Chennai: The US elections witnessed netizens sharing videos on Kamala Harris's love for idlis and masala dosas. Wooing the Indian community the 46th elected US President Joe Biden also recently stated about his ancestral connection in Mumbai. Furthering Tamil Nadu native people's joy and pride, Biden's ancestral roots were found in Chennai also.It is likely that the ancestors of Harris and Biden would have walked through the same shore in Chennai.
One of his ancestors, George Biden, who made Chennai his home, is buried in the St George’s Cathedral, close to the US Consulate in the city. There is a commemorative plaque in his honour! While, Christopher Biden, according to the report, died in Madras in 1858. He is buried in the cemetery adjoining the cathedral, in the aristocratic area. The church authorities do not have any records. Apart from the memorial tablet, there is also a portrait of Biden with his dog, Hector.
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Historic documents, as reported by Mumbai based think-tank Gateway House revealed that his ancestors William Biden and Christoper Biden started out as humble Third and Fourth Mates in their early teens on the arduous route between London and India via the Cape of Good Hope. Writing for Gateway House, Cambridge scholar Tim Willasey-Wilsey had stated that Christopher Biden, who settled in Madras (now Chennai), was a renowned man who engaged in charities and welfare of mariners.
Biden's ancestors are originally from Ireland and he had spoken about that fondly in the public forum. "I was elected to the United States Senate when I was a 29-year-old, back in 1972, and one of the first letters I received was a letter from a gentleman named Biden – Biden, my name – from Mumbai," Biden told in his address to the US India Business Council on September 21, 2015. He added that his great, great, great, great, great grandfather was a British Captain in the East India Company in the 1700s and had come to Mumbai." He married I believe an Indian woman and he settled in India,” he said.
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