November 10, 2020 6:07:09 pm
In his 2015 speech in Washington, Biden had stated that his “great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather” George Biden was a captain of the East India Trading Company and, after retiring, decided to settle in India and marry an Indian woman. . (REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst / File Photo)
Some of the ‘distant relatives in India’ that US President-elect Joe Biden spoke of in 2013 and then 2015 have been living in the Maharashtra city of Nagpur since 1873, they claimed Tuesday.
When Biden, the then vice president of the United States, was in Mumbai in 2013, he told an event that some of his distant relatives reside in the financial capital of India.
At the Mumbai event in 2013 and at another in Washington in 2015, Biden had said that after becoming a senator in 1972, he had received a letter from one of the Bidens in India and learned that his “great, great, great , great great, great grandfather ”worked at East India Company.
The letter was written by Nagpur-based Leslie Biden, whose grandchildren are staying in Nagpur and claim that his family has been living here since 1873.
Leslie’s granddaughter Sonia Biden Francis, a Nagpur-based psychologist, told PTI that ‘Bidens in Nagpur and everywhere else’ are elated by Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election.
Sonia said that Leslie Biden was based in Nagpur and was the manager of the Bharat Lodge and Hostel, and Bharat Cafe in the ‘orange city’, before she died in 1983.
“While reading the weekly issue ‘Illustrated Weekly of India’ from March 28 to April 4, 1981, Leslie came across an article about then-US Senator Joe Biden,” Sonia said. “Leslie contacted Joe Biden through a letter sent on April 15, 1981. Joe Biden responded to Leslie through a letter dated May 30, 1981, saying he was pleased after receiving the letter from India and also discussed the genealogy of the Bidens. ,” she said.
Sonia’s older brother, Ian Biden (44), a former merchant marine who is also staying in Nagpur, said Leslie and Joe Biden shared information about a common ancestor, John Biden, and his wife Anne Beaumont.
“Leslie and Joe Biden thanked each other for reciprocating and committed to continuing to reciprocate with each other. However, Leslie Biden’s health deteriorated and he died in 1983 in Nagpur. Leslie’s wife couldn’t keep up with the family tree, ”said Rowena, Leslie’s granddaughter, who also lives in Nagpur.
The Biden family showed this correspondent letters that they claimed were part of the correspondence between Leslie and Joe Biden.
When asked if the Nagpur-based Bidens would attend Joe Biden’s inauguration in January, family members said they are extending their best wishes to Biden, 77.
“The Bidens from Nagpur, Mumbai, New Zealand and the United States came together in January 2018 for the wedding of Leslie’s grandson, Leslie David Biden,” Sonia said.
Leslie Biden’s descendants live in Nagpur, Mumbai, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, Sonia said. The Bidens who live in Nagpur include Leslie’s daughter-in-law, Angelina Biden. Leslie’s daughter Evelyn Majumdar, grandson Duncan Biden and granddaughter Sheryl Dweltz live in Mumbai, Sonia said, adding that the Bidens have been living in Mumbai since 1971.
Leslie Biden’s granddaughter, Lillian Biden D’souza, remains in Nagpur as do her grandchildren Leslie Biden and Nigel Lazarus, she said. Her daughter Charmaine Biden Borges and her grandchildren Denzil, Charlene and David stay in New Zealand, while Erica and Lincoln stay in Australia. Another grandson, Tithi, also lives abroad, he added.
Speaking at the Bombay Stock Exchange on July 24, 2013, Biden said: “It is an honor to be back in India and to be here in Mumbai. Off the script for a second here, I was reminded that I was elected to the United States Senate as a 29-year-old in 1972, and one of the first letters I received and I’m sorry I didn’t follow it.
“Maybe some genealogist in the audience can follow up on me, but I received a letter from a gentleman named Biden – Biden, my name – from Mumbai, stating that we were related,” Biden had told the Mumbai audience seven years ago. .
In his 2015 speech in Washington, Biden had stated that his “great, great, great, great grandfather” George Biden was a captain in the East India Trading company and, after retiring, he decided to settle in India and marry an Indian woman.
“There are five Biden in Mumbai, India,” Biden had told the audience.
Biden had also said that someone provided him with the details, including phone numbers for the Bidens in Mumbai. He had informed the audience that he had not called his relatives yet, but planned to do so.
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