Borden Family Genealogy Part 2

[This is the continuation of The Borden Family Genealogy papers I received from Mary Claire Caron. I have transcribed what was written. I have the same page breaks, so it could be a bit difficult to read, the page breaks are in brackets [ ]. I have made a couple of additions that are noted with [ ] with text in Red. That information is NOT in the original. I hope you enjoy.  The next post I will start posting the first of many letters written.]

FIRST: [generation]

Richard Borden, usually known in the family as the Emigrant, was born at Borden, in Kent County, England, in the year 1600, (See Peterson’s History of Rhode Island, pp. [18 or 48], and emigrated to the English Colonies in North America in 1635. The Hon. Orin Fowler, a member of Congress who resided at Fall River, Massachusetts, in his Historical Sketch says that Richard Borden was the first of the name of Borden who came to America, and as is generally stated and believed, was the progenitor of all of that name in Rhode Island, (See Fowler, pp. 20 and 66), and the Rev. P. G. Seaberry in his collections has compiled . . .

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much interesting information on the subject.

From these sources, and from Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary and Deak’s Researches for information of the First Settlers of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and also from the records kept in the Mother Country of the early emigration to the Colonies, I have ascertained that about 1635 there were several of the name of Borden who emigrated from the County of Kent, England, to the Province of Massachusetts and settled near Boston. Richard and John, who were brothers, finally removed to Portsmouth, the township of land situated on the northern end of the island of Rhode Island. Two of the family, one of the name of George, and the other Briant, it is said remained in Massachusetts. There were the blood relatives of the two first named, but whether they were the brothers or cousins of Richard and John, or in what particular relationship they stood to them, has not been ascertained. Our ancestor, William Borden, Sen., who emigrated from Rhode Island to the Colony of North Carolina, was a grandson of Richard the Emigrant. This William is usually called the Ship-builder.

Richard Borden (the emigrant) and Joan, his wife, had ten children. Thomas and Francis, born in Kent before their parents emigrated to America; Mathew, born at Portsmouth, May 1638, (Mathew Borden was the first white child born on the island of Rhode Island – see Peterson’s R. I., pp. 48; John, born September, 1640; Joseph, January 3^rd, 1643; Sarah, May 1644; Samuel, July 1646; Benja- . . .

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min, May 1649; Annie, February 1654; and Mary, 1656. He had not resided in Massachusetts long before he became involved in the religious controversies at Boston, disputes for which that intolerant place has always been celebrated; fanaticism then as now seeming to be indigenous to the soil. He was among the most active and enterprising of the settlers in that vicinity, and being a man of education and general intelligence as well as of great firmness, he espoused the cause of religious liberty, and for so doing suffered with others severe persecution from the zealots who were then in power in both church and state in the Colony of Massachusetts. His opposition to the arbitrary measures of those in authority finally led to his removing from Massachusetts Bay to the island of Rhode Island. He took an active part in the affairs of this colony and held several responsible positions under the Government of Rhode Island, -among others that of Treasurer-general of the colony.

He resided at Portsmouth till the time of his death, March 25^th, 1670. He died at the age of seventy, and his remains rest in the burial ground attached to the Friends’ meeting house near Quaker Hill, in the Township of Portsmouth, R. I. (See Peterson’s History, of R. I. pp.48).

SECOND: [generation]

John Borden of the second generation of Richard the Emigrant and his wife Joan, was born September 1640 at . . .

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Portsmouth, R. I., the residence of his father. The name of his wife was Mary, but I have forgotten her maiden name.[note: the maiden name of Mary was Earle (born 1655 and died Jun 1734), daughter of William (1634-1715) and Mary (Walker) (1636-1718) Earle. Mary is my 8th Great-GreatAunt.] They located at Portsmouth, R. I.

The following are the names of their children:  Richard, John, Thomas, William, Benjamin, Hope, Mary, Annie and Joseph. Richard and Joseph, two of the sons of John and grandsons of Richard the Emigrant, settled at Fall River, then called Freetown, which name was subsequently changed to Fall River. The land in the vicinity of Fall River was purchased of the Indians in January, 1659, and was called the Freeman’s purchase. After the division of the purchase into twenty-six lots or shares among the first proprietors, there remained an undivided strip on the south side of Freetown adjoining the line of Tiverton in R. I. This tract was purchased at public sale by John Borden of Portsmouth, R. I., for nin [sic] pounds and eight shillings sterling, in silver. The land now constituting Tiverton R. I. having also been purchased of the Indians, John and his two sons, Richard and Joseph, united with Col. Benjamin Church and his brother Caleb Church, and purchased of the proprietors a large tract of land on the north side of Tiverton, adjoining Freetown. Afterwards the sons Richard and Joseph purchased the interest of the Messrs. Church in the property, and finally the land on both sides of the Fall River, with all the water power, one of the finest in the world, came into the hands of the Borden family. Tradition says that John Borden was enterprising and successful in business and accumulated . . .

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a large property. He and his two sons commenced about 1702 the improvement of the water power at Fall River, which has since become so valuable. Among his other purchases was part of Hog Island, the jurisdiction over which was disputed between the two colonies of Rhode Island and Plymouth.

The Bordens, it seems, never had any particular love for the government of the Puritans. John Borden was a sturdy supporter of the authority of the little colony of Rhode Island, and it will be seen by the records of the Colonial Assembly of R. I., June 24^th, 1684, he petitioned to the Assembly of R. I. for redress of his grievances, and complained that he had been arrested and suffered great indignities for maintaining the rights and jurisdictions of R. I. over his purchase of Hog Island (See Massachusetts Historical Collection, Vol. 5, pp. 127-128). He is represented as being one of the most thrifty, but at the same time one of the purest of men. The celebrated Indian Chief, King Philip, who was overpowered and killed by Col. Benjamin Church and his men (August 12^th, 1676), paid John Borden the compliment only a short time before the death of that unfortunate chief, of saying “he was the only honest white man he ever knew.” (Arnold’s History of R. I., Vol. 1, pp.394).

The descendants of several of the sons of Richard the emigrant and John his son, after the most diligent search by Mr. Fowler, Mr. Seabury and others, cannot be traced. It is said some of them settled in other parts of . . .

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Rhode Island, and others went to Connecticut and from thence have been carried by the tide of emigration into various sections of New England, to New York, and to the western and southwestern states, but wherever one of the name is found uniformly claim Richard Borden the Emigrants, of Portsmouth, R. I., as the common ancestor of all of the name of Borden on the Continent of America.

THIRD:  [generation]

William Borden, of the third generation (counting from the emigrant), the fourth son of John Borden, of the second gener4ation, and Mary his wife, was born at Portsmouth, R. I., August 15^th, 1689. He married a Miss Alice Hull, daughter of William Hull, July 7^th, 1715. They had four children, a son and three daughters, namely:  Alice, Hope and William born in Rhode Island, and Hannah, born in North Carolina. He carried on the business of ship building at New Port R. I., and visited North Carolina to procure live oak, cedar and yellow pine timber for his business, and purchased a long narrow island in Carteret County for the live oak and cedar timber on it, which island was for a long time called Borden’s Banks.

He removed to North Carolina in 1732, and settled in Carteret County about four miles from Beaufort, the county seat, and about the same distance from the present town of Morehead City, and six miles from Fort Macon, on the bank of a river which he called New Port. In the year 1722, he commenced at New Port, R. I., the manufacture of . . .

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sail cloth, and the General Assembly of the Colony of Rhode Island granted him a bounty on each bolt of hemp duck manufactured by him; but the undertaking did not prove successful, and probably caused his removal from Rhode Island to North Carolina. (See Arnold’s History of R. I., Vol. 2, pp. 72). He died in North Carolina in 1748. His daughter Alice married a person name Pratt, Hope married a Stanton, and Hannah one named Mace. The descendants of his three daughters are settled in Ohio and Indiana.

It is known that two of the sons of Richard the Emigrant settled in New Jersey; Francis located at Shrewsbury. He was the friend of William Penn, and went back to England with Penn in 1701. He returned to Kent (where he was born,) and died in that county. Samuel was a member of the General Assembly of West Jersey, called by Governor Jennings in 1681. His descendants located at Cooper’s Creek, and one of them purchased a large tract of land on the banks of the Delaware River, where the town of Bordentown is now built. Col. Joseph Borden, one of his descendants, was a member from New Jersey, of the First National Congress of the Colonies, meeting in New York, October, 1765. The descendants of Samuel Borden are numerous in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Col. Samuel Borden of Cincinnati, Ohio, was one of this branch of the family.

Benjamin Borden, by some believed to be a son of John of the second generation, and by others supposed to . . .

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be a son of Richard the Emigrant, it is said took to a seafaring life and went back to England. He visited the family in Kent and also others of the name who had removed to the north counties in England, in which last named locality he married and lived for some years. He subsequently met with Lord Fairfax in Kent, who resided at Leeds Castle in that county. He induced Benjamin Borden to return to America, and he settled in Virginia in a part of what is now Rockbridge County, he having been appointed to survey and sell his lordship’s land in that vicinity. An incident is related of him which may be mentioned as illustrative of the manner of conducting public business in Virginia at that period. Soon after he arrived in the county he went with two persons named Lewis to explore the western part of the colony. They went as far as the Salt Licks on the Kanawha, and the valley of the Big Sandy River. I will state the incident as it is related in Withers History of the Settlement of Western Virginia, pp. 43-4. “John Lewis settled on a creek which still bears the name of Lewis Creek, near Staunton, Va. Lewis being at Williamsburg the capital of the Colony of Virginia met accidentally with Benjamin Borden who had just arrived in Virginia from England, and who had some out as the general agent of Lord Fairfax. Lewis prevailed on Borden to accompany him home. He remained at Lewis’s for some time looking after his lordship’s interest in that section of the country, and on his return to Williamsburg brought with him a buffalo calf, which, while hunting and exploring with Samuel and Andrew Lewis, sons of John Lewis, they . . .

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had caught not far from the banks of the Ohio River between the Kanawha and Big Sandy. This young buffalo was partially tamed at Lewis’s, and Borden succeeded after much difficulty in having it conveyed to the capital; he presented it to Governor Yooch, who was so much pleased with Borden and his present that he made an entry on the Executive Journal authorizing him to locate an immense tract of land on the head waters of the Shenandoah or James River, west of the Blue Ridge. This grant was located in parts of what is now Rockbridge and Botetourt Counties. One of the conditions of the grant was that Borden should settle at least one hundred families with in ten years on this land.”

In order to effect a compliance with this and other conditions to permanently secure the donation, Borden again returned to the Mother Country, and on his return to the Province brought with him from the north of England, where his wife’s relatives resided, and from the south of Scotland, upwards of one hundred families of adventurers to settle his grant. Among them was John Patton, who subsequently married Borden’s daughter and settled on the Catawba near Pattonsburg. The daughter of John Patton became the wife of Col. W. Preston, a former governor of Virginia. The Pattons of Virginia and the Prestons of South Carolina are descendants of this Benjamin Borden. John McDowell of Virginia, the Jacksons, the Reids, and one branch of the family of the Alexanders also came over with him.

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It was the possession of this immense grant of land that laid the foundation of his subsequent fortune. He had a son of the same name whose fabulous wealth is still proverbial in western Virginia, and in all of the west where people from that section have settled. Some years before the War of the Revolution he is issued paper money on the responsibility of his landed estates, and to this day the phrase “As good as Ben Borden’s bills,” is common throughout the northwest.

Some of the old members of the family in North Carolina remember to have seen letters from Benjamin Borden of Virginia, and the Hon. Joseph Borden of Bordertown, New Jersey, to William Borden of Carteret County, North Carolina. These letters were unfortunately lost or destroyed at the time the British destroyed the property of the second William Borden, on New Port River, Carteret County, North Carolina, in the War of the Revolution. Whether these letters from Virginia were written by Benjamin Borden the father or son of that name in Virginia, and where Benjamin Borden the elder of Virginia was the uncle or brother of William Borden, the first of that name, (or as he was generally called, the Ship-builder), who removed from Rhode Island to the Colony of North Carolina in 1732, is not now certainly known, but there are grounds of conjecture rendering it highly probable he was his uncle.

FOURTH:  [generation]

William Borden, the only son of the preceding William Borden, and Alice Hull Borden, his wife, was born . . .

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in Rhode Island February 6^th, 1731. His father removed to North Carolina when he was not quite two years old. When he arrived at man’s estate he married “Comfort,” daughter of Col. Lovett, and settled on the north side of New Port River, near the mouth of Harlow’s Creek, in Carteret County, North Carolina, where they had six children born unto them, four sons and two daughters, namely, William, John (who died when quite young), Alice (who married David Ward of Carteret County, N. C.,) Benjamin, Joseph, and Hope (who married Asa Hatch, of Jones County, N. C. -). William Borden was a warm and devoted friend to the cause of the colonies at the time of the Revolutionary War. He was elected a delegate from Carteret County to the State Convention of North Carolina that met at Halifax in December 1776 to frame a constitution for the state, and was afterwards also one of the delegates from Carteret County convened at Hillsboro on the 21^st of July 1788, to decide on the question whether the state of North Carolina would attach herself to the Confederacy by ratifying the Federal Constitution. During the War of Independence he suffered much from the depredations of the enemy, having had his store, mills and warehouses destroyed by the British.

The family in Rhode Island and New Jersey suffered from their devotion to the cause of their country. The north part of Tiverton, Rhode Island, and the country about Fall River, was frequently visited by the English whose ships lay in the waters of the Narragansett Bay.

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In one of the British incursions the dwelling of Thomas Borden and his grist and saw mills were destroyed by fire. The English on this occasion were repulsed by the people under the command of Col. Durfee, whose mother was a Borden. In this retreat the English set fire to the dwelling of Richard Borden and took him prisoner. He, however was soon after released upon his parole (see Fowler’s History, pp. 24-25) At the time when New Jersey was overrun by the enemy, and when the prospects of the colonies were the darkest, an officer stationed at Bordentown, N. J., (said by Major Garden to be Lord Cornwallis), endeavored to persuade, and then to intimidate the wife of the Hon. Joseph Borden, of that place, to abandon the cause of her country. He wished her to use her influence with her husband and son to take sides with the Royalists. Both father and son were absent at the time in the Continental Army. The officer promised if she would induce them to quit the standard they followed and join the Royalists that her husband’s property would be protected, while in case of refusal the estate would be ravaged and their elegant mansion burned to the ground.

Mrs. Borden answered by bidding him defiance.

“The sight of our house in flames,” she said, “would be a treat to me, for since you have been here I have seen enough to know that you never injure what you have power to keep and enjoy. The application of a torch to my dwelling I should regard as a signal for your departure.” [Gutsy Lady!!]

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The house was burned in fulfillment of the threat, the property laid waste and the animals were all slaughtered or driven off; but as the owner had predicted, the retreat of the spoiler quickly followed. (See Ellet’s Women of the American Revolution, Vol. 2, pp. 305-306)

William Borden died November 2^nd, 1799, and was buried in the burial ground attached to the Friends’ meeting house, Cove Sound, Carteret County, North Carolina.

Our father, Joseph Borden, fourth son of William Borden and Comfort his wife, was born at the residence of his father on New Port River, Careret County, North Carolina, May 5^th, 1769. On the sixteenth day of June, 1796 he was married to Miss Esther Wallace, daughter of David Wallace, Esq., of Carteret County, North Carolina.

Joseph Borden, owing to the disturbed state of the country during the War of the Revolution, had little or no opportunity of attending school. He possessed, however, a strong native intellect, a correct judgment, united with an active and untiring industry, and by diligent reading in a great measure surmounted the defects of the almost total want of an early education. He settled on his paternal estate on the New Port River, but in consequence of the destruction of his father’s property by the British, he was compelled to begin life with very limited means, and necessarily had to endure the exertions and privations incident to a country comparatively new, and then but just recovering from the ravages of civil war. He and his wife were frugal and perseveringly industrious, and with the . . .

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blessings of God, acquired a competency and raised a numerous family who were permitted to “arise up and call them blessed.” They lived esteemed in the community, and when removed by death, left a numerous circle of relatives, friends, and acquaintances to mourn their loss.

Joseph Borden departed this life at the old family mansion where he and his father resided during their lives, in Carteret County, North Carolina, on the sixth day of January, 1825. He lies buried beside his father near the Friends’ meeting house, Carteret County, North Carolina. He was a firm believer in the truth of the Christian religion, and had been for many years an active member of the Society of Friends, and with the greatest truth it could be said of him that he was a Christian indeed, without guile, and the noblest work of God – an honest man.

Our mother, Esther Wallace, was the daughter of David and Mary Wallace (whose maiden name was Mary Willis). Robert Wallace, the father of David Wallace, it is said, was a nephew of Col. James Wallace, of Dundonald, in Ayrshire, Scotland, who commanded at the battle of Pentland Hills, and was banished to Holland for his opposition to the course of the Stuarts. Robert Wallace married Esther West of the Island of Guernsey, in the English Channel.

Our mother was born November 1^st, 1771, at Portsmouth, near Ocracoke Inlet, Carteret County, North Carolina. She long survived our father, and departed this life at the village of New Berne, Greene County, Alabama, . . 

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where she had removed with most of her children after the decease of our father. The following notice of her death will give some idea of her character:

“Died at New Berne, Greene County, at the residence of her son, Thomas R. Borden, Esq., Mrs. Esther Borden, late of Carteret County, North Carolina, in the eighty-second year of her age. She was a native of Carteret County, North Carolina, but had resided some twenty years in Alabama. All though it was not our good fortune to be acquainted with the deceased, we have often heard her spoken of by those who did enjoy that pleasure, as a woman endowed by nature with a mind with a mind of a very high order, which had been most assiduously cultivated. Her extensive knowledge of History, and her familiarity with the English Poets and the Classical Literature of the day, her ready memory and her superior conversational powers were the subject of frequent remark by those who were so fortunate as to enjoy her acquaintance. As a mother, neighbor and friend, she was a pattern of kindness and affection, and has left a large circle of relatives and friends to mourn her loss.”

The following are the names of the children of Joseph and Esther Borden, all born at the old homestead on New Port River, Carteret County, North Carolina.

•  William Hull Borden, born May 5^th 1800. He married Elizabeth Dixon of New Berne, North Carolina.
•  Benjamin Borden, born December 11^th, 1801; married Margret Hill of Carteret County, North Carolina. He . . .

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married for a second wife Martha Gray, of Greene County, Alabama.

•          David Wallace Borden, born August 19^th, 1803; married Hope Ward of Carteret County, North Carolina.
•           Joseph Borden, Jr., born June 8^th, 1806; married Juliet Rhodes of Sumpter County, Alabama.
•           Thomas Richard Borden, born June 24^th, 1808; married Anne Jones of New Berne, North Carolina.
•           James Wallace Borden, born February 5^th, 1810; married for his first wife Emeline Griswold, of Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York, and his second wife was Jane Conkling, of Springfield, Otsego County, New York.
•           Mary Wallace Borden, born June 27^th, 1811; married Israel Sheldon of Orange, New Jersey.
•           Isaac Pennington Borden, born July 26^th, 1813; married Elizabeth Marest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
•           Hannah Gaston Borden, died an infant; born March 22^nd, 1815, and died May 18^th, 1815.

I am, dear Benjamin, with the greatest respect and affection,

Your brother,

James W. Borden.

The Borden Genealogy; Part 1

The first papers I have grabbed to start transcribing is the type written genealogy dated 26 July 1867. I have transcribed what I see, when I have added anything to the following, I have changed the color of the font to red.

Written in ink on the two inch margin:  “Sent me by my Cousin Thos P. Borden, 140 West 88^th Street, New York, Real Estate, Loans & Insurance June 24^th-1896.”

“Fort Wayne, Indiana,

July 26^th 1867.

Dear Brother:-

It is said that there is a predisposition in most persons to trace up their ancestry to as remote a period as possible, and that when this natural pride of the human mind cannot be indulged in by a statement of real facts, that tradition is resorted to, the imagination taxed, and even fable is sometimes used to supply the deficiency. This Propensity, though frequently abused, and occasionally the subject of well merited ridicule, still, if kept within reasonable limits and properly directed, may not be wholly unproductive of good. But, notwithstanding this admitted trait of the human character, it is not an unusual circumstance to meet with persons of intelligence and education who have not the least information of their progenitors, and apparently seeming neither to know nor care from whence, why or how they came. It has, however, always seemed to me that it should be a matter of some interest to know from when our family originated, where we were born, and who were our ancestors.

There are certain bonds of union and sources of sympathy by which the feelings of a family are naturally united, and as it were, linked together. The natural tie of consanguinity or a common parentage is generally a strong bond of affiliation, but where the members of a family are liable to be scattered over a widely extended country like the Continent of North America, they may lose . . .

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not only all those feelings that should bind together kindred and friends, but may even forget their own ancestral history and all the incidents connected with their early origin, unless some memorandum is made which has for its object the creation of a common interest in the name and genealogy of the family. It is with this latter view that I address you this letter, having compiled it chiefly for the information of yourself and children, and hoping it may not be without some interest to the children of our brothers in Alabama.

In eighteen hundred and sixty-two, when visiting the Mother Country, I attained much information concerning the original seat of our ancestors at Borden, County of Kent, and recourse has also been had to the traditions retained on the subject of our ancestry in the States of Rhode Island, New Jersey and North Carolina. I ascertained that the family was of the old English stock, and existed in that country many generations before the removal of some of the members of the Kentish branch, first to the Province of Massachusetts, and finally to the Colony of Rhode Island. They dwelt originally in the north part of the County of Kent, England, east of the Medway River, and ten or eleven miles from Rochester and Chatham, and about forty south-east of the City of London.

That the family is one of antiquity there can be no doubt as the name frequently occurs in the early annals of Kent, and the genealogy of the Borden family can be . . .

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traced up to the century immediately succeeding the Norman Conquest, - as early as the seventh year of King John (1206).

Simon De Borden donated some land to the parish church, (Vol. 6, pp. 215, 218). Haster, in his History of Kent, (Vol. 6, pp. 74), says there was anciently a family here, Borden, which took its surname from their possessions in the Parish of Borden. Philip De Borden and Osbert De Borden are both mentioned in the annals of the Church, as having contributed to its support from their landed estates in this and adjoining parishes. Ireland, in his History of Kent, makes a similar statement. (vol. 4, pp.40)

The traditions in the family are conflicting both as to the origin of the name and the race from which we spring.

While some contend we are of the Norman descent, and that the name is taken from “Bourdon,” a Pilgrim’s staff, others say the name is local, and derived from the word, “Burg,” a Saxon word for house, and “Dena,” a Celtic word meaning originally a vale or valley, - literally, a house in a valley, - and claims to come from the Anglo Saxon race.

The following extract from a letter written by me in answer to some inquiries by one of the family may properly be inserted here: - “You request my opinion whether our family derived the name from the Parish of Borden in Kent, England, or did the village take its name from the . . .

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family; and farther, are we descended from the Norman or Saxon race? The opinion has been generally entertained in the family that we are of the Saxon race, and took our name from the parish and village in Kent. The question has been somewhat controverted, and I therefore regret, that after the most diligent search, I have not been able to find anything that may be considered very conclusive on the subject.”

The circumstances that could explain it are, of course, hidden in a remote antiquity, and can be ascertained by inferential reasoning alone.

The English surname Borden, (Norman French, Bourdon), although originally one word, has not multiplied into nine separate and distinct surnames in that country:  1, Borden; 2, Bordon; 3, Bordone; 4, Bourden; 5, Bourdon; 6, Burdan; 7, Burden; 8, Burdin; 9, Burdon. The primary meaning of the word is a Pilgrim’s staff, but it also includes among its various other significations, the following:  a baton, a quarter-staff, a rod, a scepter, a mace, a spear, a lance, a halberth, a battle-axe, &c., &c.

Dr. Jamieson in his Dictionary says the word “Bourdon” was derived from a Gothic root. Wedgewood in his work on English Etymology makes the same statement, but I have mislaid the reference. The following quotations from Chaucer show the real meaning of the word:

‘I found him (Daunger) cruel in his rage, and in his hand a great Bourdon.’ (Rom. Of R., V. 5, pp.406).

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‘Then Baunger on his feet gon stond
And heut a bourdon in his hond.’

Lower, in his History of English surnames says:  The singular name Burden, is derived from a corruption of the word Bourdon, “a Palmer’s Staff.” (Lower, Vol. 1, pp. 205). Thus you will see the origin of the name if it is derived from the “Palmer’s Staff,” but that you may form your own conclusion I will briefly state what is said on the other side.

“Berg,” – Saxon, a mansion or hamlet.

“Borde,” – French, a cottage.

“Den,” – a Celtic word for valley or woody vale or dale. This word “den,” Richardson says, is a frequent termination of English surnames, and always implies a situation in a woody valley or dale.

The Edinburg Review for April, 1855, pp. 371, says the word “Den” is not found in any other Teutonic Dialect but the Anglo Saxon, and was adopted into it from the Ancient British or Celtic language.

Ferguson in his work on English Surnames, (pp. 364), says, “Den” is a Saxon word and means valley, and that Leo thinks it was adopted into the Saxon from the Celtic dialect of the old Britons.

Ireland in his History of Kent, (Vol. pp. 36), says the name of which Borden appears to have been derived from the Saxon words “Burg” and Dena” signify a mansion or villa among the woods.

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“The Parish of Borden in Kent took its name from the Saxon word “Burg,” signifying a house, and “Den,” a Celtic word which means a valley or vale.” (History of Kent, Vol. 2, pp. 565).

Saints Peter and Paul Parrish Church,
Borden, County of Kent, England

I did a google search on this Church and found this picture and many more of the inside of the Church. Click here to visit the site

A gentleman of intelligence residing at Borden, informed me when there in 1862, that the first place of public worship was built in the year 636, and that previous to that time tradition rather than history, informs us that the Druids had a place of pagan worship in the Oak Grove where the Parish Church now stands. Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of England, (Vol. 1, pp. 301, Article, Borden), says the present church edifice was erected as early as 1005. It is constructed of Roman brick taken from an old Roman fort or station formerly standing near by, and flint stone, the cement being made of lime burnt from oyster and clam shells. I visited the church when in England. It is a curious old building, and bears characteristic marks of great antiquity. You will see by what I have already stated that the historians of Kent would incline to the opinion that the parish gave the name to the family. I will, however, state what has had much weight in inducing me to think we are of Norman and not Saxon origin. When in England I employed a very competent person to make a careful examination into all the manuscripts in the British Museum, and the records and papers in the other public offices in London calculated to give any information on the subject. An extract from his report I will give you, but before doing so it may not be . . .

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amiss to say that the coat of arms of those of the Bourdon family who remained in Normandy may be seen by reference to the Archives of the Government of France, and to a French work on Heraldry, called “Sciences des Armories,” (pp. 257 and 263-4).

“Bourdon Family.”

“The origin of this family is enveloped in the obscurity of a remote antiquity, and has been variously traced by uncertain tradition. The statements generally agree in deducing its pedigree from a Norwegian chieftain, whose primeval home was in the extreme southern part of that country near the Nage, who assisted Rollo in subjugating the principality of Normandy in 912. Our (French) genealogists and antiquarians all say that the name is Gothic, but the origin of the family antecedent to the conquest of Normandy, and its establishment on the eastern side of that principality near the border of Picardy, in the absence of direct historical records it is impossible to trace, and the generally received account is possibly fabulous; yet is may claim some attention as coinciding with probability, and being the tradition of a very ancient family deserve to be preserved from absolute oblivion.”

Its settlement in England is fixed at or near the time of the conquest of that kingdom by William the Norman.

So much for mere tradition.

The coat of arms in Normandy has the Palmer’s staff and scrip, the cross and escaop shell on it, which clearly indicates that the Norwegian on whom it was first con- . . .

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ferred had been a Christian Pilgrim either to Rome or to Palestine. The following is the extract mentioned above.

“Coat of arms of the Borden family extracted from Berry, Edmunson, Guillim, Robson, Burke and others on Heraldry, and Fairbain and various authors on family crests, and also from the pedigrees and arms in the visitations of the Heralds, and genealogical manuscripts in the British Museum and other public offices in London.

“N. B. It is to be borne in mind that the surnames Borden, Bordon, Bordone, Bourden, Bourdon, Burdan, Burden, Burdin and Burdon, were originally all derived from the same source, were formerly spelled alike, and are in fact, one and the same family name.”

(Here follow the descriptions of the various coasts of arms and crests of all these families, but they are too lengthy to copy.)

It thus appears that there are twelve coats of arms of the family, and all bear Pilgrim’s staffs variously emblazoned; and the crests are as generally, a lion rampant. The battle axe, hautboy, pike, staff, &c., &c., are all the same as the Bourdon, or Palmer’s staff, or often take the place of it in Heraldry; thus the coast of arms of one branch of this family is three battle-axes, and in another, three hautboy, and as many cross-cross-crosslets.

We think, however, that there can be no doubt but the Bourdon or Pilgrim’s staff is the appropriate device for the shield, and a lion rampant is the proper crest belonging to the coast of arms of this family.

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I will merely remark that for several centuries after the Conquest of England by the Normans, the language of the inhabitants of that country, as well as the name of its localities, and especially the surnames of the people, underwent great and radical changes. The mutations and corruptions introduced both in the spelling and pronouncing of surnames during what may be properly called the transition period of the English language, render it very difficult, if not impossible in many cases, to trace family names to their origin. The circumstance that all these families have the Palmer’s staff on their shields, I think, can hardly be looked upon in any other view than as an undersigned coincidence, and if we bear in mind, that notwithstanding the various modes of spelling and pronouncing the name in the Mother Country, all these families (or nearly all) have then retained on their shields the appropriate armorial device of the name; it seems to me that such an amount of mutual resemblance as is here found to exist, both in the names as well as in their several coats of arms, can be consistent with no other reasonable hypothesis than that there must have been originally one name and peculiar symbol from which these various surnames and coats of arms were derived, and that this is the Bourdon:  and hence I infer the family is of Norman and not Saxon descent.

It can with much apparent truth be said that most, if not all of this is at best mere conjecture, and the remark is often and truthfully made that the English and . . .

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their descendants in America are prone to claim descent from the followers of the Norman Conqueror, many of whom were merely adventurers, and some of them of even questionable blood; but enough, one would think, is accomplished when any citizen of our country can establish a lineage dating back to the reign of the Stuarts and Tudors, when the Commonalty of England with their well known attachment to liberty and a constitutional form of government began to manifest their power in controlling the destiny of that country. This is an origin of which any family may well be proud, and this at least, I think, can be safely claimed for the Bordens.

Coat of Arms of the Borden Family, County of Kent, England:

Borden azure; a chevron invected ermine; two Palmer’s staves in chief, ppr; a cross-crosslet in base or.

Crest, a lion rampant on his sinister hind foot, or, holding a battle axe, proper. Motto “Palma Virtuti.”

Explanation of the Borden Coat of Arms.

·         First:  Pilgrim’s staff and invected chevron indicates a Christian Palmer

·         Second:  The cross-crosslet, that Christian zeal prompted him to undertake the journey, he being a champion of the cross as well as a Pilgrum.

·         Third:  The chevron implies that he had finished or accomplished some great or good work, - a pilgrimage was so understood in that age.  A chevron is likened to the . . .

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putting on the roof of a house, or completing a building,.

·         Fourth:  Invected chevron represents the edges of the escalop shell which is considered the peculiar mark of the Christian Palmer, and Heraldists say, always implies that the person who bears it had some connection with a pilgrimage to the Holy land.

·         Fifth:  The crest, a lion, - emblem of strength, courage and generosity; and all positions rampant, that is, standing erect on his hind foot, and with a battle axe in hand ready for combat in a just cause, is the position most honorable and noble.

·         Sixth:  Motto. This is suppose to indicate that he was a Palmer and was entitled to the reward of virtue for his pilgrimage.

The next post starts the genealogy starting with Richard Borden. . .