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- Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934 Frederick County, Virginia: Records of Hopewell Monthly Meetings and Meetings Reporting to Hopewell, compiled from official records by a joint committee of Hopewell Friends assisted by John W. Wayland online at googlebooks pp 25-26
Benjamin Borden [1675-1743], 850 acres. This land lie upon the western slope of Apple Pie Ridge in Frederick County, and 750 acres of the tract were sold by his executors, Benjamin Borden Jr. [1715-1753], his son, and Zeruiah Borden [Zeruiah (Winter) Borden 1690-1751], his widow, on February 7, 1744. In this deed the grantee if referred to as "Benjamin Borden, Gent., late of Orange County, Colony of Virginia, Deceased." Neither Benjamin Borden nor his family ever resided on this tract, which appears to have been one of his many speculations in land.
His home plantation, known as "Borden's Great Spring Tract," of 3143 acres, granted him October 3, 1734, joined Greenway Court, the home of Lord Fairfax, on the southeast. Borden's house stood at, or near, the present residence of Thompson Sowers Esq., in Clarke County.
He also had a tract of 1122 acres on the Bullskin Marsh near Summit Point, now W. Va., and a large tract on Smith's Creek, near New Market, Shenandoah County, Va. On November 6, 1739, he secured a patent for 92,100 acres on the headwaters of the James River, which became known as Borden's Manor, and lay mostly within the bounds of present Rockbridge County, Va. He appears to have been on intimate terms with Lord Fairfax, and by persistent tradition is generally believed to have acted in some way a Fairfax's agent. That Lord Fairfax purchased from his son John Borden [1717-1798], in 1756, 608 acres of the "Great Spring" tract at the very time he was waging a violent controversy with some settlers who claimed under Crown patents, certainly indicates some friendly arrangement with the Borden family.
Benjamin Borden [1675-1743] was born in 1692 [US and International Marriage Records state birth year 1675], a son of Benjamin Borden [1649-1718] and _ Grover [Abigail Grover1654-1720], near Freehold, N. J., and died in Frederick County, Va., in 1743. He married Zeruiah Winter [1690-1751] of West New Jersey, and came to Virginia sometime in 1732. He was prominent in the affairs of the county and was appointed to the first bench of justices on the organization of Orange County in 1734, and of Frederick County, when it was set off from Orange in 1743. He with others was the subject of religious persecution by the Orange court in October and November, 1737.
His will, dated April 3, 1742, and probated October 9, 1743, in Frederick County, mentions his wife Zeruiah, his sons Benjamin Jr., John, and Joseph, and his daughters Abigail, wife of Jacob Worthington, Hannah, wife of Capt. Edward Rogers, Mercy, wife of William Fearnley, Rebeckah, wife of Thomas Branson, Elizabeth, wife of _ Branson [need to verify - others say Patton/Nicholas], and Deborah [married Hendry] and Lidy [Lydia - married Peck], still single. Witnesses: Thomas Sharp, Lancelot Westcott, Edward O. Borden, Thomas Hankins, and Thomas Rogers.
The religious persecution of his family continued after his death, and the Frederick County records show that on May 7, 1746, the grand jury for that county presented Zeruiah Borden, Deborah Borden, and Mercy Fearnley "for speaking several prophane, scandalous and contemptable words against the Holy Order of Baptism."
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Genealogies of Virginia Families...Benjamin Borden, Shenandoah Valley Pioneer Notes on His Ancestry and Descendants by J A Kelly (ancestry.com)
Many times the legend has been told of Benjamin Borden's slaying a young buffalo, carrying it to Williamsburg to Governor Gooch and thereby so delighting that dignitary as to receive 500,000 acres of the public domain as a reward. A somewhat distorted version of the legend appears in E. Duis' "Good Old times in Mcclean County, Illinois" (1874). Here we learn that "Ben Burden was a notable man. He came to America from England and shorgly after signlized his arrival by capturing a buffalo calf and sending it to England as a present to Queen Elizabeth. The Queen showed her appreciation of it by granting him one hundred thousand acres of land in the Virginia Valley." Had he made his gift to Queen Victoria, he would have been guilty of only a slightly greater anachronism. ..."
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Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, by Waddell suppl, online at googlebooks:
THE BORDENS, McDOWELLS AND McCLUNGS.
Benjamin Borden [1675-1743], Sr., a native of New Jersey, obtained from Governor Gooch a patent, dated October 3, 1734, for a tract of land in Frederick county, which was called "Borden's Manor." He was promised, also, one hundred thousand acres on the waters of James River, west of the Blue Ridge, as soon as he should locate a hundred settlers on the tract. As stated on page 16, Ephraim McDowell and his family were the first people who settled there, in 1737. They located on Timber Ridge, originally called "Timber Grove," being attracted by the forest trees on the ridge, which were scarce elsewhere in the region. Borden offered a tract of one hundred acres to any one who should build a cabin on it, with the privilege of purchasing more at fifty shillings per hundred acres. Each cabin secured to him one thousand acres.
Mrs. Mary Greenlee related in her deposition, referred to on page 16, that an Irish girl, named Peggy Millhoven, a servant of James Bell, dressed herself in men's clothes and secured five or six cabin rights. John Patterson, who was employed to count the cabins, was surprised to find so many people named Millhoven, but the trick was not discovered till after the return was made.
Among the settlers in "Borden's Grant" were William McCausland, William Sawyers, Robert Campbell, Samuel Woods, John Mathews (father of Sampson and George), Richard Woods, John Hays and his son, Charles, and Samuel Walker.
Borden obtained his patent November 8, 1739. He died in the latter part of 1743, in Frederick, leaving three sons, Benjamin, John and Joseph, and several daughters.
The next spring [1744] his son Benjamin [Benjamin Borden 1715-1753] appeared in Rockbridge (as it is now) with authority under his father's will to adjust all matters with the settlers on the grant. He had, however, been in the settlement before his father's death.
Mrs. Greenlee says Benjamin Borden [1715-1753], Jr., was "altogether illiterate," and did not make a good impression on his first arrival, but he proved to be an upright man, and won the confidence of the people. The saying: " As good as Ben Borden's bill," passed into a proverb. He married Mrs. Magdalene McDowell [Magdalena (Woods) Borden b. 1706](originally a Miss Woods, of Rockfish), widow of John McDowell, who was killed by Indians in December, 1742, (see page 31,) and by her had two daughters, Martha and Hannah. The former became the wife of Robert Harvey, the latter never married.
Benjamin Borden, Jr., died of smallpox in 1753. His will was admitted to record by the County Court of Augusta, November 21, 1753. The executors appointed were John Lyle, Archibald Alexander and testator's wife, but the first named declined to serve. His personal estate was large for the time. During her second widowhood Mrs. Magdalene Borden contracted a third marriage with Colonel John Bowyer.
Joseph Borden [1734-1803], brother of Benjamin, Jr., was frequently in the settlement after the latter's death. In course of time he instituted the chancery suit of Borden vs. Bowyer, &c., out of which grew the cause of Peck vs. Borden, both of which have been pending in the courts of Augusta county for a hundred years, more or less.
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Misc Internet Notes:
It took until 1897 (154 years) before all "known" descendants were satisfied with the division and further court battles ended. (The COWAN descendants, all among the unknown heirs to the estate, never learned of the case so lost their share in 1907. The documents related to this case were filed in Drawer #1 in the Circuit Clerk's office of Augusta County, Virginia, in 1841 and 1897. The file was identified as "Jacob PECK's Adm'r vs. Jno. BORDEN's heirs and Jno. BORDEN's heirs vs. Jos. BORDEN's heirs.")
Zeruiah remarried about 1747 to Joseph WRIGHT. They were living in Hamilton Parish, Prince William Co., Virginia, in 1748. She died from smallpox about 1751/53. [need to verify]
Benjamin Fowle Borden, IIIBirth: 1709Augusta CountyVirginia, USADeath: 1753Rockbridge CountyVirginia, USA````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````Benjamin Borden Sr. came with and initially settled on the Opequon Quaker settlement in what is now Frederick County in 1732-33. He acquired a bit over 3,000 acres there, and then went to a famous ``frolic´´ involving a few card games in Williamsburg. He won what became known as the Borden Grant from the son-in-law of Governor and Earl Gooch. He contracted with John McDowell, (contract dated October, 1737 and done at his home, called ``Great Spring´´ literally right next to Lord Fairfax´s, ``Greenway Court´´ in northern Virginia) for John to be his first and principal surveyor and help bring in enough settlers to fulfill the terms of the grant and have the deed for it recorded.John McDowell and his wife, Magdalene, then were responsible for bringing into the grant most of the 92 original families in 1738-1739, and the deed for the grant was recorded in 1739 for a total of 92,100 acres. John McDowell was killed on December 25, 1742 and, just about a year later, his widow married Benjamin Borden, III. who had been long pursuing her. In fact when the surveying was being done for the first 92 families, and the paperwork being written up, Benjamin Borden Sr. had his son Benjamin Jr. live with the McDowells to help with the paperwork and such. So the second marriage was founded on relationships in the first.Magdalene had children by both John McDowell and Benjamin Borden, III. Several children died, at the same time Benjamin Borden, III, died of smallpox in 1753, but there remained three children from the first marriage and one by her marriage to Benjamin Borden, III. Magdalene had no children by her third husband, John Bowyer, but that didn´t prevent him from trying to take a piece of what rightfully was to be inherited by her children. That mess, at least, was the shortest of the several lawsuits, ``only´´ taking about nine years to resolve - about three years after the death of John Bowyer himself.As for the Borden Grant, it included Augusta County, and most of several adjacent counties originally. The terms of the grant were that each original settling family were to receive 100 acres free and clear for agreeing to settle, and could purchase up to 1,000 acres total at the rate of 50 shillings per 500 acres. Many families had a few hundred acres, few purchased the full 1,000 acres. This meant that when Benjamin Borden died, in 1753, his wife still owned or held mortgages on well over 60,000 acres, as some of the purchases were being made over time through mortgages. John McDowell, for his services was granted 1,000 acres outright (1737 contract).The Woods River Grant was probably named for the Woods family, Magdalene´s family, for whom Woods Creek, off the James River just north of Lexington was also named. Her brother, Richard Woods, was one of the first sheriffs of Augusta County, and she had at least nine siblings, sisters and brothers, who all were settlers on the Borden Grant, some of whom did acquire that 1,000 acres each, and more, as other settlers sold out and moved on. They acquired additional lands as they opened up, adjacent to the Borden Grant. She and her siblings were children of Samuel Woods and Elizabeth Campbell, not the Michael Woods and Mary Campbell of Albemarle County family, who may have been (researchers are still working on this) brother and sister respectively to Samuel and Elizabeth. Michael and Samuel were contemporary and did live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, near one another in the 1730´s prior to moving to Virginia (a lawsuit from a merchant, surnamed Smith, in Pennsylvania shows this; he named members of both families in it, and described some of the relationships. The lawsuit was transferred to Augusta County, Virginia, after a point).(Cecelia Fabos-Becker, historical and Virginia family history researcher, 25 Jan 2016)Family links: Parents: Benjamin Borden (1692 - 1743) Zeruriah Winter Borden (____ - 1750) Spouse: Magdalena Woods Bowyer (1706 - 1810)* Children: Martha Woods Borden Harvey (1746 - 1823)*Burial:Borden Cemetery (Saumsville)SaumsvilleShenandoah CountyVirginia, USAEdit Virtual Cemetery info [?]Created by: Sue McDuffe:)Record added: Oct 04, 2010Find A Grave Memorial# 59606034
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1709 - 1753 (44 years)
[3, 4, 7, 8]