The Borden Family.
Andrew J. Borden was numbered among the wealthy and influential men of
Fall River. He was one of the family of Bordens whose name has always
been identified with the growth and business enterprises of the city
and vicinity. No one knows how much money he was worth, but persons who
are as well acquainted with his affairs as he would allow them to be,
do not hesitate to say that his estate was worth $300,000. He was a
thrifty Yankee in every sense of the word, and nothing that represented
money was ever wasted by him. No other man knew the worth of a dollar
better than he, and none were more thoroughly convinced that a dollar
properly invested would bring its returns many times over. Upon the
death of his father Abraham Borden he came into possession of a small
estate but his fortune was of his own creation. Abraham Borden sold
fish in the streets of Fall River when the place was but a village
and thus by patient and plodding economy accumulated enough money
to purchase a house on Ferry street and some other real estate. But
the murdered man was never too busy counting his money to stop and
do a day’s work. He owned farms across the Taunton river in Somerset
and took the greatest interest in superintending the work thereon.
There was nothing like style around him, and no one wondered why he
did not make a show of his money. He had devoted his entire life to
its accumulation, spending but little and it was not expected of him
to change his manner of life in old age, although many a man would
have pursued a different course in his declining years. Other matters
besides those of the farm occupied the old man’s attention for he was
a prominent figure in financial circles. He was president of the Union
Savings Bank, a member of its Board of Trustees and investment, a
director of the Merchants Manufacturing Company, the B. M. C. Durfee
Safe Deposit and Trust Company, the Globe Yarn Mills, the Troy Cotton
and Woolen Manufactory and other manufacturing concerns. In each
of these he had large sums of money invested and the returns were
undoubtedly large. In early life Mr. Borden was for many years engaged
in the undertaking business with William M. Almy and Theodore D. W.
Wood and it was his boast that during his active business life he never
borrowed a cent or gave a promisory note. He was always conservative in
his investments of money; a man of excellent judgment, and he was often
called upon to act as appraiser on land values. Two years before his
death he erected one of the finest business blocks in the city located
at the corner of South Main and Anawan streets. His mode of living was
simple and unostentatious, and he was a pattern of old time New England
industry, thrift, economy and good citizenship. He was twice married,
his first wife being Sarah A. Morse, daughter of Anthony Morse. His
second was Abbie D. Gray, daughter of Oliver Gray, whom he married on
June 6, 1865. He lived with his two daughters Emma L. and Lizzie A.,
who were issues of his first marriage. At the time of his death he was
seventy years of age and his wife was sixty-seven.
[Illustration: MRS. ABBIE D. BORDEN.]
Miss Lizzie Andrew Borden was thirty-two years old at the time of her
father’s death. Her mother died when she was two years of age, and she
was cared for in her early childhood by her elder sister. A few years
before the murder she joined the Central Congregational church and
was ofttimes an active member of that society. She was reared under
conditions which could have made life a luxury had she and her parents
turned their attention to society. The most aristocratic drawing rooms
of the city would have welcomed the daughters of Andrew J. Borden. But
Miss Lizzie seemed to care but little for society. She preferred to
move in a limited circle of friends and never sought to enlarge the
number of her acquaintances. She avoided strangers and persons with
whom she was not familiar. She was born in the old Borden homestead on
Ferry street in Fall River and received her education in the public
schools, graduating from the high school early in life. Her classmates
say that she was rather eccentric in her manner of life, and of a
retiring disposition. She never attended college although her father
was amply able to give her the best education that the schools of the
country could furnish. At the mission of the Central church on Pleasant
street, Fall River, she taught a class of young people, and there
formed the acquaintance of the Rev. Edwin A. Buck who was her constant
companion and spiritual adviser during the great affliction which came
to her in after life. Besides her active church work she was a member
of the Fruit and Flower Mission and other charitable organizations as
well as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. In all of these she was
considered a valuable and conscientious worker. In the summer of 1890
she joined a party of young ladies who made the tour of Europe, but
aside from this she never traveled extensively.
Miss Emma L. Borden was the eldest child, being thirty-seven at the
time of her father’s murder. She had been less active in church matters
than Miss Lizzie and had not traveled outside the bounds of New
England. Her education, disposition and manner of life were somewhat
similar to those of her sister. At the time of the murders she was
visiting friends in Fairhaven, Mass., and arrived home on the evening
of August 4, in response to a telegram sent by Dr. Bowen.
John V. Morse was sixty-nine years of age at the time of the murders.
He is a native of New England, his early home being at Dartmouth, Mass.
At the age of twenty-five he went west and located at Hastings, Iowa,
where he engaged in farming, and built up a comfortable fortune. For
twenty years he was separated from his friends in Massachusetts and
during that time, by honesty and frugality made himself a respected and
influential citizen of his adopted state. Besides his farming interest
he was engaged in other enterprises which brought in a goodly sum of
money. After his years of work in the west he came back to New England,
arriving at Warren, Rhode Island, in April, 1888. He remained a short
time in Warren and then removed to Dartmouth, which place he called his
permanent home. After his return he made frequent visits to the home of
the Bordens in Fall River and was upon the most intimate terms with all
the members of the family.