ministers of Canada. Borden was the last prime minister born before Confederation and the last prime minister to be knighted, having accepted a knighthood in 1914. Early life and career (1854–1874) The last Canadian prime minister born before Confederation, Borden was born and educated in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia, a farming community at the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley. His great-grandfather, Perry Borden Sr. of Tiverton, Rhode Island, had taken up Acadian land in this region in 1760 as one of the New England Planters. The Borden family had immigrated from Headcorn, Kent, England, to New England in the 1600s. Also arriving in this group was a great-great-grandfather, Robert Denison, who had come from Connecticut at about the same time. Perry had accompanied his father, Samuel Borden, the chief surveyor chosen by the government of Massachusetts to survey the former Acadian land and draw up new lots for the Planters in Nova Scotia. Through the marriage of his patrilineal ancestor Richard Borden to Innocent Cornell, Borden is descendant from Thomas Cornell of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Borden's father, Andrew Borden, was judged by his son to be "a man of good ability and excellent judgement" and of a "calm, contemplative and philosophical" turn of mind, but "he lacked energy and had no great aptitude for affairs." His mother Eunice Jane Laird was more driven, possessing "very strong character, remarkable energy, high ambition and unusual ability". Her ambition was transmitted to her first-born child, who applied himself to his studies while assisting his parents with the farm work he found so disagreeable. Borden's cousin, Frederick Borden, was a prominent Liberal politician. At age nine, Borden became a day student for the local private academy, Acacia Villa School. The school sought to "fit boys physically, morally, and intellectually, for the responsibilities of life." There, Borden developed an interest in the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew languages. At age 14, Borden became the assistant master for classical studies. In late 1873, Borden began working as a professor for classics and mathematics at the Glenwood Institute in Matawan, New Jersey. Seeing no future in teaching, he returned to Nova Scotia in 1874. Lawyer (1874–1896) Despite having no formal university education, Borden went to serve his articles of clerkship for four years at a Halifax law firm. Borden also attended the School of Military Instruction in the city during the winter of 1878. In August 1878, Borden