“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

WILLIAM J. BORAH, of Dallas county, is a son of Lee and Catherine 
(Render) Borah, and is of German extraction.  His paternal great-grandfather 
was a native of that country, and came to America in Colonial times, settling 
in the Susquehanna valley of Pennsylvania, where his son, our subject’s 
grandfather, was born.  The latter at an early day came by way of Pittsburg, 
and down the Ohio river on flat-boats, and settled in Butler county, 
Kentucky, when that country was almost a wilderness.  For many years he 
was engaged in rafting and flat-boating between points on the Ohio river and 
New Orleans, and died at an advanced age in the county of his adoption.  
Our subject’s father, Lee Borah, was born in Butler county, Kentucky, 
February 10, 1808, and passed his early years in flat-boating on the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers.  He married Catherine Render, of Ohio county, Kentucky, 
a daughter of Joshua Render, a pioneer of western Kentucky.  On account of 
his wife’s health, Mr. Borah came to Texas in 1856, settling in Dallas 
county, where he purchased 320 acres of land lying on Grapevine prairie, 
which was then unimproved.  He spent the remainder of his life on that farm, 
dying in 1877, at the age of sixty-nine years.  His wife died at the same 
place, in 1851, and she and her husband are buried at the Bear Creek 
cemetery, near by.  They were both members of the Baptist Church, and 
were the parents of six children, all but one of whom reached maturity, viz.: 
Christopher C., who enlisted in the Confederate army at the opening of the 
war, and died from cold contracted on a forced march at Arkansas Post, 
during his term of service; the next child, a daughter, died in infancy; 
William J., the subject of this sketch; Jane, the wife of A. H. Boyd, Tax 
Collector of Tarrant county; Martha A., wife of Thomas Powell, of 
Grapevine prairie; Rosie A., wife of J. P. Terrill, of Elizabethtown, Denton 
county, Texas.

William J. Borah, our subject, was born in Butler county, Kentucky, August 
27, 1842, and was fourteen years of age when his parents came to Texas.  
His youth was passed on a farm, and in February, 1862, he enlisted in the 
Confederate army, in the First Texas Squadron, and saw his first service at 
Chattanooga, Tennessee.  After that battle he was in Gano’s command, and 
was with General John Morgan in his celebrated raid in Kentucky and Ohio, 
and participated in all the fights, marches, thrilling adventures and wild 
orgies which characterized that most wonderful military expedition.  He was 
with Morgan at the time of his capture, and was near him when he was 
taken.  He was captured with the remainder of the command, and after 
spending a short time at Indianapolis, Indiana, was taken to Camp Chase, 
Columbus, Ohio, shortly afterward to Camp Douglas, Chicago, after the 
expiration of twenty-one months was taken to City Point to be exchanged.  
They were then paroled under instructions not to go south of the north line 
of South Carolina, but Mr. Borah went over the line, and, being in the 
vicinity of his regiment, rejoined it, secured a furlough, and was on his way 
home at the time of the surrender.

Mr. Borah tells some interesting recollections of the days when he served 
under Morgan, as well as of the days when he attempted to make his way 
back home to Texas without transportation or money.  He reached home at 
the close of the war, wearing one shoe and with one foot tied up in a shirt, 
from the effects of frost bite.  He paid his last cent, $16 in Confederate 
money, to get across the river at Shreveport, Louisiana.  Again at home and 
the war over, he settled down to farming on the old homestead, where he has 
since resided.  Mr. Borah has one of the richest and best improved farms on 
Grapevine prairie, and it is the same his father bought in 1856, and has been 
in the family since.  Although it was divided at the death of the father Mr. 
Borah bought his sisters’ interests, and he now owns 292 acres of the 
original 320 acres, all of which is cultivated.  He also owns other land in 
Tarrant county, adjoining, and is one of the most successful farmers in the 
community where he resides.  It is a notable fact that there has never been a 
failure on the Borah homestead since it was first settled in 1856.  Mr. Borah 
has the reputation of being one of the most energetic men in the western part 
of Dallas county, and everything on his place shows that this reputation is 
well deserved.  He is liberal-minded and a public-spirited citizen, and lends 
a helping hand to all deserving purposes.

December 12, 1868, he married Miss Lou Terrill, a daughter of John Terrill, 
then residing at Grapevine, Tarrant county, but originally from Randolph 
county, Missouri, where Mrs. Borah was born, having come with parents to 
Texas when a girl.  The wife died August 6, 18--, leaving three children: 
Lee; May, now Mrs. C. L. Dillon, of this county, and Susie.  Mr. Borah 
afterward married Miss Mary T. Bradley, a native also of Randolph county, 
Missouri, and a daughter of George W. Bradley, a resident of Taylor county, 
this State.  To this union has been born five children, three of whom still 
survive, viz.: Jessie, Maud and De Graff.  Mr. and Mrs. Borah are members 
of the Baptist Church, as were his parents before him, and he also takes an 
active interest in the moral and educational needs of his neighborhood.

Submitted by: Justina Cook