Family

Borden - Bluck family (Sackville)

1850-1929

Byron Crane Borden was born on 27 November 1850 in Avonport, Kings County, Nova Scotia. He was the son of George Newton Borden (1816-1909) and Miriam Susanna Crane (1819-1882). He was educated at Acacia Villa School in Nova Scotia finishing in 1874. He began his university education at Mount Allison graduating in 1878 with a Bachelor of Arts. He completed his Masters of Arts in 1886 and received his Doctor of Divinity in 1893. He was ordained to the Methodist ministry in 1878 and first served in Bermuda where he met and married his future wife, Alice Susanna Bluck (1861-1935). After his two years in Bermuda Rev. Dr. Borden returned to Nova Scotia and served congregations at Arcadia, Yarmouth County and the Brunswick Street Methodist Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was appointed the principal of the Mount Allison Ladies’ College in 1885 and served in that capacity for twenty-six years. That same year he became Professor of English Language at Literature at the University in which capacity he served until 1887. Thereafter, he served as the Professor of Political Economy and Constitutional. He also acted as the Dean of the Faculty of Theology. He was formally appointed as the fifth President of the University of Mount Allison College at a meeting of the Board of Regents on 19 April 1911. He assumed his new responsibilities in September of 1911 and continued in this role until his retirement in 1923. He received honorary degrees from King’s College (D.C.L.) in 1916, Acadia (LL.D.) in 1922, and Dalhousie (LL.D.) in 1924. He died at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia on 17 July 1929. His funeral took place in the United Church in Sackville, New Brunswick and he was buried in the Sackville Rural Cemetery on York Street.

Alice Susanna Bluck was born at Hamilton, Bermuda on 2 December 1861. She was the daughter of William Bluck (1836-1904) and Harriet E.J. Cardy (1838-1875). She was educated in local schools and lived at Rosebank in Pembroke, Bermuda. She was married to Rev. Byron Crane Borden (1850-1929) on 17 June 1880. The couple had twin daughters: Elaine Allison Borden (Mrs. Frank Evans Dickie - 1887-1919) and Gladys Allison Borden (Mrs. Willard Roy Smith - 1887-1972). For many years she lived in apartments in the Mount Allison Ladies' College where her husband served as principal. In 1911, he was appointed president and they moved to the President's Cottage where they remained until 1923. They returned to Bermuda in retirement and lived in a cottage, "Thru-the-Land." They also maintained the Borden family home "Cranecroft" near Avonport, Nova Scotia. Subsequently, that property was sold and they moved to Annapolis Royal where there home was also named "Cranecroft" in order to be closer to their remaining daughter. She died in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia on 11 September 1935. She is buried in Sackville, New Brunswick.