Gail Borden, Jr. (1801-1874)
An inventor, publisher, surveyor, and founder of the Borden Company, Gail Borden learned from experience that preserved foods were important to settlers. He was born in New York but he and his family moved to Kentucky, Indiand, Mississippi, and finally into the Texas territory in 1829. A surveyor by training, he helped survey Stephen F. Austin's colony, prepared the first topographic map of Texas, designed Galveston, and served as an agent for settlement of that area from 1839 to 1851. In 1835 he published the first issue of his Telegraph and Texas Register and published it in various cities before selling it in 1837. He began inventing in the 18402 and moved to New York to be closer to trade centers. He secured patents for condensed milk in America and Britain in 1856, and he founded the New York Condensed Milk Company (later named Borden's) in 1857. Union troops used condensed milk during the Civil War, and sales assured his financial success. He returned to Texas in 1861, built a meat-packing plant in Borden, and supported educational and religious reforms benefiting children. He died in Borden, Texas, but is buried in New York.
Additional Information Can Be Found At...
Handbook of Texas Online: BORDEN, GAIL, JR.
Historic Houston: Great Houstonians: Gail Borden