Joe Biden

Few of the distant relatives of the 77-year-old US President-elect Joe Biden, on Tuesday, claimed that they had been staying at Nagpur, Maharashtra, since 1873, almost 147 years. Biden had even spoken about them in 2013 and in 2015.

Apart from Nagpur, when Biden was the Vice President of the US and was in Mumbai in the year 2013, he had also said that some of his relatives were staying in Mumbai.

Biden, during an event in 2013 at Mumbai and another one in Washington in 2015, had said that when he was a senator, in 1972 he had received a letter from one of the Bidens from India. It was then he learnt that his ?great, great, great, great, great grandfather used to work in the East India Company owned by the Britishers.

Leslie and Genevieve Biden

Leslie Biden in Nagpur, whose grandchildren still stay in the city, had written a letter to Biden, in which he had stated that the Bidens had been staying in Nagpur since 1873. Leslies granddaughter Sonia Biden Francis, a Nagpur-based psychologist, said the Bidens across world were extremely happy with Joe Bidens victory in the US elections.

Sonia said her grandfather Leslie was the manager of ?Bharat Lodge and Hostel? and ?Bharat Caf? in Nagpur before he passed away in 1983.

It was while reading the ”Illustrated Weekly of India” ? a weekly issue of March 28-April 4 in 1981, Leslie came across an article on then US Senator Joe Biden and subsequently got in touch with him through a letter.

Leslie sent a letter to Biden on April 15 in 1981, to which the latter replied through a letter on May 30, 1981 saying he was ?pleased after getting a letter from India. He even discussed the familys genealogy.

The Biden’s from India and abroad in Nagpur while attending a family wedding

Ian Biden (44) from Nagpur, elder brother of Sonia, who was a seafarer in Merchant Navy, had once said how Leslie and Joe Biden had shared information regarding a common ancestor named John Biden and his wife Anne Beaumont.

Leslie and Joe Biden thanked each other for corresponding and committed to continue corresponding with each other. However, Leslie Bidens health worsened and he died in 1983 at Nagpur. Leslie’s wife was unable to pursue the family tree further,” PTI quoted Leslie”s granddaughter Rowena, who also lives in Nagpur.

The Bidens from Nagpur, when asked whether they would be attending the oath ceremony of their newly elected US President, they extended their best wishes to the 77-year-old.

Sonia said the Bidens of Nagpur, Mumbai, New Zealand and the US had even gathered for the wedding of Leslies grandson Leslie David Biden in January 2018.