Joseph Robnette Biden Jr. was elected the 46th President of the United States defeating President Donald Trump. Mr. Biden 77, the oldest man ever sworn into the office. After spending eight years as Vice President during President Barack Obama’s government, finally, Joe Biden has attained his goal. Kamala Devi Harris is the first woman and first Indian and African-American Vice President of the country. It is all known that Thulasendrapuram (Tamil Nadu) is the native village of US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Now, the interesting news is that Joe Biden also has an Indian connection.
Joe Biden’s ancestors worked for the East India Company in the 19th century, according to Tim Willasey-Wilsey, a visiting professor at King’s College, London. Much before Kamala Harris’ connection with India came into the news, Joe Biden during his 2013 visit as US Vice President had mentioned that “I may have relatives in India.”
Biden in his speech said that “It’s an honour to be back in India and to be here in Mumbai. Off script for a second here, I was reminded I was elected to the United States Senate when I was a 29-year-old kid back in 1972, and one of the first letters I received and I regret I never followed up on it.”
Biden had told the Mumbai audience that, “Maybe, some genealogist in the audience can follow up for me, but I received a letter from a gentleman named Biden – Biden, my name – from Mumbai, asserting that we were related.”
Biden in his 2015 speech in Washington told the audience that, “There are five Biden in Mumbai, India.” He had claimed that his “great, great, great, great, great grandfather” George Biden was a Captain of the East India Trading Company and decided to settle in India after retirement and married an Indian woman.
As per professor Tim Willasey-Wilsey, “In the 19th century, brothers Christopher and William Biden worked for the East India Company. William died at an early age and Christopher became the Captain. Later, he settled down in Madras.”
Tim wrote in an article in a publication of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) stating that Christopher Biden became one of the popular persons in Madras and he settled in India. According to Tim, Christopher Biden died in Madras and is commemorated by a plaque in church.
According to Tim, there are no records of George Biden in India. He says that, “There is also a portrait of Biden by George Chinnery seated with his dog, Hector. His wife Harriott lived in London until 1880. Some of her papers are kept at Cambridge University and testify to her husband’s kindness and their mutual love. Nowhere is there mention of an Indian wife but Christopher seems the most likely candidate if Joe Biden indeed had an ancestor in India.”
