1. "Chicago, its my kind of town."
Posted by harry on Aug-25th-02 at 3:00 PM

There is a reference in Rebello (page 10) regarding Lizzie's early life that I find interesting:

"When a young girl, she accompanied her parents to Chicago and was there a member of the Sunday school class and punctual in attendance."

If she was a member of a Sunday school class it probably means that they were there for at least a little while.

I wonder what business Andrew could have had in Chicago.

And didn't she also return in 1893 for the Centennial Celebration? Wasn't that chicago as well?

I believe the 1876 Centennial was in Philadelphia.
Maybe a "World's Fair" in Chicago?
But are we straying from the topic?

(Message last edited Aug-25th-02  3:22 PM.)

Rebello page 187. Fall River Globe, Oct. 3, 1893: 8. "Unbeknown to Chicago: Miss Lizzie Borden has been doing the World's Fair with Miss Caroline Borden, formerly of this city, and Miss Alice Buck as traveling companions."

I thought that since the topic was 'chicago' and Lizzie's visit there, than any Lizzie visit to Chicago was germaine. Sorry if I sidetracked the thread.

Thanks Stef. Looked up the same thing myself. You beat me to it.

Thank goodness for Rebello on things like this.  He's a mountain of facts and trivia.  Gotta work on that index though.

I believe I read somwehere that Morse had relations? or visited? Illinois himself at some time. I think he went there first before going to Iowa. I don't remember that it was Chicago though.

(Message last edited Aug-25th-02  4:10 PM.)

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/title.html

Link to the Chicago World's Columbian Exhibition of 1893. Pretty cool.

and from this cool site:
http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html#TOP

World's Columbian Exhibition Innovations and Legacy
Intramural Railway- The first elevated electric railway ever built. An exhibit in itself. Power house contained a 2000 horsepower Allis engine with a shaft of 60 tons, 25 feet in width, and 24 inch diameter.

Moveable Sidewalk-A continuous double platform, half moving passengers at 3 miles per hour, the other half at 6 miles per hour.

Ferris Wheel The Ferris Wheel was invented for the 1893 fair,

Gray's Teleautograph-A device that electrically reproduced handwriting at a distance.

Kinetograph-Thomas Edison's kinetograph was a precursor to the movie projector.

Famous Firsts from the fair...

* George Ferris built the first Ferris Wheel.
* The United States produced it's first commemorative stamp set.
* The US Postal Service produced it's first picture postcards.
* Cracker Jacks were introduced.
* Aunt Jemima Syrup was introduced.
* US Mint offers first commemorative coins: a quarter, half dollar, and dollar.
* Cream of Wheat was introduced.
* Shredded Wheat was introduced.
* Pabst Beer was introduced.
* Juicy Fruit gum was introduced.
* Diet carbonated soda was introduced.
* The hamburger was introduced to the United States.
* The carnival concept was born.


(Message last edited Aug-25th-02  4:15 PM.)

So Lizzie DID have a social life with her friends and relatives [at least then]. Are some stories less than hearsay?

(Message last edited Aug-25th-02  4:18 PM.)

Does this have anything to do with the "Columbia Exhibition?"

I have a cool FAN picture I collected from there and want to post as attachment...
Rebello, Pg. 71:
Morse lived in Illinois for 14 years, until 1869.
"...While in Iowa, John Morse lived or boarded with various people and their families.  In 1870 he resided with the Davidson family [his half-sister & her husband, minimum].  By 1880 the Davidsons lived with John Morse.  On Monday, May 10, 1886, John Morse along 'with Rappal' of Hastings and John Gennung (Genung), of Hastings, registered at the Foster House, a local hotel in Hastings.  'L.L.Rappal Chicago, (Illinois)', was written under their names in the register."...

Thanks, Harry, for the interesting post!  Its the little things like this that makes the Bordens all the more human.

And from Stefani's post, what an exciting time it must have been to live!  So many new products and inventions, it must have been mind-boggling! 

Thank you, Kat. I knew I read it somewhere about Morse. 

If he lived there from 1855-1869 that would just be about right time-wise. Lizzie was born in 1860. Maybe Andrew and Abbie took an extended visit to see Morse. I wonder if he lived in Chicago though. More likely a farm.  Calls for some more diggin'.

On the Chicago Exposition I wonder why Emma didn't tag along.

I just posted all kinds of souvenirs from the Chicago World's Fair in the Second street Second hand shop topic area. The fan you are talking about kat is in Life in Victorian America---beat you to it.

My understanding is that the Chicago World's Fair is also called the Columbia Exposition. Or the Centennial Celebration.

As to Emma, well, maybe she was not used to travels far away from home. She never did get a trip abroad, as Lizzie did. She seems to have always stayed close to home. When she went anywhere it was to visit friends. Maybe she was also a penny pincher and could not abide with paying to stay in hotels? Remember when she died, she had a lot more money than Lizzie did. Lizzie spent some of her wealth and enjoyed herself; Emma became an agoraphobic.

It said he "FARMED." Here is my most beautiful FAN! I been waiting to show it off  {just the pic., but, oh well...)

According to (you guessed right) Rebello (page 7) Emma made a trip to Scotland in 1906. There is just a one line entry for this.

She was out of Maplecroft by then and away from Lizzie's dominance.

My fan is prettier than your fan.

How would we really know if Emma was agorophobic?
Does that get worse as people get older, or could she have started out that way but overcame it?

it was said that Emma went twice a year to Boston...once to put her fur in storage & once to get it out again...

I am presuming a psychological state of mind, I admit, when I said that Emma was agorophobic. She seemed to shy away from the public eye, we have but two or three images of her, she changed her name when she moved to avoid publicity, etc. Just my extreme explanation for a probably ordinary behavior.

Cool fan Kat.

Thanks again for the farm info. Saves me some digging. I thinks its very possible Andrew being in Chicago had something to do with Morse. As I said they were both in Illinois around the same time period.

It would have to something important for Andrew to travel that far with his family though. He was known in later life to rarely ever leave the Fall River area.

What are the ages when a child normally attends Sunday school?

I think you can attend Sunday School up to the age of consent. I have heard that there are different age groups for each class. My Catholic upbringing involved catechism class---which I hated---every Sunday morning. It was first to sixth grade. Then came Confirmation.

Mine was only for a short while as I went to Catholic school from 1st to 4th grade, after that I had catechism classes until Confirmation.  After that I don't recall that there were any classes offered. 

Harry
I was thinking that the time period we have for Emma being *away at school* fits this same time period of the visit to Chicago.

--That would be AWFUL, for them to send her away for a year and a half and then go off to Chicgo to visit Morse(?) without her...

Hey, what if they TOOK Emma THERE to go to school?  And stayed long enogh to visit and get her settled...
Maybe she would be under the chaperonage of Uncle Morse...and that's why Emma & he remained close?  Because he visited her at school?
[all speculation]

Sounds like a fair speculation Kat.  From what Stefani and Susan said about ages (1st grade to 6th, 6 to 11 years old) Lizzie could have been in Sunday class sometime in 1866 to 1871.  We know Morse was in Illinois most of that time.

Emma would have been 15 to 20 during that same period.  Since there is no record of her graduating high school in Fall River maybe she graduated in Chicago.

Again speculation.  But with facts behind it.

Harry, I was just looking in the Knowlton Papers this afternoon and on page xvii, the Editors thank (amongst others) the "Vermillion County Museum Society in Danville, Illinois."

I checked my atlas and Danville is about 135 miles south of Chicago.
Of course we don't know what contribution the Society made to the compilation of information that is The Knowlton Papers.

Good digging Kat.  I checked his will.  Among his legatees were three nieces in Girard, Illinois and one in Arlington, Illinois

Girard is a good distance from Chicago. Arlington is closer but still a bit of a travel for those days.  Both are small towns in rural areas.

Whereabouts is your Arlington?
I have an Arlington Heights VERY near Chicago, just N.W., but no Arlington.

Arlington is pretty much midway between Chicgao and Davenport, Iowa.
You can find it using Yahoo maps at:

http://maps.yahoo.com/

Enter Arlington, Il in the City, State.  You'll be able to zoom out to see the area.

Those of you who live in or near Chicago have a nifty little museum for you to visit:  American Bar Association Museum Of Law

750 N. Lake Shore Dr. "Famous Trials in American History" documentation of the Lizzie Borden and O.J. Simpson murder trials, the 1925 Scopes "monkey trial," and other "cases that shaped and shocked the nation," continuing.

Open Mondays-Fridays 11-2; Saturdays 11-5. Free. 312-988-6222

http://www.chireader.com/listings/static/galleries.html

I'm trying to use this link, but I'm not getting anywhere....

Kat, my computer froze up trying to use a link that Stefani listed for John Morse's will, same thing happened when I tried to use this link.  It was working last night, something wrong with Arborwood? 

I think that link which Stef posted for the Will, was designated as a "Download."  Your computer had to be ready to accept such a thing.

I've crashed or frozen on a couple of Harry's links, and I write him and say :"I can't get there from here!"  HE knows what THAT means.

My problem with your link was not any of these...it was that I couldn't figure out how to USE it.  I was stymied.  I couldn't even begin to find that Lizzie Borden/O.j. Simpson thingy you mentioned....
But thanks anyway...kk

Its a listing of the galleries and museums in Chicago.  The one to which I refer is under, Galleries: Michigan Avenue.  Scroll down the page for it, I typed all the info they gave on it, sorry, no pictures or anything.  Hope that helps? 

Oh, Ok., I get it!  Thanks.
How odd tho--I wonder just what exactly they have in a "Gallery", on famous trials...?

Well, that one is actually a museum and all it says is documentation of the Lizzie Borden Trial.  Photos and newspaper accounts?  Trial transcripts?  I guess we could try contacting them and find out? 

Inquest
Morse
Pg. 106  [In fact, this is the last of Morse's Inquest testimony]

A.  Years ago, out West at my place one time, he said he had a will; several years ago he told me he had destroyed it.

Q.  How long ago did he tell you he had destroyed it?
A.  15 years ago.

Q.  Did he tell you anything about the contents of the will?
A.  He did not.