Joe Biden had said that he had received a letter from one of the Bidens in India.
Nagpur:
Some of the “distant relatives in India” that US President-elect Joe Biden spoke of in 2013 and then again in 2015 have been living in the Maharashtra city of Nagpur since 1873, they claimed Tuesday.
When Biden, 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 in the 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 there since 1873.
Leslie’s granddaughter, Sonia Biden Francis, a Nagpur-based psychologist, told PTI that “Bidens in Nagpur and everywhere” are elated by Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election.
Ms Sonia said that Leslie Biden was based in Nagpur and was the manager of Bharat Lodge and Hostel, and Bharat Cafe in the ” orange city ”, before her death in 1983.
“While reading the weekly issue ‘Illustrated Weekly of India’ from March 28 to April 4, 1981, Mr. 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 talked about the Biden genealogy, “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 communicate with each other. However, Leslie Biden’s health deteriorated and he died in 1983 in Nagpur. Leslie’s wife was unable to continue the family tree,” Rowena said. , 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,” said Ms Sonia.
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 here in Mumbai. Off script for a second here, I was reminded that I was elected to the Senate from the United States when I was a 29 year old boy in 1972, and one of the first letters I received and I am sorry I did not 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 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 retirement, decided to settle in India and marry a woman India .
“There are five Biden in Mumbai, India,” Biden had told the audience.
Biden also said someone provided him with the details, including the Biden’s phone numbers in Mumbai.
He had informed the audience that he had not called his distant relatives yet, but planned to do so.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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