John Beale Bordley
Encyclopedia
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
planter and judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
.
Son of Thomas Bordley, from Yorkshire, England 1694, attorney general for Maryland, and his second wife Ariana Vanderheyden.
Educated at the library of his step brother, Stephan Hadley,
At the age to ten, he went to live with his uncle in Chestertown. He received his early education under the direction of the Chestertown Free School teacher, Charles Peale.
Colonial Posts
He married Margaret Chew, (29 June 1735 - 11 November 1773), in 1750, and went to live at Joppa, MarylandJoppa, Maryland
Joppa, Maryland in Harford County, Maryland is now a planning region for the county, but there was originally a town at the center called Joppa. Joppa was founded as a British colonial settlement in the early 18th century, and takes its name from the biblical town of Joppa .The town of Joppa on...
, then in the "wilderness" of Baltimore County. For the next 12 or 13 years he worked his plantation, and held the county clerkship. In 1768, he was one of the commissioners to help determine the boundary between Maryland and Delaware. On 25 September 1770, he was present at the Upper House of Assembly of Maryland. Later he moved to Baltimore City, where he was appointed in 1776, a judge of the Provincial Court, and in 1777, judge of the British Admiralty Court. He served as a member of Governor Horatio Sharpe
Horatio Sharpe
Horatio Sharpe was the 22nd Proprietary Governor of Maryland from 1753 to 1768 under the Restored Proprietary Government.-Biography:...
's and Governor Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland's Councils.
Family
Samuel Chew (justice)
Samuel Chew was a physician who served as Chief Justice of colonial Delaware.Samuel married Mary Galloway in 1715, and their son Benjamin Chew was later Chief Justice of Pennsylvania....
family half of Wye Island
Wye River (Maryland)
The Wye River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It was named by the Lloyd family, Edward Lloyd , and Edward Lloyd , after the River Wye in Wales. It falls within Queen Anne's County and Talbot County, and joins the Miles River near its mouth to the Eastern Bay...
, in Queen Anne's County, on the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
, (the other half going to his sister-in-law, Mary, wife of William Paca
William Paca
William Paca was a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland, and later Governor of Maryland and a United States federal judge.-Early life:...
). The Bordleys maintained their winter residence in Annapolis, they moved to his beautiful estate on Wye Island. They had four children: Thomas Bordley (b. 1755- 1771), Matthias Bordley (b. 1757-1818), Henrietta Maria Bordley (b. 1762), John Beale Bordley, Jr. (b. 1764-1815)
After Margaret died, in 1777, he married Mrs. John Mifflin (Sarah Fishbourne) (20 October 1733 - 16 May 1816), a widow of Philadelphia. (He became stepfather to Thomas Mifflin
Thomas Mifflin
Thomas Mifflin was an American merchant and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania, President of the Continental...
.) Then the Bordley family wintered in Philadelphia, and a large farm in Chester County, “Como Farm". He soon became a member of the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
. They had the daughter Elizabeth Bordley (1777–1863).
He is buried in St. Peter's Churchyard in Philadelphia. "Como farm" is now a golf course clubhouse.
Agriculture
In 1785, he encouraged the formation of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture. The archives of the society are held at the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, University of Pennsylvania.He developed an eight field system, which included three fields of clover in the rotation plan. He had hit upon the contribution of legumes to the soil. He also experimented with hemp, cotton, fruits, many kinds of vegetables, and animal husbandry. He established a profitable wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
trade with England and Spain, turning away from tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
cultivation. Washington corresponded with him about wheat.
Art
He was a childhood friend of Charles Willson PealeCharles Willson Peale
Charles Willson Peale was an American painter, soldier and naturalist. He is best remembered for his portrait paintings of leading figures of the American Revolution, as well as establishing one of the first museums....
, whose father was his tutor. He raised the funds to send Charles Willson Peale to London, where the young artist trained under Benjamin West in 1767, for two years. Bordley also helped Peale obtain his first major commission in America—two life-size portraits. His grandson John Beale Bordley (1800–1882) was also an artist, who studied with Peale.
Works
- A summary View Of The Courses of Crops, In The Husbandry of England and Maryland, (1784)
- Sketches on Rotations of Crops and Other Rural Matters, (1797).
- Essays and Notes on Husbandry and Rural Affairs, (1799), with additions in 1801, 566 pages