The Lizzie Borden Society archive

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1. "Hiram C. Harrington sets off to California"
Posted by Harry on Mar-5th-02 at 3:31 PM

The website below has an article on the ship Audley Clark which made a trip to California in 1849 carrying passengers from the Rhode Island area seeking the wealth of the California gold rush. The manifest of that ship lists one Hiram C. Harrington.

I checked Rebello (page 4) and sure enough Hiram did go to California "seeking sudden wealth". He would have been 20 at the time. 

http://www.rootsweb.com/~rinewpor/mercury1882.html


(Message last edited Mar-5th-02  3:32 PM.)

Harry, how do you come by these "nuggets" of information?

The key word is patience, a lot of it. I use search engines with combinations of key words. That usually generates pages of web sites having those words. Then it's just a matter of looking at those pages that may yield something worth looking at.

I just found this new page put up today. It has a great shot of the sitting room and a unique view of Lizbeth's gravestone.

http://www.kgw.com/archive/old_archive_story.html?StoryID=20830

I just noticed when I enlarged the picture of the gravestone, someone has placed coins on the stone.  Can anyone explain that custom if it is one?

I guess you could search the web for "Coins on Gravestones..."
It looks like a solemn, intimate gesture...

BTW:  Trial lasted "10 WEEKS"???????

(Message last edited Mar-5th-02  9:31 PM.)

On that California expedition, there's included a Thomas Barlow and a Benjamin Brown...forebears of "ME & BROWNIE"?

There's also that ubiqutous "Gardner".

(Message last edited Mar-5th-02  9:41 PM.)

People in my area (Connecticut) sometimes place a pebble or small stone on a gravestone to signify that they have visited the plot. When the top edge of the stone is full the pebbles are put back on the ground and the process starts again. I suppose leaving pennies or other coins is the same kind of gesture.

(Message last edited Mar-6th-02  12:07 PM.)

We've been discussing Hiram in the "Proceedings" thread, in the Privy.
This new information adds even more dimension to him as a real person.
Now for surmise:
He and Andrew had been feuding forever.  Nobody really knew why.  Neither would enter the other's home.  But according to that Inquest testimony of Hiram, HE cut Andrew's acquaintance FIRST.  He said Andrew "was a hard man." (134).
So now we find out Hiram has traveled part of the world, at a young & impressionabe age.  Travel is broadening (look what it did for Lizzie)...
Anyway, he was on a ship 1/3 of a year GOING OUT, made Port's O' Call, saw some foreign lands, tried to stike it rich in uncivilized, raucus Califor-ny-ay, worked and had recreation among hard men, saw a different kind of life than stuffy ol' Fall River.
He returns home, tales abounding of his adventures--Lurana may have seen a romantical side to him that lifted her imagination out of the humdrum life of the Ferry Street clan--old Abe &( prematurely) old Andrew, those patriarchial and stiffly Puritanical men may have been stifling her urge for freedom.
She marries Hiram, but to Abraham and Andrew, he isn't good enough for a Lurana BORDEN.  I'm starting to see a picture form
.
Thanks you guys for all the input.....

Kat, you have drawn some interesting conclusions about Hiram Harrington. It is evident that at least some of his early life experiences were markedly different from those of Andrew Borden.

The following description of Abraham Borden, Andrew's father, comes from "Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story" by Edward D. Radin, page 18.

"His father, Abraham, was a fish peddler, who managed, after many years of hard work, to save enough money to buy the small, inexpensive frame house on Ferry Street. The son seems to have set out deliberately to be as unlike his father as he could. Abraham was a friendly, gregarious man who enjoyed exchanging news and gossip with his women customers as he made his rounds, crying his wares. He is remembered in later life as a portly person who enjoyed sitting in the sun, ready to yarn with anybody who passed by."

I do not know Radin's source(s) for this description of Abraham Borden, the passage is not footnoted and the bibliography of this book is not exhaustive (see Radin's note at the beginning of the bibliography). I do question one piece of information in the passage, that is that the Ferry St. house was small and inexpensive. A photograph of this house appears in both "The Fall River Tragedy" page 19 and "Lizzie Borden Past & Present" page 41. It does not appear to be small or necessarily inexpensive. Rebello describes the Ferry St. house, on page 28 of his book, as a two family home with an attic apartment.

If Radin's description of Abraham Borden is accurate I wonder if Hiram Harrington's personality was similar? Perhaps Lurana loved her brother Andrew for who he was despite his faults, and loved her husband Hiram because she saw something of her father, Abraham, in him. I am speculating here, of course.

Re Doug's speculation: Yes, it is possible that Hiram C reminded Lurena (spelling?) of her Dad (and not just speculation). Abraham owned a house and fed his family; he seemed like a good average man. But not as avaricious as Andy. You wonder what kind of harms and slights turned Andy into a Scrooge?

Sorry:
I missed all the March 7th posts...only found this thread again after asking Harry where it was.
Yes, knowing the source of Radin's views on Abraham would be beneficial.  Just the *name* Abraham, conjurs up WASP.  I should not assume.
Also in Rebello, in the land transaction sections, we find how canny Abe WAS in his business dealings.  He didn't need to be RICH, it seems, merely comfortable.  He sold shares in the homestead to his children for A PENSION.  I thought that was smart, in the days way before S.S..
Well, if he liked to "sit in the sun & gab" he would have suited ME to a "T" !
I wish I knew Hiram's birthdate!