Borden Grant

"...and then He created man to be His overseer on the earth and to hold suzerainty over the earth and the animals on it in His name, not to hold for himself and his descendants inviolable title forever, generation after generation, to the oblongs and squares of the earth, but to hold the earth mutual and intact in the communal anonymity of brotherhood..." — William Faulkner, Go Down, Moses

This map is a work in progress. It includes, to my knowledge, all known grants made by Benjamin Borden Sr., his executors, or their trustees within the Borden Grant, drawn from the deed books of Orange, Augusta, Botetourt, and Rockbridge counties. Geographic placement is estimated from original survey bearings and distances, geo-referenced against modern topography. Positions are approximate.

This project is not an exercise in fetishizing original “ownership.” These tracts changed hands many times over the centuries, and the goal is to build a tool for genealogical exploration — connecting people to the land their ancestors lived on, however briefly. Future versions will allow searching by any owner in the chain of title, not just the original grantee. If you are interested in sponsoring a chain of title investigation for a specific tract or family, please get in touch.

The map is anchored at the northeastern corner of the Francis Beatty tract, adjoining Dutch Hollow Hanger Cemetery. Note that this is a deviation from J. Raymond Hildebrand’s Beverley Manor map, which places the cemetery at the southeastern corner of the Beatty tract. We gratefully acknowledge Hildebrand’s work and hope to expand upon it.

The placement of tracts that appear outside the bounds of the patent cannot be determined. Tracts shaded in green are contextual tracts that share a boundary line with the Borden Grant but do not lie within it.

Comments, corrections and suggestions are welcome: jc@bordengrant.com