History and origin of the Boright family

Of the two Boright families in North America - the Canadian Borights and the Hudson Valley NY Borights - the pioneer of the Hudson Valley Borights was an ANDREW BORIGHT who was born about 1774-1776. He emigrated from Pleasant Valley NY (Duchess County) to the Chatham NY area (Columbia County). At about the time of his emigration and the earlier life of his son, Henry, the surname was at times recorded in the public record as Baright. For a number of generations after his arrival in the Chatham NY area, the Boright family became prominent citizens in that community and region including owning extensive farmland and a grainery, owning a large lumber yard, founding of a bank, owning an automobile dealership in the 1900s, and mainstays of the Church located in adjacent Ghent NY.

Submitted by Walter B.

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There are apparently two branches of Boright famllies in North America and as of 2013 no genealogical connection has been established. The two families were both close to one another geographically. One branch is from Canada and the other from the NY Hudson Valley area SE of Albany. The HV Borights are descended from an Andrew Boright (b. 1776 ca.) who emigrated from Pleasant Valley NY to the Chatham NY area. Among his children was a son, Henry (b. 1804 ca.). There are some early land documents in the Columbia County archives that show their surname sometimes spelled Baright as well as Boright. So it appears that some time about 1800 +/- there was an on-again, off-again dual spelling of the Boright/Baright surname. In Pleasant Valley, from whence Andrew Boright emigrat5ed, there is an old church cemetery with a number of Baright burials but no Borights. Until at least the year 2000 there were Barights still residing in that community. There are a good number of Boright surnames buried in the Chatham Rural Cemetery in Chatham NY and at another Chatham Rural Cemetery location a few miles outside of Chatham on state route Rt. 66. Earlier spellings of the Baright name have been Barheit and Barhyte, among others. The name was long believed believed to be of Dutch (Holland) derivation but some research in the early 2000's suggests it may be German. So the HV Boright surname may have been spelled Baright, etc. prior to the late 1700s. The Canadian Boright surname is spelled Boright prior to the late 1700s. In the 1970s there were three Walter E Boright persons of record living at the same time. A Walter E. Boright (now deceased) lived in Belmont MA and was descended from the Canadian Borights. The other two (Walter E. Boright, Sr. 1901-1981, and Walter E. Boright, Jr. 1944-present) were from the HV Borights. This entry was made on June 26, 2013.

Submitted by Walter B.

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Walter E. Boright, Sr. (1909-1991), Mayor of Kenilworth NJ, 1956-1961; Walter E. Boright, Jr. (1944-present), County Freeholder (Commissioner), Union County NJ, 1975-1991

Submitted by Walter B.

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Walter E. Boright, Sr. (1909-1991), Mayor of Kenilworth NJ, 1956-1961 Walter E. Boright, Jr. (1944-present), County Freeholder (Commissioner), Union County NJ, 1975-1991

Submitted by Walter B.

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