Background
Gail Borden, II, was born in Norwich, New York, United States, on November 9, 1801 to Gail Borden, Jr. (1777–1863) a pioneer and landowner, and his wife Philadelphia Wheeler (1780–1828)
(This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)
This reproduction was printed from a digital file created at the Library of Congress as part of an extensive scanning effort started with a generous donation from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Library is pleased to offer much of its public domain holdings free of charge online and at a modest price in this printed format. Seeing these older volumes from our collections rediscovered by new generations of readers renews our own passion for books and scholarship.
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Gail Borden, II, was born in Norwich, New York, United States, on November 9, 1801 to Gail Borden, Jr. (1777–1863) a pioneer and landowner, and his wife Philadelphia Wheeler (1780–1828)
He was educated in local schools.
In 1814 the family moved first to Kentucky and then settled near Madison, Ind. , where Borden worked on his father's farm. He worked as the county surveyor and as a schoolteacher in Bates and Zion Hill.
With his brother, Thomas, in 1835 he founded the first permanent Texas newspaper, the Telegraph and Texas Land Register, in San Felipe.
Borden surveyed and planned the city of Galveston, continuing as customs collector. After his wife and children died in 1844 and 1845, Borden decided to alleviate the hardships of pioneers by making concentrated food that would not spoil. The newspaper was in financial difficulty, as the Bordens rarely paid their bills.
In Texas, Borden found a new calling of politics. He was a delegate at the Convention of 1833, where he assisted in writing early drafts of a Republic of Texas constitution. He also shared administrative duties with Samuel M. Williams during 1833 and 1834 when Stephen F. Austin was away in Mexico.
Borden had since turned his attention to real estate matters. He found a position at the Galveston City Company, where he served for 12 years as a secretary and agent. During that period, he helped sell 2, 500 lots of land, for a total of $1, 500, 000. During these years, he began to experiment with disease cures and mechanics.
By roughly 1849, Borden was experimenting with the creation of a dehydrated beef product known as the "meat biscuit", which was loosely based upon a traditional Native American food known as pemmican. Borden had been relying heavily upon the United States Army to issue him a lucrative contract to supply meat biscuits for use by American soldiers. When the military declined to buy into the product, Borden's meat biscuit proved to be a failure.
He is most known as the developer of condensed milk (1853). He set up factories for condensed milk in Connecticut, and later in New York and Illinois.
At the first world's fair, the London Crystal Palace Exposition (1851), Borden's meat biscuit won him a membership in the London Society of Arts and a gold Council Medal, one of five awarded to Americans.
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A member in the London Society of Arts.
While living in Mississippi, Borden met Penelope Mercer, whom he married in 1828. The couple had six children during their 16-year marriage. Later Borden married again, Emeline Eunice Eno Church.
