Early Life
Matthew was born in Fall River, Massachusetts on July 18, 1842. He was the son of prominent local businessman Richard Borden and Abby Durfee Borden.
In 1860, he graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover. He went on to Yale University, obtaining an A.B. degree in 1864, and an A.M. in 1867. At Yale he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and Skull and Bones.
In 1865, he married his relative, Harriet M. Durfee of Fall River, with whom he had seven children, including three sons; Bertram Howard, Matthew Sterling and Howard Seymour.
His business career began in 1864, when he entered one of New York's leading dry goods house as a stock boy. By 1867 he had become a partner in a New York commission house, where he represented the American Print Works as a selling agent. Borden had inherited a large share of the print works from his father, who died in 1874. However, in 1879, the print works failed, causing him to lose his job in New York. With the help of his older brother, he reorganised the company under the name of The American Printing Company in January 1880. He allied himself with the commission house of J. S. & E. Wright & Co. (later Bliss, Fabyan & Co.) with whom he maintained fruitful relations for many years. One of the partners of Bliss, Fabyan & Co. was Cornelius Newton Bliss, who would later become Secretary of the Interior.
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