Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Can anyone tell me the cause of death for Lizzie's biological mother? Sarah Morse Boreden? I am a new member, but have been intrigued for years.
Lisa

Welcome to the forum Harley!

I checked Sarah Borden in Rebello and he has this on page 6:

"Sarah Anthony Morse Borden died, March 26, 1863, in Fall River, Massachusetts.

In this City, _____ 26th, Sarah A., wife of Mr. Andrew J. Borden, aged 39 years, 6 months and 7 days. March 27, 1863. (The name of the newspaper has not been identified.)

Note: Cause of death was "uterine congestion, 4 mos. Disease of spine." (Death Record) "

I like your avatar. For those interested it is a portion of a painting by Andrew Wyeth, "Christina's World", a print of which I have hanging in my living room.

Thank you, Harry! I have wondered for a long time. I ordered a coy of Rebello, but have not received it yet. Out of 5 books I ordered, I have only received one so far. (Forty Whacks) I don't have alot of reference yet, but hope to very soon.

HI!
We have discussed what "Disease Of The Spine" might entail.
I thought Sarah might have had scoliosis.
If so, she would probably have been in a lot of pain at times, especially during a pregnancy.
She may have had a miscarriage which might be the "Uterine Congestion, 4 months."
If Sarah took drugs for her pain (if she had an ongoing problem of disease of the spine- which might also be TB), maybe Lizzie was born addicted?

For what its worth, I found this on Pelvic Congestion Syndrome:

What is Pelvic Congestion Syndrome?

Internal varicose veins cause chronic pelvic pain. The valves that control the blood flow to the heart leak, causing the blood to flow backward and pool in the pelvis. The additional pressure to the veins causes them to twist, stretch, bulge and become dilated and congested. The organs that are affected by pelvic congestion syndrome are the uterus, ovaries and vulva (the external genitals).

From this site: http://www.hopeforfibroids.org/mediaPel ... drome.html

And this:

Dysemenorrhea - which is painful menstruation, or congestion of the uterus

From this site:

http://www.risingwomen.com/arcrowe5.htm

Neither of which sound fatal, just incredibly painful.

Thank you all for the information. I greatly appreciate it!

You're welcome, Harley. I've looked high and low on the internet and saw "Uterine Congestion" thrown around everywhere and what herbs one can take to help with it, or certain massages one can do to alleviate the symptoms, but, not what it was! I finally found one site that gave the description.

I guess the problem is that the two reasons given for Sarah dying are so vague, and they may have meant something different in the 1800s. But, thats all I could find for Uterine Congestion. For disease of the spine, the thing that came up most was a certain type of cancer that attacks the spine, but, I do not know if that is what they were referring to?

Susan @ Fri Nov 05, 2004 6:13 pm wrote:For disease of the spine, the thing that came up most was a certain type of cancer that attacks the spine, but, I do not know if that is what they were referring to?

Tuberculosis also attacks the spine sometimes. I'll check my nineteenth-century medical book and se what they have to say about uterine congestion.

Lynn

Thanks, Lynn, that would be great! Certain terms like "disease of the spine" may have been code words that were easily understood by someone in the 1800s, but to us today just draws confusion. It would be wonderful to find out exactly what it was that Sarah died from.

Could her congestion of the uterus have been a name they could've used back then for an Ectopic pregancy?

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000215/1080.html