Borden Family in America

Descendents of Richard Borden – Emigrants from Headcorn in 1635

Arrival in Portsmouth 1638

The following text is take from the definitive work on the family of Richard Borden, written in 1899 by Hattie Borden Weld: The place first selected for settlement was about half a mile southeast from Bristol Ferry, at the south end of a pond that opened into Mt. Hope...

Richard Borden: America’s First Borden Family

Many members of the Borden family in America can trace their ancestry to Richard Borden who emigrated with his family (and his brother John and family) to Boston in about 1635 from the village of Headcorn, Kent County, England.  The ancestors of brothers Richard and...

REFERENCES

Richard Borden

Historical and Geneological Record of the Descendents as far as Known of Richard and Joan Borden who settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, May, 1638. Hattie Borden Weld. 1899.

A History of Portsmouth Rhode Island 1638-1978. James E. Garman, Newport, RI, Franklin Printing, 1978.

Historical Tracts of the Town of Portsmouth Rhode Island. John Pierce, Portsmouth RI, Hamilton Printing, 1991.

The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Volume 1. Charles Robert Anderson, George F. Sanborn Jr., Melinda Lutz Sanborn; Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999. 633p.

The Lands of Portsmouth Edward West, Rhode Island Historical Society Bulletin.(1938?)

Immigrant Ancestors: A List of 2,500 Immigrants to America before 1750. Frederick A. Virkus, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1964. 75p. Repr. 1986.

Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657. Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1975. 366p.

The Pioneers of Massachusetts, A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns and Churches, and other Contemporaneous Documents. Meredith B. Colket Jr. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1998. 550p.

New World Immigrants: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Literature. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979. 568p. and 602p. Repr. 1980. Vol. 1.

The Complete Book of Emigrants: A Comprehensive Listing Compiled from English Public Records of Those Who Took Ship to the Americas for Political, Religious, and Economic Reasons; of Those Who Were Deported for Vagrancy, Roguery, or Non-Conformity; and of Those Who Were Sold to Labour in the New Colonies. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1607-1660. 1988. 600p. – page 136.

The Planters of the Commonwealth; a Study of the Emigrants and Emigration in Colonial Times: To Which Are Added Lists of Passengers to Boston and to the Bay Colony; the Ships which Brought Them; Their English Homes, and the Places of Their Settlement in Massachusetts, 1620-1640. Charles Edward Banks, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930. 231p. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1961. Repr. 1984.

The Founders of New England. Samuel G. Bank, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 14:4 (Oct. 1860), pp. 297-359.

Other Borden References

A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia; Oren Frederic Morton.
Reference to the Borden Grant (Benjamin Borden)

Anne Hutchinson

American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans, Eve LaPlante, Hardback, Harper, San Francisco, March, 2004.

Divine Rebel, Selma R. Williams.

Anne Hutchinson: Unsung Heroine of History, Bianca A. Leonardo, Winnifred K. Rugg, Paperback, Tree of Life Publications, January 1996

Anne Hutchinson and the Puritans: An Early American Tragedy, William Dunlea, Paperback, Dorrance Publshing Company, November 1993

The Antinomian Controversy, 1636 – 1638: A Documentary History by David D. Hall (Editor), 2nd Edition, Hardcover, Published by Duke Univ Press, November 1990.

Prophetic Woman: Anne Hutchinson and the Problem of Dissent in the Literature of New England, Amy Schrager Lang, Reprint Edition, Paperback, Published by Univ California Press, March 1989

Anne Hutchinson, Guilty or Not? : A Closer Look at Her Trials (American University Studies: Series IX: History, Vol. 146), Jean Cameron, Hardcover, Published by Peter Lang Publishing,March 1994

Anne Hutchinson (American Women of Achievement), Elizabeth Ilgenfritz, Nancy Shopre, Nancy Shore, Library Binding, 111 pages, Published by Chelsea House Pub (Library), December 1990

A Matter of Conscience: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (Stories of America), Joan Kane Nichols, Dan Krovatin (Illustrator), 101 pages, Steck-Vaughn Company, May 1996

The Resurrection of Anne Hutchinson, Robert H. Rimmer, Hardcover, 419 pages, Prometheus Books, March 1987

Family Tree Project

We are preparing a special project that will allow Borden descendents to trace their family back to the original Richard Borden who arrived in Boston in about 1635.

If you are have information about your family back to the late 1800s, perhaps the time of your great-grandfather, or his father. please send this information to us and we will try to make a connection with the information we have.

Send full name, place and dates of birth and death, and information about other family members (sisters, brothers, children, parents). We will contact you to follow-up.

Thank you for your participation.

Contact Us

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ENGLAND

Headcorn, Kent County

Headcorn is located in the Maidstone District of Kent, England, about 50 miles southeast of London. According to records, Headcorn was birthplace and home of Richard and John Borden prior to their departure for Boston in 1636.

Read more about Headcorn at Wikipedia

 

Village of Borden, Kent County

Read more about Borden on Wikipedia

NORTH AMERICA

First Settlement, Portsmouth, RI

When the Richard Borden family left Boston to follow the Hutchinson group, they first selected to settle in the area that is now Portsmouth. It was about a half a mile southeast from Bristol Ferry, at the south end of a pond that opened into Mt. Hope Bay. The settlers named it Portsmouth Harbor. The pond still retains the name of the town pond, and ebbs and flows as it did then.

Portsmouth Compact

There is a bronze and stone marker near the pond that is inscribed with the The Portsmouth Compact:

“Erected to honor the memory and perpetuate the spirit and ideals of the first government in the world to allow and to insure to its citizens civil and religious liberty”

Portsmouth Compact Tablet

MacCorrie Farm – Richard Borden homestead

In 1639, the settlers decided to change their location about one and one-half miles farther south, on the east side of the island which they called Newtown. There they laid out house lots for a numerous settlement, but the speedy division of the island into farms soon absorbed all the population then in Portsmouth, and the settlement at Newport this year attracted a large portion of the emigrants to that locality. [Weld]
Portsmouth Historical Society. (1868) is located at the corner of East Main Rd. and Union Street. It was the former Christian Sabbath Society Meeting House. Museum. Collection of early household conveniences, farm implements, and other artifacts. Julia Ward Howe and other notables preached here. A monument on grounds marks site of initial skirmish, Battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778.

Founders’ Brook

Located off Boyd’s Lane, this was the site of arrival of the first settlers from Boston in 1638 under Anne Hutchinson, first woman to establish a town in the nation.

Anne Marbury Hutchinson Statue, Boston

There is a statue of Anne on the old Massachusetts state house lawn in Boston.

About this Site

This site has been developed and is maintained by Charles William Borden, a writer, editor, designer and traveler. Charles is a 12th generation descendent of Richard Borden. He would be pleased to receive any comments or corrections and other historical material about the Borden family in North America.