Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I have known about the Lizzie Borden case for some years but have only recently (literally in the last few days) started reading about it (mostly the interesting threads on this forum.)

I know that there had been tensions brewing in the Borden household for quite some time and that that both Lizzie and Emma heartily disliked their stepmother. But had this always been the case, or did they possibly start out as getting along well with her and along the way their feelings towards their stepmother changed? And if so, I wonder what it was that would have caused them to change their attitude towards Abby?

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

That question is certainly open for conjecture. I get the idea that Emma may have resented the intrusion of a stepmother early on. She was a teenager and she had known her mother. Lizzie was a small child, so she probably would not have resented Abby's presence at first. Emma may have had as much influence over Lizzie as Abby did as Lizzie grew up, so Lizzie might have taken the resentment cue from Emma. There really isn't much concrete to base this on, just bits and pieces of testimony and hearsay.

Welcome to our little corner of the zoo, Gaheris. As Yooper suggests, the question you raise is certainly open to conjecture. Generally speaking, however, it would appear that familial relations in the Borden household were at least somewhat normal until Lizzie was well into her 20s. The basis for this surmise - purely my own - is Miss Lizzie herself and the following exchange with District Attorney Knowlton, taken from the New Bedford Evening-Standard transcription of Lizzie’s inquest testimony:

Q. Did you ever have any trouble with your stepmother?
A. No sir.
Q. Have you, within six months, had any words with her?
A. No sir.
Q. Within a year?
A. No sir.
Q. Within two years?
A. I think not.
Q. When last that you know of?
A. About five years ago.
Q. What about?
A. Her stepsister, half-sister.
Q. What name?
A. Her name now is Mrs. George W. Whitehead.
Q. Nothing more than hard words?
A. No sir, they were not hard words; it was simply a difference of opinion.
Q. You have been on pleasant terms with your stepmother since then?
A. Yes sir.
Q. Cordial?
A. It depends upon one's idea of cordiality, perhaps.
Q. According to your idea of cordiality?
A. We were friendly, very friendly.
Q. Cordial, according to your idea of cordiality?
A. Quite so.
Q. What do you mean by "quite so"?
A. Quite cordial. I do not mean the dearest of friends in the world, but very kindly feelings, and
pleasant. I do not know how to answer you any better than that.
Q. You did not regard her as your mother?
A. Not exactly, no; although she came there when I was very young.
Q. Were your relations towards her that of daughter and mother?
A. In some ways it was, and in some it was not.
Q. In what ways was it?
A. I decline to answer.
Q. Why?
A. Because I don't know how to answer it.
Q. In what ways was it not?
A. I did not call her mother.
Q. What name did she go by?
A. Mrs. Borden.
Q. When did you begin to call her Mrs. Borden?
A. I should think five or six years ago.
Q. Before that time you had called her mother?
A. Yes sir.
Q. What led to the change?
A. The affair with her stepsister.
Q. So that the affair was serious enough to have you change from calling her mother, do you mean?
A. I did not choose to call her mother.
Q. Have you ever called her mother since?
A. Yes, occasionally.
Q. To her face, I mean?
A. Yes.
Q. Often?
A. No sir.
Q. Seldom?
A. Seldom.
---
So it would seem that the proverbial straw that broke the back of otherwise decent (if not intimately cordial, you might say) relations 'twixt Abby Borden and the girls was the property transfer made by Mr. Borden to Mrs. Whitehead. (The exchange quoted above appears at pg. 7 of the inquest transcript if I have the numbers correct.)

Hi Gaheris, welcome to the forum.

Emma, apparently from when Abby married her father, resented her. She never called her mother but called her Mrs. Borden. Andrew and Abby were married in June 1865. Emma would have been 14 and Lizzie a month shy of her 5th birthday.

There are indications that the relationships were not always disagreeable. This is from Radin's book, page 37:

" ...She [Emma] was an indifferent churchgoer and when her father walked out of the Central Congregational Church, she also stopped attending, although Lizzie continued. Later when there was a split in the Central Church and some members formed the First Congregational Church, Andrew Borden subscribed to a pew in the new church as a means of hitting back at his old enemy, the tax assessor. But his visits to the new church were infrequent. Emma went there sporadically. Mrs.
Borden sometimes accompanied Emma to the First Congregational Church and more frequently went with Lizzie to the Central Church. ..."

When Lizzie was 8 Abby presented her with a silver cup. Photo from Rebello's book, page 12:



Then there is the hand-painted tray which allegedly Lizzie made for Abby.



We just don't know what went on behind those closed doors at 92 Second St., only little tidbits. It should be remembered that they lived together 27 years (1865 to 1892) and the number and seriousness of known disagreeable incidents doesn't seem that much different from most families.

Sorry to disagree with such an eminent researcher whose contributions I always find enjoyable and informative, but doesn't Lizzie say at the inquest (when being questioned about how she called Abby, and then asked what Emma called her) say, "She (Emma) always called her Abby from the time she came to our house," --or something like that--sorry, don't have time to check it now, but it's in the first few pages of the inquest.

Robert Harry @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:17 pm wrote:Sorry to disagree with such an eminent researcher whose contributions I always find enjoyable and informative, but doesn't Lizzie say at the inquest (when being questioned about how she called Abby, and then asked what Emma called her) say, "She (Emma) always called her Abby from the time she came to our house," --or something like that--sorry, don't have time to check it now, but it's in the first few pages of the inquest.

Right you are, Robert. Thanks for the correction.

It was Lizzie who began calling her Mrs. Borden about the same time as the house transaction to Sarah Whitehead.

My point was that Emma never accepted Abby as her mother. She refers to her in both her Inquest and Trial testimony several times as Mrs. Borden.

Thank you for the welcomes everyone.

It was interesting to see the pictures you posted, Harry. This shows that at one point, Lizzie and Abby could have possibly been very close. Not that I would expect Lizzie to have hated Abby when she was a child anyway; I would think that a child would not feel such extreme negative emotion against someone unless they were experiencing cruelty at the hands of that person.

I did think it was unlikely that the two girls would have hated Abby intensely throughout all those years that they lived together. Even if Emma resented her presence from the beginning (which I think is possible) perhaps she and Abby were still able to get along, and at least able to tolerate each other, for a long time. It is hard to believe that they would have all stayed together in the same house for so long if relations had always been so tense between them.

I agree that Andrew's property purchase for Abby's family seems to have triggered feelings of anger and resentment and may represent a turning point in the girls' attitude towards Abby (although I suspect that their relationship may have been fractious for some time before then.) However, it did take place several years before the murders - perhaps Lizzie's relationship with Abby was up and down after the property purchase incident, and deteriorated even more in the last couple of years before the killings?

Harry, your instinct is correct. There is something odd about Emma's relationship to/ perception of her stepmother--she called her by her first name. Occasionally, I hear of families where the children call their parents by their first name (but very rarely--and in my younger days, this was usually done by unconventional or "hippie" type people). I think that philosophically and psychologically you are on to something. It would be interesting to uncover what factors induce bonding of children with step parents and to see if, given the mores of the time, the Borden girls' attitudes were all that different from those of any step children. It seems to me there might always be some feelings of resentment/anger/jealousy, given the uniqueness of the parent/child relationship. And, if you are Freudian, there could be a lot of baggage in young girls vis-a-vis the whole Oedipal thing! I guess what I'm saying is that I don't find it surprising that Emma and Lizzie resented Abbie in some way. But, the other side of this is--the number of blows to Abbie to me almost "proves" that Lizzie did it. Just try enacting 19 swings with your arm--that shows that the act of killing contained more than just intent to kill. To me it also argues against a third-party assasin who could have easily done away with Abbie and Andrew with a few choice blows. In this context, it is interesting that Abbie suffered 19 blows!

I have to agree with Robert Harry about the number of hatchet blows. It was difficult or impossible to find anyone outside of the household who even disliked Abby, let alone anyone who detested her.

It seems that the Whitehead property transaction may have been an epiphany of sorts for the Borden sisters, since it marked a turning point in Lizzie and Abby's relationship. Abby's sister had given her daughter, Abby's niece, the middle name "Borden", which may have seemed a bit pretentious. It's possible it marked the first time the Borden sisters realized that Abby or her family might benefit from Andrew's fortune. A possible motive might have been more about controlling the money rather than simply obtaining it.

By the way, Gaheris, I like your signature line, from Don MacLean's "Vincent". One of my favorites!

There's another twist to this theme of the girls' "dislike" of Abby. And that is Lizzie's disturbing seeming distrust of Andrew. From the beginning of my interest in this case, I was struck by what I perceive to be Lizzie's overreaction to Andrew's taking care (financially) of Abby and her family. Why would Lizzie become so infuriated/panicked by this? If she trusted and loved her father as much as the legend says, she would not need to become so fearful that benefits shown to the stepmother necessarily meant that she would be left unprovided for. Unless, of course, things really soured between Lizzie and Andrew, or they never were as close as we thought. In any case, there is definitely a "triangulation" here--whereby the principals play themselves one against the other. Or perhaps Lizzie had borderline personality disorder (in which there is splitting--alternately adoring and then hating the object of one's affection). After all, though Abby got 19 whacks, Andrew got a substantial number (at least 9 if I remember correctly, or was it 11)? Again, that is more than needed to kill--except by someone with strong emotion.

The focus on social station by the Borden sisters may have played into the equation. Abby may have been seen by them as a pretender, an outsider. The fear that any of Andrew's estate might benefit her or her family may have been seen as a problem. Whether or not the sisters were aware of Massachusetts law governing wills is another question, but they didn't need to know the law to manifest the fear. They may have harbored the suspicion over the years that Andrew might show some favor to Abby's family, but the purchase of an interest in the Whitehead residence made it real. This may have caused some degree of distrust in Andrew, but perhaps not until then.

Robert Harry @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:29 pm wrote:Harry, your instinct is correct. There is something odd about Emma's relationship to/ perception of her stepmother--she called her by her first name.

Emma addressing Abby by her first name doesn't seem strange to me, probably because I know of several people who gained step-parents whilst in their teens and addressed them by their names, rather than calling them "Mum" or "Dad". I think their age has something to do with it, as the people I know who have gained step-parents at a very young age usually call them "Mum"/"Dad". These days, I would say it is probably more common for a teenager to address their new stepmother or stepfather by their first name. Perhaps this would have been unusual in 1892, though, with people generally being a bit more formal then.

If I recall correctly, from all the books I read last summer about the case, wasn't someone in Abby's family a Borden also, but not the same Borden as the one she married into? Hence, that's why her sister used the name Borden as a middle name for her daughter, not necessarily after Andrew.

I have alway thought that Emma disliked Abby from the start. Abby may very well have welcomed the chance to raise the two girls since she never had any children of her own. Emma may have felt jealousy towards Abby. In my opinion, Emma resented Abby trying to be a mother to Lizzie. Especially if Abby's ideas on child rearing ever clashed with how Sarah had raised Emma. She was old enough to remember her mother. Sarah had instilled certain values in Emma by the time of her death I'm sure. She may have thought that Abby having any influence over Lizzie in this capacity was unfair. Emma may have wanted to try and raise Lizzie herself, to both feed her own maternal instincts, and to carry on with the values her mother had given her. Emma never had any children of her own either. Being a central figure in Lizzie's life may have been the closest she ever got to raising a child. If she had any of these maternal yearnings Lizzie may have served to feed them.

The girls living in the house with Abby and Andrew all those years may have had nothing to do with the state of their relationship. Neither Emma or Lizzie had sufficient income of their own to take care of themselves on their own, nor did they have any offers of marriage. All of their income originated with Andrew in some way. They wanted the finer things in life. Andrew could not understand why they could not be happy with the simple things they had. He was frugal and disliked spending money on luxuries he thought were frivolous. According to Alice Russell's testimony they further disliked Abby for not influencing Andrew in their favor. When Emma and Lizzie didn't get their way, they chose the silent treatment as their favorite weapon. You see this again and again given in testimony by people who knew them. The most evident display of this was Emma moving out of Maplecroft and never speaking to Lizzie again.

When Andrew bought Abby the half house property, it was for the purpose of keeping it in the family. Yet, the girls pretty much threw a tantrum until he gifted them a property that was equal in value. This would show, in my opinion, the Borden sisters did not consider Abby's family part of their own. In fact, members of Abby's family claimed the girls would not even speak to them in public. Abby also stated to a friend that most of the household items were bought out of her monthly allowance. The girls did not contribute to the household out of their allowances. Abby may have resented this, and rightly so. Both Emma and Lizzie were adult women who should have contributed to some degree to the household they all shared. Emma and Abby expected the income from their father, but did not feel it their duty to contribute anything in return. However this situation of tension came about, all of them were trapped in this situation with no means to escape.

It seems like any stepmother would have been disliked by Emma because she was old enough to miss her mother. She may have occasionally reminded Lizzie "she's not our real mother" and Lizzie grew up with that message even though she may have been open to forming a bond with Abby. It seems like something changed in Lizzie and Emma when Andrew bought property for Mrs. Whitehead, but Lizzie really seemed to change after her trip to Europe when she got a taste of the life she dreamed of. I have always wondered why Lizzie and Emma did not both go to Europe and why Lizzie returned home from vacation early right before the murders. Were she and Emma uncomfortable about leaving Andrew "alone" with Abby for too long? Did Andrew purchase the Whitehead property at a time when the girls were away? Had Andrew died and left just about everything to Abby, Lizzie and Emma probably would have had to watch their father's fortune be left to Mrs. Whitehead by Abby.

Gaheris @ Mon Feb 08, 2010 8:24 pm wrote:I have known about the Lizzie Borden case for some years but have only recently (literally in the last few days) started reading about it (mostly the interesting threads on this forum.)

I know that there had been tensions brewing in the Borden household for quite some time and that that both Lizzie and Emma heartily disliked their stepmother. But had this always been the case, or did they possibly start out as getting along well with her and along the way their feelings towards their stepmother changed? And if so, I wonder what it was that would have caused them to change their attitude towards Abby?

I think there always was alittle bit of dislike, but from what I understand, in the beginning the girls did get along pretty well with their step mom. I mean, there is always a bit of a discord between steps, but that's to be expected.

I think where the problem came in to being was when Andrew let Abbys stepsister and her husband have the interest off of some property that Andrew owned so that the step sister and her husband wouldn't get evicted. The husband had lost his job. The girls were upset, they felt that Andrew was giving away there inheirtance. Or, at least, that's what I remember reading someone.

Someone correct me if I am wrong on my information.

Had Andrew died without a will, and "left" Abby everything, the girls may have been "allowed" to remain in the 2nd street house, but in Abby's name. I bet Lizzie laid awake nights worring about "what IF's." Abby would certainly have moved back with relatives, or close by. I can't see the trio remaining together, and Abby wouldn't buy Maplecroft. Uncle John's arrival may have been a clue, or at least got Lizzie thinking "wealth/property" and insecurity. Was there a plan to leave Uncle John the farm ?

I seriously doubt, as a parent, Andrew would have disinherited the girls...he probably would have left them both well provided for. The problem was, they wanted it ALL!

I think that's probably right, the Borden daughters wanted it all. The real conflict in the household may have been Emma vs Abby, and had little to do with Andrew and Lizzie. The theme may have been "keep-away", keep everything Borden away from Abby and her family, including Lizzie as a child. Emma likely made it clear that Abby was not her mother and never would be, if Emma dislike her from the first. Emma could also do her best to minimize Abby's influence over Lizzie as Lizzie was growing up.

The theory I find most intriguing is that Lizzie (and maybe even Emma) were victims of sexual abuse from Andrew and that Abby did nothing to protect them. I think that's the best explanation for the violence of the attacks--I can't imagine mere greed and antipathy being enough.

I also think that SOMETHING was said that day to set Lizzie off--I really don't think she woke up that morning planning to kill Andrew and Abby because I think she would have avoided some of the sloppiness of the loose ends.

And I've always toyed with the idea that Andrew had to involve the good doctor in giving Lizzie an abortion because of the incest, which flipped Lizzie over the edge. Abby never prevented the incest, which made Lizzie hate her even more. Maybe the abortion was performed a few weeks ago and Lizzie went to the shore with her friends to recoup and get away from the house. But she was so distracted and freaked knowing she was stuck there possibly forever that she came home after a day with a plan to get herself out of an intolerable situation once and for all. Maybe she wasn't having the last days of her cycle, but was recuperating after the procedure, and that's why she was still bleeding slightly. And her hormones were off kilter from the pregnancy. Maybe that's why the doctor helped her after the murders because he could understand what made her flip out. And he was feeling guilty for not only handling the abortion, but being indirectly responsible for the murders. I'm off on a tangent, but what the hell.

Well, if you buy Eli Bence's testimony, thrown out at trial (and I do), then the murders were most certainly premeditated.

I think any perceived sloppiness regarding the execution of the murders stems from Lizzie having to adopt a new modus operandi.

Angel, I really think Lizzie was on a "schedule," as it were, for the killings, that something was about to go down that would leave Emma and Lizzie minus some sort of major asset or property. Maybe the stocks about which Abby was keeping notes on that slip of paper found months later, in one of her garments.

Andrew seemed most unwilling to draw up a will. Why? Maybe he didn't want to hear endless yapping from Lizzie and Emma about their perceived (or perhaps actual) slights in the document.

Maybe he was willing to die intestate, to let the courts (and state law) settle the matter, but maybe he wanted to make sure Abby was secure. Hence, the stock transfer.

That he was quite an old man for his era, that he was so wealthy, and that he didn't have a will: that is a subject that deserves speculation. I can't help but feel that all his property squabbles with his daughters constituted a mitigating factor in the lack of said document.

We may paint Emma in many shades, but the fact remains that she was "in there" on the property squabbles as much as Lizzie. Also, Emma certainly looked the other way in the daylight robbery incident. Heck, for all we know, she could have helped keep a lookout for Lizzie, could have distracted Bridget, etc.

IOW: For all her unyielding "good taste" and submission to public propriety, Emma positively played a part in the household discord.

Angel, what makes you suspect incest?

I found this online which I think are great explanations of Lizzie's behavior:

http://www.curiouschapbooks.com/Catalog ... lb-11.html

Please bear with me folks, I am just catching up!

But for what its worth, before I can comment any further,
I did want to show a "Timeline" of "Steps" :

Mrs. Dr. Chagnon was a stepmother

Also:

Sarah Morse gained a step-mother in May 1845
Sarah Morse married Andrew J. Borden in December 1845

Andrew's sister, Luranna Borden married Hiram Harrington in January 1854
Andrew J. Borden and his sister Luranna gained a step-mother in November 1854

Abbie Gray gained a step-mother in 1863
Abbie Gray married Andrew J. Borden in 1865

Also, it's possible Abbie's sister, Priscilla Fish became a stepmother upon her marriage to George Fish. I've not been able to prove or disprove that yet- also, don't know their marriage date.

But, note: nobody killed anybody in any of these other step-child/step-mother relationships. Some just seemed to go get married, instead!
(I may surmise that the possibility of the upcoming nuptials of Abraham Borden to BeBe Wilmarth may have propelled the (later sickly) Luranna to wed earlier in the same year.)

I wonder if something similar to the list of assets found in Abby's garment might have been found among Abby's possessions during the robbery? If Lizzie and/or Emma had been rummaging through Abby's belongings for something suggesting designs on the Borden estate and found what they were looking for, they might be tempted to take the list. That may have been the point of the robbery, it was staged to cover the real purpose. A list of assets was the focus, not streetcar tickets. It would have sent a message to Abby that someone was aware that she was keeping track of Andrew's estate.

stargazer @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:05 pm wrote:Had Andrew died without a will, and "left" Abby everything, the girls may have been "allowed" to remain in the 2nd street house, but in Abby's name. I bet Lizzie laid awake nights worring about "what IF's." Abby would certainly have moved back with relatives, or close by. I can't see the trio remaining together, and Abby wouldn't buy Maplecroft. Uncle John's arrival may have been a clue, or at least got Lizzie thinking "wealth/property" and insecurity. Was there a plan to leave Uncle John the farm ?

I think that you came up with the good point, stargazer. I bet she did lay awake doing the "what if's" I think that just added fuel to the fire of not liking her, plus with the fact that Andrew did give the interest of some his real estate to her step sister and her husband. Bet that chaped her butt big time!