1. "Joseph A. Bowen"
Posted by harry on Dec-20th-03 at 11:55 AM

J. Williams' "A Casebook of Family and Crime in the 1890's", page 228, mentions 6 people among the party that welcomed Lizzie home after her trial at the Holmes' house.  Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, their daughter, Mrs. Jubb, Emma and Joseph A. Bowen. 

Checking with Rebello, page 277-278, Bowen was a wholesale and retail coal dealer. He was one of three who provided sureties of the $50,000 bond when Emma filed as administratrix of Andrew's estate. However the Evening Standard of September 2, 1892 lists a Joseph A. Borden not Bowen and also lists 5 names, not 3, as sureties for the bond.

There's no mention of Joseph A. Bowen being related to the good Doctor.

Does anyone have any other information on this man?  I have not heard of him having any relationship with the Bordens and perhaps he was a friend of the Holmes'.  He seems out of place at this particular gathering.

(Message last edited Dec-20th-03  12:12 PM.)

I don't think there was a Joseph A. Bowen.  I think it's supposed to be Joseph A. Borden.

In Hoffman, he writes of Joseph A. Borden:  (page 37)*

"Joseph was a relation of Andrew Jackson Borden.  As such, he helped relatives Andrew Borden, Richard B. Borden, Jerome C. Borden, and family friends Frank L. Almy and Frank S. Stevens secure the $60,000 bond Emma Borden needed to act as administrator of her late father's estate."

Here six persons are named as chipping in for the bond.

* = "Yesterday in Old Fall River, a Lizzie Borden Companion" by Paul Dennis Hoffman, Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC, copyright 2000.

Thank you Augusta for researching that.

Rebello's source for the names and $50,000 figure is the New Bedford Mercury newspaper of September 7, 1892. He repeats his name as  "Bowen" in a short bio on the 3 men.

J. Williams' source I think is the N.Y. Times but may be a AP type report.

Hoffman's sounds more logical. It went from 3 people and $50,000 to 6 people and $60,000. 

Unfortunately, Hoffman doesn't do footnotes.  His bibliography is just a list of all the sources he used.  So we don't know where he got this information from. 

I can't find my Rebello in here.  I'd like to read those parts you referenced. 

There were an awful lot of Bowens in Fall River, and in the surrounding areas.  It's interesting, when you go to Fall River you keep seeing the same names over and over:  Bordens, Durfees, Braytons, Mellos, Sylvias, Tripps - it's incredible (and confusing when you're researching  ).

There's a funny story about "Joe Borden", Constable, in V.V. II, pg. 653, about a hunt for snakes. (August 1, 1898).

Let me look in the Genealogy.  He's not in either Knowlton Papers Glossary.

I've looked at "Josephs" in the genealogy but sons were not always designated with a middle name.  If i knew what relationship there was to Andrew it would narrow it down.  I tried checking the time they lived but without a clue as to age this is nearly impossible, sorry.  You know some achieved a lot at a young age and died and some men started their careers rather late and lived a long time. 

I'm looking at Rebello a lot this night verifying a timeline and came across a couple of things I thought I would put here.
One is that Abraham Borden's middle name was "Bowen".  His mother's maiden name was "Bowen".
It might be a Bowen, after all.  A relative of Andrew's grandmother?
None of Abraham's brothers had a son named Joseph.

Also, in the census, Abraham was listed as a "Gardener".  In one listing he was called a "Yeoman."  What is a "yeoman"? 
Is it possible that the "gardener" Abraham, did sell fish, but as fertilizer?  We have heard him called a "fish peddler", but don't know the source of that.

There might be an interesting connection between the rumor of the possibility of Andrew thinking of making a will that summer of 1892, and a notation in Rebello, p.24, where he states that Andrew J. Borden, and Andrew J. Jennings  and Vernon Wade (of Wade's store, at 98 Second Street) witnessed Southard Miller's will on January 21, 1892.
So Jennings and Borden may have discussed a will for Andrew at that time, that winter.  It seems possibly it would be on their minds.

(Message last edited Dec-22nd-03  3:47 AM.)

A "Yeoman" in my old dictionary is "a freeholder of a class
below the gentry; OR in the navy, a petty officer assigned
to clerical duty

Fish, then or now, was a cheap source of protein for those near the sea. It also contains iodine, prevent those goiters found in people who live near mountain tops (Swill) before the 20th century.

Or so I read in books.

In England, a yeoman is a farmer.  I'm wondering if perhaps he had a sideline growing & selling things from his garden.  After all, Andrew did that too.

Yes, I found that bit about Southard Miller's will as well & agree that's a strong possibility.

Thanks Tina Kate.
And I thought the most important part was about Miller's will and you did catch that.
So a yeoman can be a laborer not of the gentry (thatnks nj) or a farmer.
Abraham sold Andrew 22 sq. rods on Ferry Street.  There are 160 sq. rods in an acre.  Is that 1/7 th of an acre?  it doesn't sound like much with the house there as well.  Maybe Abraham worked for others as a gardener.  Yes everybody probably grew at least some vegetables, I think.
Oh, but not Andrew.  He grew grapes and pears!

Do you know why we keep hearing Abraham was a fish peddler?  Could it just be Pearson or Porter who said that?

Thanks for the post about S. Miller's will.  I wasn't aware of that or had forgotten it.  I agree - that probably did spark a lot of talk about Andrew making out a will.  Maybe that's when Lizzie started getting worried.

Interesting thought, that Abraham's being a 'fish peddler' could have meant or included fish for fertilizer.  I'll bet at least he sold his rotted ones as that (well, knowing how the Bordens ate, maybe not ... ).  It would be interesting to know more where 'fish peddler' comes from.  It probably just came from the census, tho, with nothing else written about it.

Lizzie had a lot of Gardener cousins.  There are two main roads in Swansea bearing that name, one of which the Borden farmhouse is on.

The 1859 census lists Abraham Borden as a laborer.

That's interesting, Bill.  I take it you're sure this is the right Abraham Borden.  Today, 'laborer' would tend to mean more that he was a worker in a factory.  But back then, I think it meant that he just 'worked' - nothing specified.

Are he and his occupation listed in any other censuses?

Yep.  Thats our Abraham.  The two Phebe's and Lurana are also listed for the same address.  Does anyone know of any other Abraham Borden's who lived during this time period? I've seen an Abraham Borden listed in the 1870 census. His stated occupation was gardener.  I don't know if this is our Abraham or not, the related information is quite vague.

See post #7 Augusta etc.
Rebello has the listing calling Abraham a "yeoman", and a "laborer"(thanks Bill)  and a "gardner" in census --.pgs. 28-9
1850- laborer
1860-gardener
1870-gardener

pg. 549- land transaction, 1854, Abraham Borden is called "yeoman".

From a copy of a note endorsed by John L. Borden/Lizzie A Borden,
in the amount of $2,000, from Francis L. Gardner & Chester R.
Gardner (from an "ad" in the LBQ) it makes sense to me now that they
were probably cousins renting the farmhouse, and this was their rent
check? 

This is very interesting.  Is there any reliable citation that Abraham was a fish peddler, or is this just something the novelists have dreamed up? He died in 1862.  Anyone have an obit showing his occupation?

Nj was that the thing for sale for $10,000 or whatever?  Will you give the LBQ date/issue, please?

Bill, I don't know where the "fish peddler" came from either and have been asking, does anyone know?
Harry knows the authors.  Maybe you're right and it's in there?

It was for sale @ $4,000! (January, 1994)

Please go to Privy to see pic of doc.