Bio- Sawyers

A representative French-American in Santa Clara County, particularly well-known in and around Gilroy, is Nicholas Bordenave, who is both highly esteemed and popular.  He was born at Oloron, in the Basses-Pyrenees, France, on August 12, ,1872, the son of John and Pasqualle (Barreilles) Bordenave, both natives of the same beautiful French village. His father, who was a tanner of hides, died at the early age of forty-two. The lad was reared and taught a home, and at twelve years of age became an employee of a wholesale and retail merchandise establishment at Oloron.  On October 10, 1888, wishing to push out into the world for himself, Nicholas Bordenave left home for California; and having arrived safely here, he located at Gilroy.  He soon learned some English, and he got a job working for the Miller & Lux estate.  Two brothers, John P. and Joseph Bordenave, of Gilroy, and a sister, Mrs. Clavere, now of Morgan Hill , had preceded him to the Golden State, and of the nine children in the domicile, one brother, Estanislaus, had gone to South America from France before our subject was born.

In 1897 Nicholas Bordenave and his brother, Joseph, leased 160 acres near Gilroy from the Spring Valley Water Company and farmed that land until 1905 when the bought and conducted the French Hotel at Gilroy, only retiring a few years ago.  The also acquired from Miller & Lux in 1920, the Lewis Place , on Bodfish Road, which is set to prunes. In July, 1898, Judge Hyland of San Jose admitted all of the brothers to United states citizenship, and since then Mr. Bordenave has been a Democrat.  He has always been public-spirited and patriotic, a natural quality of his fellow-countrymen, and ever since October, 1888, he has been a member of the French American Benevolent Society, of San Francisco.