Lizzie Borden Biography

It is in trying to explain this essential fact about Lizzie’s life that causes other facts to be open to the influence of legend and thus tilts her story every which way. Some of those legend-soaked elements about Lizzie Borden and her life are explored in other entries here, but in this entry, her basic biography, we will stick to a simple account.

Lizzie’s Birth

Lizzie Andrew Borden was born on July 19th, 1860, in Fall River, Massachusetts, to Andrew Jackson Borden and Sarah Anthony Morse Borden, at the “Borden homestead” at 6 Ferry Street. That house owned at the time by Andrew’s father, Abraham Borden. Andrew and Sarah had married on Christmas Day in 1845; he was 23, and she was 22. Lizzie, who came nearly 15 years into their marriage, was their third child. Her older sister, Emma Lenora Borden, nine years older, had been born in March 1851. Another daughter, Alice Esther Borden, had been born in 1856 but died at the age of two from hydrocephalus, or “dropsy of the brain.”

Baby Lizzie enjoyed the care of her mother for less than three years. Sarah Borden tragically died of “uterine congestion” and “disease of the spine,” in March of 1863, at only 39 years of age. Some have theorized uterine congestion was a euphemism for miscarriage but, today, we know this condition as pelvic congestion, or a type of varicose veins of the uterus that causes pelvic pain because of pooled blood. Lizzie’s older sister, Emma, who had just turned 12, took on the care of her two-and-a-half-year-old sister, assisted by a cousin of Sarah’s, who Andrew hired as a housekeeper.

Just over two years later, in June 1865, the month before Lizzie turned five, Andrew married again to a woman he met at church. Abby Durfee Gray was 37 years old at the time, had never been married and had no children. Many believed Andrew had courted Abby because he wanted a “mother” for his daughters. (If so, he chose poorly, as his girls never warmed to Abby.) Although still ostensibly of child-bearing years at their marriage, Abby never had a child of her own.

The small Borden family lived across the street from the Borden homestead, at 12 Ferry Street, for the next 7 years. In 1872, when Lizzie was 12 and Emma 21, Andrew moved the family to 92 Second Street, a two-family house that Andrew had converted to a single-family home, where the Bordens would live together for the next 20 years.

Childhood

Lizzie apparently had a few close school friends, but not many as she was said to be shy; perhaps it was those “varying moods” that made it challenging for her to relate to other students. Lizzie did take piano lessons in her teen years, but according to newspaper reports, she eventually “abandoned her lessons because … she conceived the idea that she was not destined to become a good musician.” However, a piano remained in the parlor of the Borden House. (Emma also took piano classes at Wheaton.)

(For much more on Lizzie’s life growing up in Fall River, see Childhood.)

Lizzie as a Young Adult

Several accounts of Lizzie’s life in her early 20s are provided by Edward Radin in his 1961 book, Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story, which features interviews with older people who remembered Lizzie from their youth. She was said to have regularly attended parties and social events, often escorted by young men in her social circle (See Suitors). Apparently these events were rather staid affairs, as her friends would later say she “never danced in her life and never attended parties where there was dancing.” And, “after her admission to the church, she even stopped attending theatrical performances.”

Her life did change greatly when she joined the Central Congregational Church in 1885, at the age of 25. The culture of that particular church seemed a good fit for her, helping her to leave some of her social reticence behind and giving her a place to invest her energy. She was “confirmed” at the church in 1887 and became active in church activities, volunteering to help organize church dinners and other charitable events. She joined the local chapters of organizations devoted to worthy causes, often filling formal roles on their boards. In 1890, she was listed as secretary for the Fruit and Flower Mission of Fall River, which provided toys for children and food for the needy, as well as home visits to the elderly. In 1892, she was treasurer and acting secretary of the Women’s Christian Endeavor Society connected to her church. She likewise served as treasurer of the Young Women’s Christian Temperance Union. She also served on the Women’s Board of the Fall River Hospital.

It was through Central Congregational that Lizzie formed a bond with Reverend Edwin Buck, the church’s City Missionary, who recruited her for the role of Sunday School teacher for local immigrant families. She famously took on a class of young Chinese students and even tutored some adult men. By her early 30s, she was known as a dedicated volunteer and had won the admiration of many members of the church, who frequently described her kindness and generosity to newspaper reporters. (It was the friends she made through her church and her volunteer work that would later defend her innocence and offer her daily support when she was arrested and tried for the murders of her father and stepmother.)

One of the watershed events of her life before the murders was undoubtedly her Grand Tour to Europe in 1890, which began just before she turned 30. She joined a group of young women from Fall River who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Liverpool, England. Lizzie was away for 19 weeks, nearly 5 months, and while her exact itinerary is unknown, the European Grand Tour typically encouraged tourists to roam the British Isles as well as the most beautiful cities in France and Italy. We know Lizzie brought home many souvenirs from her trip, prints of the art and architecture she saw there, that she displayed in her bedroom at 92 Second Street. We also know that as she sailed home, she expressed sadness to her cabin mate, Anna Borden, that the trip was over and she had to return home to Fall River.

As an adult, Lizzie clearly chafed at some of the realities of life living under her inflexible father’s roof, with a stepmother who she described as “deceitful.” Still, according to interviews with her friend, Mrs. Mary Brigham, and her pastor, Reverend Jubb, the few years after her trip were her most productive and “happiest,” and her strained relationship with Abby had smoothed out and become “friendly.” She was also, said Mrs. Brigham, led to believe by her father that he was preparing to buy a new house for his daughters. Yet, according to her own words to her friend Alice Russell on the night of August 3rd, 1892, after her summer plans went awry, she began to feel a creeping sense of dread.

Lizzie as Suspect and Prisoner

Lizzie’s Life After the Verdict

Within a few months of her acquittal, Lizzie and her sister, Emma, bought a new larger house for themselves in a more fashionable neighborhood on “The Hill” in Fall River. (Lizzie would later name the house Maplecroft.) While Lizzie enjoyed the support of many friends during the trial, she would soon find herself shunned by Fall River society as questions about her guilt in the murders lingered. Unflattering stories about her continued to be printed in newspapers, including an accusation of shoplifting.

Neither sister ever publicly revealed the reason for their estrangement, but in a 1913 interview, Emma made it clear that it was not because she believed her sister guilty of the murders. Even in the midst of estrangement, Emma defended Lizzie’s innocence, adding that she had made a promise to her dying mother that she would always take care of “baby Lizzie.”

Beyond her enjoyment in theater, Lizzie remained an avid reader with a large collection of books, and became passionately devoted to animals. Besides adopting and spoiling dogs of her own, she was an early benefactor of the Fall River Animal Rescue League and won admirers and friends who felt likewise, especially Helen Leighton, who appears to have been her closest friend later in life. She was also known to care greatly for her employees, helping them financially when necessary and doting on their children, who called her “Auntie Borden.” (See more on Lizzie’s later life in After the Verdict.)

Lizzie Borden reportedly had gallbladder surgery in 1926, and never quite bounced back. Her health continued to fail and she ultimately died of pneumonia on June 1, 1927. She was 66 years old. Her sister, Emma, who was living in New Hampshire at the time, died nine days later from chronic nephritis (kidney disease) and “senility.” The sisters were buried side by side in the Borden family plot—along with their father and mother and stepmother—at Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River.