BOARDMAN, (diff. forms of spelling Borman, Boreman Bordman, Boardman). The exhaustive and admirable Boardman Genealogy says that the American family descends from the Boreman's, and that the name Bordman or Boardman was "from the first entirely distinct from Boreman, and has an altogether different derivation * * * * Curiously and unaccountably, the decendants both of Thomas Boreman of Ipswich, Mass., and of Samuel Boreman of Weth., having at first generally employed the spelling BORMAN, by inserting, after a few generations, the d, and sometime later the a. gradually ct form, and so made it not only different from the one by which their ancestors were called, but identical with that of an entirely distinct family." "This change from Boreman or Borman to Boardman, first appears in the Weth. line in the record of Richard of Newington, 1707, nearly 70 yrs. after the first appearance of Samuel B. in New England. The new form was adopted by most of the family in Weth., till 1780, when the a is first added in the record of Elijah, son of Israel of Newington." The plan adopted by the author of the Genealogy referred to, is to give to the first two generations, the name Boreman, to the third and fourth, Bordman, and Boardman to the remainder.
The Eng. ancestry of Samuel, the Weth. sett., is traced as follows from (I ) William Boreman, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, 1525; (2) Thomas, "the elder," of Claydon, 1546, d. 1579; (3) Thomas, "the younger," of Claydon, m. Dorothy Gregory, 1580; (4) Christopher, of Claydon b. 1581, d. 1640, m. Julian (dau. Felix) Carter; (5) Samuel, bp. Banbury, Oxfordshire, Eng., 20 Aug., 1616, came early to Weth. (from Ipswich, Mass., where his name first appears on rec.. 1639.)
But the B. genealogy makes it quite clear that his removal to Weth. was in 1641 and intimates a possibility that his wife Mary Betts, whose mother was "the Widoe" Betts, of Htfd., "school dame" in that town, may have been a "second wife m. at Hartford, his first having d. at Ispwich. His wife was Mary (dau. of John & Mary) Betts, of Claydon, Oxfordshire, Eng., from which place they undoubtedly emig.. to Americas William Boardman (6th in gen. from the Settler) had in his possession a letter written from that place, in 1641, to Samuel Bordman, from his mother; of which the following is a copy from the original in possession of Mr. Wm. F. J. Boardman, of Hartford, Conn.
Mrs. Samuel Borman d. Aug., 1684, net prob. 61; her est. inventoried at £277-01- 02.
Mr. Borman received large grants of ld. at Weth. both from the Town and also from the Indians, by each of whom he seems to have been greatly trusted and respected. ( See Chapt. VII. Vol. 1.) A portion of the land (30 acres) which he had from the Town, Jan., 2. 1649, was at the S. end of the present Rocky Hill, being the first piece of ld. at that end of the Town granted to a private individual. It furnished great quantities of saplings, suitable for the making of pipe stavesÑthen a very important industry in the infant colonies, and as Mr. B. was a cooper by trade, it may have been one of the inducements which led him to leave Mass., where the supply was rapidly being exhausted. The earliest reference in the Weth. Rec. to Mr. B. is the entry (T. V. I p. 4) of description of his "earmark" for cattle.
He rep. Weth as dep. to Gen. Ct., (commencing Oct., 1657) for 18 terms, being present at 34 sessions; was app. by Gen. Ct., 1649, as Town Sealer of Weights and Measures; also, 1659, Customs Collector for Weth., being the first incumbent in that office; juror for 15 yrs., betw. 1646 and '62; Grand Juror in 1600 and '62, and frequently placed on Committees to settle church disputes, estates, town bds., and differences with the Indians. He d. intestate in Apl., 1673; est. valued £742-15.
All information from the book - The history of Ancient Wethersfield Connecticut Vol. 2, Part 1. by Henry R. Stills, AM, MD - 1904, only 500 copies were printed.