The Belchers are a branch of my family tree. My great-great grandmother was Melissa Belcher. The earliest known Belchers in my ancestry are John (1770) and William (1777), two brothers who first settled in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, before 1800. They were the forebears of virtually all Belchers in that county for the next 60 to 70 years. Their parentage is so far unknown, but we're still picking away at this brick wall.

IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH! In 2006, through the Belcher Y-DNA Project, descendants of the Susquehanna County, PA, Belchers made a critical breakthrough! As stated above, John and William Belcher came to the county around 1800. Family tradition from the earliest descendants says that these brothers came from Orange County, NY. In that county is a large group of Belchers whose relationships and ancestry is fairly well established. For literally decades, our researchers have quite naturally assumed kinship with the Orange County Belchers and have tried unsuccessfully to find a connection. A descendant of the Susquehanna County Belchers (Gerald Frank Belcher, my fifth cousin) is a participant of the Belcher Y-DNA Project, and we sought for a male descendant of the Orange County Belchers to participate. At last, one was found, John Adam Belcher II (Jack). We eagerly awaited his test results. And when they returned - NO MATCH! At first, we were very disappointed, but soon realized that even a negative result is a blessing in family history research. Now we can focus our efforts more productively elsewhere, the Orange County connection being at long last disproved. No more "beating a dead horse"!

Through the Y-DNA project, we have learned of a connection with a Belcher family of northwestern Pennsylvania (Potter County) and Steubin County, NY. We have yet to find our common ancestor, but now there are even more of us pursuing the same ancestry.

	Census extracts
	Headstones: Search for Wilber and Belcher
	Obituaries, with pedigree maps
	Belcher Y-DNA Project: Genetic genealogy
	"The Belcher Family in England and America": A Critical Examination
	"The Belcher Family in England and America" as it relates to John Belcher (b. 1770)
	"A Commemorative Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania": Inconsistencies in the Belcher data

I welcome questions, comments, and suggestions via e-mail. I will be happy to share any information I have that may be helpful to other researchers.