The Wedding Rumor

[CagneyBT]

Fall River, Mass., Dec. 10, 1896--Friends of Lizzie Andrew Borden, who was once accused of the murder of her father and stepmother and whose trial was one of the most famous the country has known, are congratulating her upon the approach of her marriage. The husband-to-be is one Mr. Gardner, a school teacher of the village of Swansea, which lies a few miles across the bay to the west of the city. He has been a friend of Miss Borden since childhood days, which they spent upon adjoining farms. The engagement has been rumored about for weeks, but it lacked confirmation until a few days ago, when it was learned that Miss Borden has given to a well-known dressmaker an order for a trousseau. Mr. Gardner has had erected in South Somerset a fine new house. It is said that the wedding will probably take place about Christmas.'

Orrin Gardner dismissed the rumor, calling it a "baseless fabrication of the minds of gossips." He stated he had visited French St. only once since September, and Lizzie had visited his mother in Swansea that summer; "it was probably from this fact that the rumor had taken root and flourished as such a rumor will."

On December 12, Lizzie wrote to her dressmaker, Mrs. William Cummings, who had been cited in some newspaper accounts: "My dear Friend: I am more sorry than I can tell you that you have had any trouble over the false and silly story that has been about the last week or so. How or when it started I have not the least idea. But never for a moment did I think you or your girls started it. Of course I am feeling very badly about it but I must just bear as I have in the past. I do hope you will not be annoyed again. Take care of yourself, so you can get well. Yours sincerely, L. A. Borden."

How did this rumor start and who may have started it?

It may have taken root on December 1st when a benefit was held at the Academy to raise money for the Fall River Hospital. The event was called "Marriage Dramas." It was a series of pantomimes of marriage customs throughout the world, incorporating music and dance. There were approximately 200 cast members, many of whom were Fall River high school students.

MarriageDramasad.jpg

On Dec. 9, Lizzie wrote to Jennie F. Boas, 227 Whipple St., requesting her assistance on an unknown project:

"My dear Miss Boas: I should be ready to see you Wednesday the sixteenth any time after five in the after-noon. Yes I am going to tie the pages and want your help. I would like to have you get the ribbon. Get as much and the width you want and let the color be 'royal purple' please."

Jennie F. Boas was a stenographer who was employed by Andrew J. Jennings’ law firm, Jennings & Morton, from 1892-1897. She was present at Lizzie's preliminary hearing and had also been retained by The Fall River Daily Evening News to help cover the Borden trial with their reporter, Walter P. Stevens.

The following factors may have been the building blocks that constructed the rumor:

• Jennie had a younger sister named Mabel Boas. Mabel was a member of the cast at the "Marriage Dramas" benefit held on Dec. 1.
• Mrs. William Cummings may have contributed in making some of the wedding costumes for the event.
• Orin Gardner had visited French St. a few months previously.
• Jennie Boas left Jennings employ the following year. She relocated to Gardner, Massachusetts.

If Lizzie and Jennie met at French St. prior to Dec. 9, they may have had casual conversation about the "Marriage Dramas" benefit in which Mabel Boas had taken part. Mrs. Cummings may have been mentioned in reference to the wedding costumes. Jennie may have mentioned her future plans to relocate to Gardner.

Someone in Lizzie's household may have overheard snippets of the conversation: "marriage" "wedding" and "Gardner." Perhaps this person thought that Lizzie's planned project requiring paper and ribbon involved wedding invitations and misconstrued Jennie's reference to "Gardner" as being Orrin Gardner, Lizzie's recent visitor.

So, the source of the Lizzie Borden-Orrin Gardner marriage rumor may well have originated with a servant at Maplecroft.

Sound plausible?

Sources:
Fall River Daily Evening News, Thu, Jun 22, 1893 ·Page 8
Fall River Globe, Sat, Nov 21, 1896 ·Page 6
Fall River Daily Evening News, Wed, Dec 02, 1896 ·Page 5
Fall River Globe, Wed, Dec 02, 1896 ·Page 1
The Fall River Daily Herald, Fri, Dec 11, 1896 ·Page 1
Fall River Daily Evening News, Thu, Jul 15, 1897 ·Page 1
The Fall River Daily Herald, Fri, Jul 16, 1897 ·Page 7
Jennie Boas' Letter:
https://www.aol.com/news/lizzie-borden- ... 09834.html

[camgarsky4]

Intriguing set of ingredients that could certainly blend to create a high quality rumor.

Andrew Jennings was a District Attorney (same position Knowlton held) at that time.

Per Wikipedia, 1890 Gardner, Ma. had a population of 3,400 and was a substantive furniture manufacturing center. Interesting note of fame, Gardner is where the first practical 'time clock', for tracking employee hours worked, was developed/used.

It is located in north-central Massachusetts. Be interesting to know how they learned of her, and she of them, but probably not something we'll ever know.

Per the news snippet below, seems that Jennie gave her notice when Andrew was in Europe. On the face of it, that seems odd and might signal the lack of a warm relationship between the two of them....at least at the time of her resignation. Perhaps fuel for even more gossip!

Screenshot 2024-07-16 174704.png

[CagneyBT]

Good find, Cam..didn't see that news snippet.

Jennie's resignation was probably agreed upon before Jennings left.

Considering that Gardner, MA was a furniture manufacturing town, it now makes sense that Jennie's new job was as stenographer for the Heywood Furniture Manufacturing Co.

The rest of the Boas family relocated to Gardner in 1898 before finally settling in Hartford, Conn.

BoasGardnerMassFallRiverDailyEveningNewsSept141898.jpg

[camgarsky4]

click on image to enlarge

Screenshot 2024-07-17 151742.png

[CagneyBT]

Andrew Jennings probably welcomed a long trip abroad after dealling with Lizzie's Tilden-Thurber incident in Feb. 1897.

Looks like Jennie Boas may have given Jennings her two weeks notice prior to his trip?