Republic of Money: Lizzie Borden & the Harriman family

[Hannah Bell]

"Lizzie Borden took an ax
Gave her mother 40 whacks
When she saw what she had done
Gave her father 41."



Apart from the ear worm power of the dark nursery rhyme, there's no immediately obvious reason why the Borden murders of 1892 should remain so firmly esconced in American memory more than a century later.

Female murderers weren't unknown in the 1800s, nor were ax murderers. Indeed, another ax murder occurred in Fall River, Mass shortly after the Borden incident.

So why do we remember Lizzie Borden, but not farmhand Jose Correira, the other Fall River ax murderer?

The reason, I submit--& the reason the crime & trial was a staple of the New York papers at the time--is money.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F03E1DB173BEE33A25756C0A96E9C94639ED7CF


Lizzie's immediate family was well-off (though reportedly miserly), but the extended Borden family of Fall River was fabulously well-off. Indeed, Fall River in the 1890s was something like a petty fiefdom run by the extended Borden & Durfee families, who were in fact pretty much one family, as they were extensively intermarried.

It was the Borden money, position & connections to New York society that made the Borden murders of interest to the big-city papers. A NYT piece from 1879 notes the nepotistic family history:

http://homepage.mac.com/joepowers/mill/bordentimes.html

The Bordens were involved in a lot of businesses -- grist mills, ironworks, utilities, mining, shipping, steamships, railroads, & banks, but the flagship Borden enterprise in the 1890s was the American Printing Company. It was the largest producer of printed cotton fabric in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. Fall River was "The Spindle City," second only to Manchester England in textile production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_River_Iron_Works


American Printing Company was founded by two second cousins (once removed) of Lizzie's father, Richard (1795) & Holder (1799), on river property that had been in the family since the Bordens arrived in the area in the 1700s.



Richard Borden (1722)
---------------------
|
Richard (1748)
|
Abraham (1798)
|
Andrew Jackson (1822)
|
Lizzie (1860)



Richard Borden (1722)
---------------------
|
Thomas (1750)
|
Richard (1795)
|
Matthew CD (1842)



Richard Borden (1722)
---------------------
|
George (1770)
|
Holder (1790)



Richard's (1795) sister Phebe was Holder's mother, & Phebe's second husband Bradford Durfee was also a founding partner.

Some accounts of the Borden murders paint Lizzie's father Andrew as a self-made man, a poor relation of the textile Bordens, with no connection to their money, but this isn't the case.

First, Richard Borden (1722) divided his extensive real estate & milling fortune equally between his heirs. Andrew's father Abraham used his inheritance to set Andrew up in the furniture/casket business, and willed him property as well.

Second, Andrew is on record as Director of some of the "textile" Borden family businesses, most notably a bank.

Third, the extended Borden family were the earliest shareholder of American Printing.

Fourth, Lizzie & her sister inherited a fortune sizable enough to keep them comfortably until they died, & even to pass some on.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05E4D8163EEF33A25753C1A96F9C94629ED7CF&scp=188&sq=andrew+borden&st=p

One of Lizzie's bequests ($6000) went to Grace Hartley Howe, Lizzie's second cousin, & the wife of Louis Howe, private secretary to & political strategist for FDR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_McHenry_Howe


The basis for the Borden wealth:



(Though this isn't American Printing, these kids worked at another mill the Bordens had an interest in; Sagamore Mfg. Co., founded 1872 with Joseph Borden & two other relatives of Lizzie's on its board. The Borden clan owned *a lot* of mills & related businesses.)



The Bordens had other interesting relatives.

Gail Borden (1801 Borden's Milk) fits here on the family tree:


Common ancestor John Borden of Rhode Island (1640)
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|
Richard (1671)
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(5 to Andrew Jackson Borden 1822)


Common ancestor John Borden of Rhode Island (1640)
--------------------------------------------------
|
John (1675)
|
(4 to Gail 1801)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Borden


Gail's brother Thomas was one of the Texas "Three Hundred," the first (white) settlers of Texas, who fomented the Texas revolution. Gail laid out the city of Houston, founded a newspaper & grabbed 14,000 acres in Houston & Galveston before starting his canned milk venture.

http://www.texasgen.org/common/Default.asp?App_Module=ARTICLES&ID=42



Other Borden relatives:

William Shockley (1910), the eugenicist, is a descendant:


Thomas Durfee (1721) + Patience Borden
|
James Durfee (1768) + Walker
|
Judith Durfee 1805 (sister of Abby Walker Durfee, wife of Richard (1795) Borden, founder of American Printing)
|
3 to Shockley


Other descendants (by blood or marriage include Marilyn Monroe's supposed father & President Grover Cleveland.


Another Borden connection is a namesake rather than relative, but an interesting one:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9807E2D61738E633A25751C0A9649D946596D6CF

http://wikimapia.org/10897776/Uplands-former-estate-of-J-Borden-Harriman


J. Borden Harriman was the son of Oliver Harriman, financier.

Oliver was EH Harriman's uncle, the "successful" brother of the "unsuccessful" Rev Orlando Harriman, who never got a secure post with a wealthy church, reportedly because he was too religiously scrupulous. Supposedly Reverend Orlando's son Edward despised him & instead looked up to his rich, connected uncle Oliver, who helped him get his start in business.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Harriman


And of course Ed started the Harriman dynasty that eventually became the Harriman in Brown Bros, Harriman, where his son Averell Harriman was partner along with Prescott Bush.


Low, Harriman was the partnership of Oliver Harriman & his father-in-law, James Low.

Here's the Trow's Directory (of businesses) 1864: Low, Harriman, Durfee & Co.

http://books.google.com/books?id=LO8pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA63&dq=trow+harriman+durfee

Here's 1879: Low, Harriman & Borden.

http://books.google.com/books?id=be4pAAAAYAAJ&dq=trow+1879+borden&q=low

The Durfee is George Borden Durfee, the son-in-law of Jefferson Borden, the brother of Richard 1795, the founder of American Printing.

The Borden is founder Richard's son Matthew. His bio:

http://books.google.com/books?id=be4pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT83&dq=trow%27s+low+harriman+borden&lr=&as_brr=3


But the Low, Harriman firm evidentally were the Borden's NY agent for various enterprises even before George & Matthew became partners.


J. Borden Harriman (b. 1864) was the namesake of one of Oliver's Borden business partners.

So the Borden cotton textile fortune was associated with the Harriman merchant finance interests, soon to be linked to the Brown's cotton trading money.

The Borden's financial troubles (noted in the NYT piece of 1879) seem to have involved large debts to, among others, Harriman & Low.



Here's J. Borden's wife & daughter (Ethel Mary Borden Harriman):



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Jaffray_Harriman

In 1889, at age nineteen, she married J. Borden Harriman, a New York banker (and an elder cousin of future cabinet secretary, New York Governor and diplomat W. Averell Harriman).

The list of attendees at their wedding included past and future president Grover Cleveland, railroad tycoons Cornelius Vanderbilt and Edward Harriman, John Jacob Astor IV, and J. P. Morgan...

Harriman, her husband and daughter found themselves in the middle of Europe as World War I erupted in the summer of 1914...The following year, Harriman found herself near the front lines of another war - the battle along the south side of the Rio Grande River near Brownsville, Texas, between supporters of rebel Pancho Villa and the armies of Mexican leader Venustiano Carranza....

[MichaelHarris]

1. Devil

in the White City is a much better story.

[Hannah Bell]

2. i'm not telling a "story".

[paulsby]

3. i used to live not very far from fall river

it is a very unique little city.

for example, many police departments have mottos like "protect and serve" etc.

fall river's?

"we'll try"

it actually says that on the police cars and officer's patches.

i just find that hilarious. and very honest. hey, at least they TRY

it's the town's motto, as well

[Raine]

4. THANKS ...

for posting all this information. I've been interested in the Borden case for years and have studied it reading everything I could get my hands on, lots of this in new information for me. THANKS so much! :hi: :thumbsup:

[Hannah Bell]

5. you're welcome, glad it was interesting to someone. interesting to me too to hear that

though you're a borden junkie, nothing you read mentioned the money connections.

[Mist]

6. Wow, amazing connections. Thanks so much for posting this! This really adds

a great deal to this case. The Bordens were very well-connected indeed.

Now, how might this lead us to a resolution concerning the motive? Just a thought: maybe Lizzie was a willing "hit-man" for some of the extended family due to unpopular business actions/decisons by Andrew?

[HamdenRice]

7. Oh. My. God.!!! Now it all makes SENSE!!!

They're all related!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

8. thanks for the kick, hampton. you're always so kind.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Wow, a lot of familiar names there

Averill Herriman, Prescott Bush, William Shockley (inventor of the transistor and noted racist) and Lizzie herself.

Sounds like a big, murderous dysfunctional family.

Tell me again how wealth and power don't corrupt absolutely.