The Lizzie Borden Society archive

Lizzie Andrew Borden

 

Forum URL:

http://lizzieandrewborden.com/LBForum/index.php
Forum Title: LIZZIE BORDEN SOCIETY
Topic Area: Lizzie Andrew Borden
Topic Name: Emma Borden's Assumed Name

1. "Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Carol on Mar-23rd-02 at 4:26 PM

I just looked up in the photo gallery the piece on Emma Borden and it mentions that when she moved out of Maplecroft she took on an assumed name.  Why?  I couldn't find in the Rebello book any mention of that and she signed her will as Emma Borden.  Does anyone know what name she assumed?

It is interesting since we are discussing photographs on another link that Emma didn't seem to have many and how it turns out that she also had an assumed name.  Isn't is odd that she took on an assumed name about the same time Lizzie took on another variation of her name?

It is also interesting that the book notes that Emma took a trip to Scotland in l906 the year after she left Maplecroft.  Why the interest in Scotland with the sisters? 


2. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Stefani on Mar-24th-02 at 12:18 AM
In response to Message #1.

Some of that info on the photo gallery (I am assuming you mean my web site?) came from the appendix to the Knowlton papers. The other part came from Terence Duniho, who was and is my one of my trusty editors and fact-checkers.

The bit of info about the assumed name was from the Knowlton Papers. I just checked. So the FRHS says this is so.

Maybe we can conjure up Terence right now and he will shed some additional light on your question, Carol. Let's see - - - - Terence? Are you listening? Come towards the sound of my voice.


3. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Kat on Mar-24th-02 at 2:56 AM
In response to Message #2.

Rebello (pg.311-17), gives Emma's whereabouts from the time she left Lizzie until her death in Newmarket, N.H.
There is no mention, as you say, of an assumed name, and there IS a question as to where she lived between 1905 &1908.
"The Fall River City Directory lists Emma as 'Removed to Providence, Rhode Island'.  However, the Providence City Directories for 1905-08 did not list Emma.  She is first listed in the 1909 Providence City Directory at 211  Hope Street, the home of Preston H. Gardner, a relative of Emma's.  In view of this lack of notice, perhaps the newspapers were correct when they reported that Emma was in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, in the 1905-1908 period."
1909-1913-listed EMMA in the Providence City Directory [but in 1912, also listed at the home of Rev. Buck's (daughters)].
1914-1918-"EMMA is listed in the Fall River City Directories at 114 Prospect St., Rev. Buck's home.  The 1917 Fall River Telephone Directory also listed EMMA at that address."
1919-1926-EMMA at the Minden Apt.s, Providence.  "In 1923, Emma went to Newmarket, New Hampshire."
1927-EMMA died Newmarket, N.H. (June 10).

---if she used an assumed name it was not in the directory, nor would she have been found in the directories. There is a question merely for that *missing* period of 1905-08.  It could be a mix-up with the story told on pg.314 of Rebello, where Louis Fillon found out Emma was living with Annie Connor, in Newmarket.  He "recalled that her companion (Annie)..was surprised that he discovered Emma's identity."
--It does not STATE she used "an assumed name".  Living under an assumed name, and not BROADCASTING who you are, are two different things...
GOSH, it'd be interesting to know their source..as Knowlton Papers by FRHS came before Rebello...

Maybe when Emma first went away from Lizbeth and Maplecroft, she Had HAD IT, and did change to an assumed name, for a time-say thru 1908.  But if she ended up in Fairhaven..they knew her there, didn't they?  What annonimity is that?  If she took an assumed name only as late as 1923, then WHY?  WHAT happened , in the news (?) that would make her want to conceal her identity.  I can only think of two things.  Probate records, pg.307, show the attempt to distribute the equal shares of the A.J. Borden Building between the sisters, which would have added to her fortune, and the other might be that Ed. Pearson was nosing around for his first article on the Borden Case which would be published as STUDIES IN MURDER, 1924.  That could be a reason to use an assumed name and move to New Hampshire!


(Message last edited Mar-24th-02  5:04 AM.)


4. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Carol on Mar-24th-02 at 2:08 PM
In response to Message #3.

I just wrote a long piece and was disconnected which wiped it out. That is so frustrating.  Thanks for all the information on my question.  I looked up in the Knowlton book the reference in the glossary which the FRHS wrote about Emma.  It does say that "She relocated first to Providence, Rhode Island, and then to Newmarket, New Hampshire.  She made her home in the latter locality, living under an assumed name until her death."

From this I interpret that Emma only lived under an assumed name after she moved to Newmarket, N.H.  But since Kat has shown us that Emma's whereabouts from l905-l908 are not known for sure, could not have Emma have used an assumed name right after leaving Maplecroft as well, and later in life went through that same process after arriving in N. H. and in the intervening years used her own name?  Hard to say.

It reminds me of the Agatha Christie case when due to extreme emotional stress she had a car accident and checked into a hotel under a different name which she used until they found her there. I too wonder what would have caused Emma to live under an assumed name, whatever that really means, but I would assume it would mean presenting yourself to everyone as someone else using a different name than your own. 

It is interesting to think that both Lizzie and Emma had name problems, if problems is the word for it.  Lizzie wanted to be "known" as a new first name but she kept the Borden and was satisfied with that publicly.  Emma did the opposite, she went into annonymity and did not want the Borden connection.

I better post this so I don't loose it.  Come Back Terrence, help us with this one!!


5. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Kat on Mar-24th-02 at 7:47 PM
In response to Message #4.

I think we're doing fine, learning stuff as we go.  Ter would be an extra added benefit, tho!
I do have one of those ingrained suspicions tho, of people that change their names...that they're probably guilty of something.

But the way you describe Lizzie's change, it makes sense.  She *up-graded* her first name as well as her physical location...but the name change did not come until around the time Emma left (?).
I tend to think, now, that if Emma went to Fairhaven, she did not need to"disguise" herself.....but that the time period when she moved to N.H. co-incided with Pearson AND A NAME CHANGE, seems reasonable.


6. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Harry on Mar-24th-02 at 9:20 PM
In response to Message #5.

Spiering in his book does not mention an alias for Emma. He covered her stay in Newmarket in the last chapter. I wouldn't doubt it if she had though.

All she needed was a book coming out digging up the same old questions again. It must have been a nightmare for her.


7. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by william on Mar-25th-02 at 10:22 AM
In response to Message #2.

Hi Stefani,

Why not take the bull by the horns? Write/phone Martins or Binette at the FRHS and request the source of this information (Ref: "Commonwealth of Mass. vs. Lizzie A. Borden," Emma Borden, page 410).

 


8. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Carol on Mar-25th-02 at 10:46 AM
In response to Message #7.

Yes, I was thinking of doing that too yesterday.  I will write the FRHS a letter asking the same question.  If several of us do perhaps they will find it an important issue as well and might even have to reword or add information to their glossary notation for clarification next time the book comes out. I would like to know WHAT the assumed name was too.  They might ask me to come do the research myself in their files which I can't do being here in Oregon and I hope they don't have research fees for their librarians for these types of questions, they run into quite a bit some places per hour.
I'll give it a shot.

And thanks Harry for posting that B & B photo for us. 


9. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Lorna on Mar-28th-02 at 5:55 PM
In response to Message #6.

Several years ago, I interviewed an old man who was a boy when Emma lived in New Market. He described her as an old lady with white hair who sat in the kitchen, silently rocking,while he brought in the wood. According to him, she only went outside after dark and was afraid that "someone" would come after her for what happened in Fall River. Those were her words, (according to him) not mine. I have no idea what it means. I do believe that she was a victim of hardening of the arteries and subject to off beat thoughts. And I can't explain why she had a back stairway installed in the house, a recessed place in the stairway with an axe in it, and a light switch that illuminated the entire house. Maybe she was afraid Lizzie was coming after her. The question is, why?


10. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Kat on Mar-29th-02 at 1:50 AM
In response to Message #9.

Lorna,
I had read that the back-stairs, and recess for an ax were inventions of an author.
Do you have a citation for this info?  I haven't read THE BOOKS on Lizzie in a while..only sources.  WAS it an Author?


11. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by augusta on Mar-30th-02 at 1:44 AM
In response to Message #10.

Emma always did seem to want to just melt into obscurity, even before the murders.  I was going to look up her assumed name in Spiering's book, but Harry saved me the trouble (thanks!). I think her using an alias fits in with her personality as we know it - reclusive, not wanting attention.

What the man you interviewed said, Lorna, fits in with what Frank Spiering says in his book "Lizzie".  He says that Emma was very afraid of "them" coming to get her. 

Lizzie used an assumed name when she checked into Truesdale Hospital to get her gall bladder out.  What was that - Mary something she used?


12. "Re: Lizzie Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Kat on Mar-30th-02 at 8:06 AM
In response to Message #11.

Rebello. 318, says PEARSON in Murder At Smutty Nose, gives Lizzie's hospital name as (get this...)
Miss MARY SMITH BORDEN, of Providence!

That's too funny..not much imagination...kept the Borden, couldn't get away from it!

(BTW:  WE'RE getting Smutty Nose any day!)


13. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Carol on Mar-30th-02 at 1:53 PM
In response to Message #9.

Lorna: A question about the man you interviewed who as a boy delivered wood to Emma when she was in New Market.  If Emma was in disguise, in other words, using an assumed name in New Market, then how did the little boy know it was Emma Borden he was delivering wood to.  She wasn't very successful in establishing a new identity if she was well known to be Emma Borden even by the local children. Or was it only years later that the boy found out it was Emma Borden he had talked with?


14. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Lorna on Mar-30th-02 at 3:10 PM
In response to Message #13.

If I recall correctly, he didn't know she was Emma Borden at the time. He learned that later. All he knew at the time was, she was a little white haired lady, who sat in a rocker watching him all the while he did his work, and who only went out after dark.
I learned of the staircase, the lights and the ax from the local undertaker whose relative was living in the house at the time I was there. Perhaps the boy who did the chores learned of that later as well.
I interviewed the undertaker because I wanted to track down Annie Connor's grave site and that of her sister. I was hoping that in the family plot there would be a mother named "Maggie" or Margaret. No such luck.


15. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Carol on Apr-30th-02 at 6:58 PM
In response to Message #14.

I inquired of the FRHS regarding the notation in the Glossary of the Knowlton Papers book about Emma's assumed name.

Michael called me yesterday and left a message in answer to my letter.  He said that the reference came from a Mrs. Griffin (Griffith--sorry, I couldn't make it out), of the FRHS, who had been in touch with a gentleman in Newmarket, New Hampshire, who had worked for Emma as a young man, he was her landscaper, gardener and worked around the house, and he told her it wasn't until he read of Emma's obituary that he realized the woman he worked for was in fact Emma Borden of Fall River, because he knew her under a different name. 

Michael said Mrs. Griffin didn't know the name Emma used and he did not mention who the man interviewed was either.  He said he would be looking back at some notes to try to get more information.  So that is all I have on this as of now. 

I am wondering if it is the same man that Lorna mentioned she had talked to in her previous post, sounds very likely.


16. "Re: Emma Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by bobcook848 on Apr-30th-02 at 10:34 PM
In response to Message #15.

I can't find any reference or documentation that Emma took on an assumed name after she left Maplecroft.  I believe she lived for some time with the Rev. Buck (??) in Fall River (and his daughter whom Emma was chummy with) then she moved to Providence (living in an apartment building, according to Rebello) then she went to Newmarket.

I think that she was an unknown in Newmarket or at least not too many of the townies knew her well enough to make anything of her residence.

She lived in near if not total seclusion until her death, so it is probable that the few who did know her didn't mention WHO she was and she didn't have the hounds on her tail.

BC


17. "Re: Lizzie Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by rays on May-1st-02 at 11:03 AM
In response to Message #12.

Given the numerous people named "Borden" in that area, this would allow her to be correctly called "Miss Borden". Changing only the more unique "Lizzie" could be disguise enough.
"Yes, I'm related to that woman"?


18. "Re: Lizzie Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Kat on May-1st-02 at 12:46 PM
In response to Message #17.

Well, that's an interesting observation.  Were there a preponderance of "Bordens" in Providence, where she supposedly claimed to be from?

I wondered if she thought she might forget her new name, under anesthetic, and recovery, unless it was close to her own, so yea, what you say makes sense.


19. "Re: Lizzie Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by bobcook848 on May-1st-02 at 2:20 PM
In response to Message #18.

I have just tabulated the results of the name of "BORDEN" in the May edition of the Verizon Telephone Directory, covering the Greater Providence and Southern Bristol Massachusetts area.

There are listed: 25 seperate listing for the name Borden.  Two are listed here in Attleboro and one listed in nearby Seekonk.  The remainder are from Providence, Rhode Island and the greater Providence area.

This has been a recording...plase make a note of it...thank you for choosing Verizon...life listed alphabetically.

BC


20. "Re: Lizzie Borden's Assumed Name"
Posted by Kat on May-1st-02 at 5:32 PM
In response to Message #19.

Oh, if only Life WERE listed alphabetically, we might make some sense out of it.

Let's see, it's May 1, 2001...we should be into the "U"'s by now....Sept., 2001 was the "T"'s (for terror)...
Uncles
Underwater
Underwear
Unmade beds

So anyway...thanks for checking "Borden" in Providence!!!!


LizzieAndrewBorden.com © 2001-2008 Stefani Koorey. All Rights Reserved. Copyright Notice.
PearTree Press, P.O. Box 9585, Fall River, MA 02720

 

Page updated 12 October, 2003