An Adopted Borden

[augusta]

I found a curious adoption record online the other day.

It gave the "date of decree" as April 6.

It said the person's "original name" was "Lewis Alexander Borden", and that his new name - or "name decreed" was "Lewis Alexander Vincelleto".

The record gave the residence as "Fall River". The year was around the 1870's - 1890's.

It was transcribed, but when you went to look at the actual record, you could look at the book it was all handwritten in, but Lewis's record did not exist in the book.

These records gave a bit of extra information on them. But they were quite hard to read. It is possible that Lewis was in one of the like 4 records on that particular page that came up, and I couldn't make out the handwriting. But it looked to me that each person's record on the page he was supposed to be on gave the name of the person's whose name was being changed was right on the top line, and his was not on the top line on there. Henceforth, I don't have even the year this adoption took place. Figures. A hot Borden possible find, and it's a mystery.

[snokkums]

This is a good one. I have never heard of an adopted borden. I have heard that William S. Borden was the illegitamate child of Andrew but I have never found any proof of that. This will be something to look at. Great find Augusta!

[LizbethTurner]

Hmm. "Lewis Alexander Borden" shared Lizzie's initials.

Didn't Lizzie go to Europe around 1890?

I wonder if there is any more information on Lewis Alexander Vincelleto in later life.

[LizbethTurner]

Found this by Googling the birth name.

http://books.google.com/books?id=pL0ZAA ... en&f=false

I hope it works, but anyone can Google it. Looks like date of decree was April 6, 1888. This doesn't tell us how old the person was, of course, although the natural tendency is to assume he was a baby.

[augusta]

Your Google find is interesting, Lizbeth. Thanks for sharing.

This is a different source than what I had found. I had found the info in an old record book on Ancestry.com.

There are three other Bordens listed in Lizbeth's google book find: Abraham 4th (page 50) - "Abraham Borden, 4th, of Troy, may take the name of Abraham G. Borden (he is listed in a big list of others, dated on the bottom of the page as March 4, 1826); Frances Borden (page 156) - name changed to Frances Borden Vincent on December 4, 1860; Hannah W (page 218) - name changed on January 21, 1876 to Annie W.B. Baker.

So the date of Lewis Alexander Borden's name change due to adoption was 1888. That's a good find. I wonder who his parents were and how old he was.

All of these name changes took place before 1892. Lizzie took her Grand Tour of Europe I think in 1890.

According to Walter Hixson ("Murder, Culture & Injustice", 2001): "In 1893 she did begin to identify herself as "Lizbeth Borden." I wonder if she used the "A" for a middle initial?

[Allen]

There are so many Borden families in and around the Fall River area I'm a little dubious this ties in.

[augusta]

That is so true, Allen.