Bio: James Borron, Natchitoches & Rapides Parish Louisiana Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890 Submitted by: Suzanne Shoemaker ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** JAMES BORRON, planter, Boyce, La. The subject of this sketch needs little or no introduction to the people of Rapides Parish, La., for his mercantile firm in ante bellum days (Ar. Milltenberger & Borron) transacted business with many of the largest planters of Rapids and Natchitoches Parishes, and he has resided thirty-one years in Natchitoches Parish and twenty years in New Orleans, and is one of the most highly esteemed residents of Boyce, and one who integrity and honesty of Boyce, and one whose integrity and honesty of purpose are unquestioned. He was born in Woolden Hall, England, in 1822, and his parents, John A. and Mary (Geddis) Borron, were natives of Lancaster, England and Eddinburgh, Scotland, born in 1772 and 1791, respectively. Mr. John A. Borron was educated at Cambridge College, England, and later was largely interested in manufactories in different parts of that country. He was judge of the court of assizes. He received a gold medal from the Duke of Bridgewater for engineering the Bridgewater Canal. Afterward he traveled for two years in the United States, and then returned to London, where his death occurred in 1846. James Borron was educated in New Castle, Northumberland, England, and , in 1839, when about sixteen years of age, he removed to New Orleans. He was seventy-one days in making the trip across the ocean, and after arriving in New Orleans was engaged in the Foreign Commission House of A. & J. Dennistoun & Co., who did the largest business in New Orleans. He remained there thirteen years, and then took charge of the business of Aristid Miltenberger, and in 1857 was made a partner. He remained in business there until the breaking out of the war. In 1858 he married Miss Maria L. Bonner, daughter of Maj. Willis Bonner, a native of Rapides Parish, and one of the largest planters in that portion of the State. After marriage and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Mr. Borron removed to Rapides Parish and took charge of his wife's plantation. The war disabled him very seriously, financially. He now resides at Ainslie place, near Boyce, about fourteen miles above Alexandria. His marriage resulted in the birth of eight children-five sons and three daughters: James H., Elizabeth, Stella (now Mrs. Kelsoe, of Boyce), Louise (now Mrs. Halliburton, of Rapides Parish), Willis Arthur (of Boyce), William Roscoe, Edward A. and Paul G. (the last three at home). Mr. and Mrs. Borron are members of the Episcopal Church, and are esteemed by all acquainted with them. The family of Borron is one of considerable antiquity in England. A copy of genealogical record now in possession of Mr. Borron dates back A. D. 1634, in the reign of King Charles I., but emblems of the crest of the Borron arms, in the Herald's office, London-lamb and banner, with corona or holy halo above the cross-would indicate a much more ancient origin, probably the Crusades. The pioneer or first member of the family in the country, upon record of history, Gen. Edward Braddock, uncle of John Arthur Borron, commander of the colonial forces, was killed fighting French and Indians, near Fort DuQuesne (now Pittsburgh). Washington took command after he fell. John Arthur Borron, nephew of Gen. Braddock and father of the subject of this sketch, was a man of great enterprise and attainments, as well as vast business capacity, who had a cotton mill and glass works in Lancashire, salt and pottery works in Cheshire and Stafford, besides managing lead mines in Scotland for the Marquis of Bute, Becleugh and Hopetum. When in New York, on his way home to England, he made valuable suggestions to the engineers of the "Croton Aqueduct," which was then under construction, complimentary notices of which were published in the New York Press. COL. AINSLIE, C. B., deceased, a nephew of our subject's mother, was thus referred to by the Glasgow Herald: "The remains of the late Col. Ainslie, C. B., were interred in Haddington churchyard yesterday in the presence of a large assemblage of mourners, the chief of whom were Mr. R. Ainslie (of Elvinston), Miss Ainslie, Maj.-Gen. Anderson, C. B. and Mrs. Anderson, etc. Col. Ainslie was a child of the regiment, having been born at Futtigur, in the East Indies, in 1811, his father being Col. Ainslie, of the Madras army. He entered the army at an early age, and joined the Ninety-third Highlanders, in which he rose to the chief command, and led the regiment in some memorable engagements, where he distinguished himself by such conspicuous bravery as to gain for himself by such conspicuous bravery as to gain for himself the commandership of the Bath. He was in every sense a splendid specimen of the British soldier, full of martial spirit, yet modest and unassuming in all his actions. As a comrade in arms remarked, he never said "Go on, boys," but "Come on." He led the Highlanders up the "Heights of the Alma," and later in the campaign it was he who formed his regiment into the historic "thin red line" at Balaclava to resist the heavy onset of Russian cavalry. He was deeply attached to his regiment, and his men regarded him with devotion and affection, a brother officer having once said that "his Highlanders would have followed him anywhere, even to the ends of the earth." He sold out of the army a good many years ago, being succeeded in the command of the Ninety-third by Gen. Burroughs. Since his retirement Col. Ainslie has lived a quiet and unobtrusive life in Edinburgh. He was a regular frequenter of the United Service Club, of which he was the senior member, having been admitted fifty years ago. It is understood that by his death the life rent of the property which he enjoyed from his aunt, the late Miss Walker, of Drumsheugh, goes to the trust fund for the benefit of the Episcopal Church in Scotland. Col. Ainslie was married to Joanna, only child of Maj.-Gen. Falls, late of the Ninety-third Highlanders. He is survived by his widow, but leaves no family." The following taken from a Toronto, Canada, paper refers to our subject's niece, Miss Ainslie Borron: THE GOLD MEDALIST. The work of Miss Borron is arranged by itself, and it was the center of attraction. Miss Ainslie Borron, the young lady who has won the gold medal, is the daughter of Mr. Borron, ex-M. P. of the district of Algoma, and the niece of Mrs. Ainslie, of Ainslie Woods, Hamilton. She has pursued her studies chiefly at the art schools in Toronto and Hamilton. While gratefully acknowledging her obligations to other teachers, Miss Borron attributes the measure of success she has achieved, especially in drawing from the antique, chiefly to the excellent taste and admirable instructions of Mr. Cruikshank, of this city. Born at Sault Ste. Marie, and a resident at various times not only of that rising town, but of Port Arthur and upon the Manitoulin Island, Miss Borron's success will doubtless be hailed with pleasure by a large number of friends and acquaintances in all parts of the district of Algoma, as well as by her fellow students in Toronto and Hamilton, and by the people of Collingwood, where Mr. Borron's family at present reside. The exhibition of pictures will be open free to the public for a week. Of the Ainslie branch of the family, John Ainslie (brother of Col. William Ainslie, of the Ninety-third Regiment Highlanders), married our subject's sister, Mary. He was a barrister or W. S., Edinburgh, Scotland. He was also an author of some note, principally scenes in India, "Auren Zeebe, or Tales of Alraschid," "Ernest Campbell" and "Antipathy," being among his works. He emigrated to Boonville, Mo., about 1836, and was drowned in the Missouri River. His sons, George Ainslie, ex-member of Congress for Idaho, and Mark Ainslie, both now reside in that State, and their grandchildren in Ohio and Tennessee. The children are wealthy, their uncle, Col. William Ainslie, having left them a large estate. Our subject took no part in the Civil War, regarding it as a most cruel fratricidal strife, in which he as an alien had no right to interfere. The war brought financial ruin to himself and house. He was robbed and plundered of a large amount of valuables, including marriage presents to his wife, family souvenirs, etc., to say nothing of the loss of all mules, horses, and about 270 bales of cotton burned to ashes, for which he got no compensation. Shortly afterward he saw in New Orleans (August, 1864), that cotton sold at $2.05 a pound, or about $1,000 a bale in greenbacks. He passed through the lines of both contending armies at this time in order to make claim against the government for indemnity, and to oblige a friend, conveyed in a belt around his body $42,000 in United States treasury notes, for parties in New Orleans, an undertaking that might have cost him his life, but he delivered it safely. The longevity of this family is remarkable. John Arthur Borron attained the age of seventy-two years, the aggregate of his six children now living (two dead) is 588-total of the eight children 660 years. Of these six surviving children one lives in Missouri, one in Ohio, one in Louisiana, two in Canada, one in London, England. The sons of the latter are mostly in Australia. Though their lots are cast in different portions of the earth, far apart, may their career be "onward and upward," carrying aloft the standard of Christianity and a good name. Our subject is the youngest of his father's sons living, and will be sixty-nine years July 9, 1891, fifty-one years of this period in Louisiana, including twenty years' permanent residence in New Orleans, 1839-59, passing safely through many terrible visitations of yellow fever and cholera. He is now hail and hearty, without ache or pain, and can follow active pursuits on the farm with little fatigue, although exposed to the blaze of the sun. His five boys are also stalwart and active, working with him on the farm. This explodes the assertion that "the South is not adapted to white labor."