Barden Family

"Tracing the Barden geneology is difficult because the Barden family moved often, bought no land, left no wills, and forgot to erect headstones. They also managed to avoid the census taker. Another reason they are so hard to trace is the name itself; when the name Barden is spoken it may be misundersood by a clerk of census taker.
Another fact that confused early historians and genealogists was that the first Bardens, and Bordens in Massachusetts, both lived in the southern part of the state adn had the same given nams, like John, William, and Joseph." -Leon R. Brown and Mary R. Porter.

Jerusha descends from honest, humble ancestry. William Barden, who was born about the year 1624, came to American from England in 1638 as the covenant servant of Thomas Boardman. The Barden family settled in the part of Middleboro Mass today called Barden Hills. William Barden reputedly became quite wealthy in that he became an "owner in nearly all of the purchases from the Indians in town. William Barden died in Middleborob early in 1692/3.