The Oklahoma branch of the Balkcom family do not appear to be genetic descendants of the first Balkcom migrants to America. One known genetic link is to Bowen immigrants from Wales, and another is to Merritt immigrants from southwest England. Nonetheless the origins of the Balkcom surname carried by so many may be of interest.
The surname has several variants – Balkcom, Bolkcom, Balcom, Balkcum, Balkum, Bawcom, Balcombe, Bawcom, Baucum, Baucom, and others. Many of these can be attributed to phonetic spellings of census takers or clerks for tax rolls; however, the Bau… spellings are thought to represent a different branch of the family from that of the Bal… and Bol… spellings (McLaurin). The spelling Balkcom came to be used by one branch of the “southern” family – many of whom are descendants of Baruch Balkcom who moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina before 1755, and then to Georgia and Alabama beginning in the early 1800s. Others in the southern family including the Oklahoma branch are descendants of Hester Balkcom, widowed by the death of her husband John Balkcom who was likely a descendant of the original Balkcom immigrants. Some of her descendants were fathered after her husband died, and while some moved to Georgia and Alabama, many continued to live in North Carolina. In the North Carolina group the spelling Balkcum was most often used, simply it seems because that was the spelling used by a Sampson County town clerk. At the same time the federal census taker spelled the family name Balkcom. The Balkcum variant persists to this day in North Carolina.
Still, there was not always consistency. Official records until the mid-1800s mix the spellings, sometimes even within a single document. Before 1900 it seems that most in the Georgia-Alabama Balkcom family had settled on how they wanted their name to appear. In an 1873 Homestead Affidavit in Dale County, Alabama, James Balkcom, son of Hester, signed his name as James Balkcom. The clerk who filled out the form went back over the filled-in form and overwrote his earlier spelling Balcom to make it Balkcom. In 1881, in a land patent issued to James “Balcom” of Dale County, Alabama, the clerk made an amending notation at the bottom, “Issue patent in name of James Balkcom, as per signature”.
These are the more recent spellings. It appears that the family took its name from the village Balcombe in Sussex County, England. One of the earliest of the Balkcom family in America (arriving before 1664) was Alexander Balcombe or Balcom. He is alleged to have been from Sussex, and the earlier mentioned Baruch Balkcom who migrated to North Carolina was his grandson.
Sussex names are Saxon for the most part, so would date from the mid-5th century to the 11th century. Sussex was originally Suosexe, meaning the land of the South Saxons. According to Leslie Fairweather in his book on the history of the village Balcombe: “It seems likely that the name is derived from Bealda’s cumb, meaning Bealda’s valley. Bealda would have been the chief Saxon of the area; a cumb or coombe is [old English] a valley on the flank of a hill. The awkward sound of Bealderscumb would, over the years, have been contracted to Balcombe [It has had many different spellings over the years; Balecumba (1121); Balecumbe(e) (1272, 1292, 1327); Belecumbe (1279); Baldcombe (1279); Baldcomb (1284); Baulcombe (1639); Bawcombe (1688); Bolkham (1715)]. In America, where the Balcombe family emigrated, [it was] shortened to Balcom.”
Fairweather acknowledges other possible derivations: “Judith Glover, in The Place Names of Sussex, believes it means evil valley from the old English ‘beaulu cumb’. She thinks some unpleasant happening – perhaps an accident or murder – has been associated with the settlement. Another derivation may be ‘Balca’ a ridge, ‘ham’ a dwelling; dwelling on a ridge.”
The latter theory appears in general books listing surnames. If there’s anything to this one, it would also indicate Saxon influence. Place names ending in -ham are indications of Germanic, or Saxon, settlement.