Short Biography of Maturin Ballou

Most probably the Ballous are the remote descendants of a Norman Chieftain, who, in 1066, came over from France to England with William the Conqueror. In the year 1884 the proprietors of this History and Genealogy commissioned Frederick M. Ballou, Esq. to visit Europe, and if possible ascertain the ancestry of Maturin Ballou, and whatever else of importance marked his embarkment for this country. In tracing the history of the Anglo Norman Ballous, Frederick found that their French ancestor, Guinebond Ballou, was probably a marshall in the army of William the Conqueror, and fought in the decisive Battle of Hastings, 1066; that some of his descendants dwelt in English county of Sussex till late in the 14th century, where they were extensive land- holders, and held important Governmental offices in both State and Church; that in England and Ireland the aristrocratic Bellowes have preserved an unbroken descent of domains and titles for at least 600 years; that the ancient coat of arms, with slight variation, is universal with the Bellews of all localities in England; and that their surname there, as here, has been orthographically various, to the extent of over a dozen spellings- Belou, Ballowe, Belloue, etc., but at present is most prevelantly written Bellew. The immigrant ancestor, Maturin Ballou, was almost certainly the younger son of a younger son of a good family in Devonshire, England, born probably between 1610 and 1620, who like all the unendowed offshoots of feudal nobility, had to seek his fortune for himself and chose immigration to America.

"Maturin Ballou a co-proprietor with Roger Williams, the Colonial founder of Rhode Island, in his Providence Plantations. Maturin appears first on record among these proprietors in 1646. He subscribed his name Mathurin Bellow. His descendants resolved it into Maturin Ballou..."

Source: "An Elaborate History and Genealogy of the Ballous in America" ⁵⁹⁸²