married Charles LEVISON. Two known daughters
Frederick BALLINGER born 1856. Died 1887
Mary Elizabeth BALLINGER born 1858. Nothing more is known
Frank BALLINGER born 1860. Married Laura A ?. Three daughters
Kate BALLINGER born 1862.On 1902 Gloucester Directory a Kate Ballinger is listed as a Plumber, and later as greengrocer. Is this her?
Ellen Agnes BALLINGER born 1865. Married James MARSHALL. Two known daughters
Alice Turner BALLINGER born 1867. Married Victor William ROWLES. Three known sons
Susan BALLINGER born 1869. Single in 1901. Nothing more is known.
Thomas William BALLINGER left England for New Zealand in 1879 and arrived in Auckland on the BEN NEVIS on the 11 January 1880. In both the 1861 and 1871 UK census he is "not at home" which suggests that he may have been away at boarding school. Thomas worked in the Waikato (Upper Thames Valley) for the Assets Realisation Board and it is probably through this that he met his future wife Emily Jane HEATH. She was a sister of Thomas HEATH, manager of the Lockerbie Station at Morrinsville for the Assets Realisation Board.
Thomas and Emily married in 1885 at Howick, Auckland. Their first three children were born in Cambridge and their next five where born in Tirau, also known as Oxford. Thomas died in 1906 and Emily and her children then share-milked around the Waikato area before buying their first farm. The majority of descendants are in the Waikato district of New Zealand.
Thomas Edwin (Ted)BALLINGER - born 1885. Engaged to Annie LUXTON. Killed in Action WW1 Belgium
Elsie Alice BALLINGER - born 1887. Died unmarried
Agnes (Aggie)Sarah BALLINGER - born 1889. Died unmarried
Amy Kate BALLINGER - born 1891. Married George Almon Hudson CLEMENT. One son, one daughter
Hazel BALLINGER - born 1893. Married Charles Ernest WEAL. Two sons, two daughters
Frank Heath BALLINGER - born 1896. Served NZEF WW1. Married Ruby Winifred McGOUGH. No children
Mabel Edith BALLINGER - born 1898. Married Richard James WEAL (cousin of above Charles). Two sons, three daughters
Percy Clifton (Cliff)Robert BALLINGER - born 1901. Married Christina Carolina BOURNE. Three sons, three daughters
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