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Biography of Gail BordenName: Gail BordenBirth Date: November 9, 1801 Death Date: January 11, 1874 Place of Birth: Norwich, New York, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: inventor, pioneer Gail Borden A pioneer in Texas, Gail Borden (1801-1874) became an inventor whose most notable contributions lay in condensing and preserving foods, particularly milk.Gail Borden was born in Norwich, N.Y., on Nov. 9, 1801. His family moved to Kentucky in 1814. Taught surveying by his father, he helped lay out the city of Covington. The family soon moved to Indiana Territory; Gail, Jr., served briefly as Jefferson County surveyor and taught school. In 1821 he moved to southwestern Mississippi for health reasons. He taught school and worked as a deputy U.S. surveyor for 7 years.Still searching for a better climate, Borden moved to Texas in 1829. After farming and raising cattle briefly, he returned to surveying. As Stephen Austin's superintendent of official surveys, Borden prepared the first topographical map of Texas. He headed the Texas land office from 1833 until the Mexican invasion. With his brother, Thomas, in 1835 he founded the first permanent Texas newspaper, the …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…it to civilians. Indeed, the Civil War era witnessed a vast increase in all canned-food consumption.Next Borden patented a process for condensing fruit and berry juices. (It had not been known that spoilage is caused by bacteria, which can be heat-killed, until Pasteur's germ theory in 1864.) The U.S. Sanitary Commission bought Borden's condensed juices to serve to wounded soldiers. Borden also patented processes for making beef extracts and for concentrating tea, coffee, and cocoa.Returning to Texas, Borden educated dairymen in sanitation, engaged in philanthropy, organized schools for African Americans and whites, built six churches, and supported poorly paid ministers, teachers, and students. He died in Borden, Tex., on Jan. 11, 1874, and was buried in White Plains, N.Y. Further Reading The only good biography of Borden, a highly sympathetic one, is Joe B. Frantz, Gail Borden: Dairyman to a Nation (1951). It is illustrated and contains much personal detail. |