The following words are from the Will written by Richard Balderston, our direct ancestor on April 2, 1624. Copied from the book titled: Balderston family history written by Balderston and Gibson.

"In the name of God Amen. The second day of April anno domini one thousand six hundred twenty four and in the two and twenty year of the reign of our sovereign Lord James by grace of God, King of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of Scotland... I Richard Balderston of Claxton in the county of Norfolk being sick in body and of good and perfect remembrance (I thank God) do make and establish this my testament and last will in writing..." Thus begins the will of Richard Balderston written in 1624. The Balderston (Balderson) family came from the area of Norwich in the county of Norfolk, England, where the Balderston name can be traced in the region from the 1300's. The first identified member is RICHARD BALDERSTON, (sometime spelled Balderstone) who was born about 1530 and who died in 1624. At his death he left the above will in which he mentions his children. His will continues, "I give and bequeath unto Awdry my wife one posted bedstead, five curtains and three curtain rods... thirty shillings of lawful money of England yearly and every year during the term of her natural life for and in lieu of her thirds of all my lands and tenements...I give and bequeath unto Timothy Balderston, my son and his heirs forever, all my lands and tenements... lying in Little Barmingham or elsewhere in the county of Norfolk upon this condition, that my said son Timothy... also shall in or at the south porch of the parish of St. Saviour well and truly pay unto Richard Balderston, my son, yearly and every year during the natural life of the said Richard, the sum of forty shillings of lawful money of England... I give and bequeath unto Richard Balderston, my son, all my apparel which I used to wear. I give and bequeath unto every one of my grandchildren, the children of Tymothy Balderston my son, Elizabeth Lister, the wife of Henry Lister, Mary Plane, Jane Hawes, Margaret Starcke, and Alice Dowtee, to every child of theirs which shall be living at the time of my decease, forty shillings to be paid to every one of them when they shall accomplish the several ages of one and twenty years...

Awdry was Richard's second wife. His first wife, and the mother of his children, was Judith Woolsye, whom he married in 1575. His son Richard Balderston II was baptized on December 22, 1577, and Timothy was born in 1581.