Lizzie and Her Property

[Kat]

Those of you who are subscribing to The Hatchet, may have read the story of my quest to prove Emma Borden's "Interview" in 1913, real.
In order to do that, I had to find an earlier article which might force Emma to finally speak.

That article was dated the week before and told all about Lizbeth's acquistion of property around the French Street lot, and of her putting up fences. Lately, in related news items, I am finding some of these as being referred to as "spite fences."

I had not ever heard this designation before, but it sounds descriptive.

Now I look at Lizzie's will more closely and realize that she gave a parcel of land (a "Lot") to her chauffeur, Terry. It was The Belmont lot, which is just around the corner from Maplecroft. Then she also gave a "Lot" to her man of business, Cook, called "The Baker Lot."

Is Lizbeth thumbing her nose at Hill Society? She is bequeathing a prime lot to her chauffeur! And her agent! These are not Society people. These are working people.

Another question: Is the Gertrude Baker in Lizbeth's will related to her lawyer, Charles Baker, who also signed as witness to her will?

[stuartwsa]

That's a really interesting point. But, who would have qualified in Lizzie's will as "society?" Weren't the main beneficiaries of Lizzie's will Grace Hartley Howe and Helen Leighton? Was Grace considered to be as "society" as Lizzie? I seriously doubt that Helen Leighton would be considered so.
(I wonder what Terry and Cook did with the land left to them?)

[augusta]

Was Lizzie friends in her later years with any Fall River society persons? Maybe she didn't have any society connections at that point. Grace Howe was a national figure + cousin, and she bequeathed a bit to her but not that land. Maybe she knew Grace didn't want it.

I think she remembered what it was like to live in that house on Second Street and yearning for something better. And she was very good to her servants and those who were true friends. I don't recall anyone named in her will that was high class, tho she did get along well with the people across the street, who obviously lived on The Hill.

Maybe this is a good time to remember what she said about Emma in her will - that she wasn't leaving her anything because Emma didn't need anything.
I always thought that was just a legal thing, and a swipe at Emma. But that last part may have much to do with why she bequeathed certain people certain things - because they needed them and others didn't?

[Kat]

These are good points. I think tho, that Lizbeth could have left the proceeds from the sale of the lot to Terry, and to Cook. So they had the money but not actually own the land. I guess that's why I thought she might be *speaking* through her will: leaving a Hill site to a chauffeur.

And yes, the person needs to be specfic in the will, saying why they are not leaving a close family member anything or else it could be contested, that's true.

Another thing tho, is Lizbeth left Grace Howe use of her Borden plot in Oak Grove if it was available. I think this is weird. Grace Howe wasn't "Society" but she was famous in her own way. Why would Lizbeth think Grace Howe needed a burial site?

[augusta]

Good point, Kat, that Lizzie may have been 'speaking' thru her will about her bequests of property on The Hill. She was a smart (molasses) cookie.

That leaving Grace Howe a grave in the family plot is weird. Grace was the widow of Louis Howe, the right hand man of FDR, and he died way before Grace. I'm not sure if he had died by 1928. If I had to guess right now, I'd say he lived into the 1930's. Grace is buried by her husband. But when Lizzie died, I think he was still alive. Maybe it was a private joke between her and Grace? I'm pretty sure Grace was married by the time Lizzie died. I thought some of those trips to Washington DC were to see Grace.

[doug65oh]

Colonel Louis McHenry Howe did survive into the 1930s, 'til just about midway thru FDR's first administration. Residing at the White House, Howe passed away at Bethesda Naval Hospital on April 18, 1936. At Mrs. Roosevelt's direction, Colonel Howe was given a state funeral in the East Room of the White House.
http://www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/howe-louis.htm

[Edisto]

Roosevelt was first inaugurated on March 4, 1933 ("...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself..."), so Howe survived about three-quarters of that administration. He was among the notables caricatured in "Vanity Fair" at the time, indicating he was a legitimate celebrity. Lizzie might have considered it an honor to have him buried in the family plot with her. According to Rebello, the Howes were married in November of 1889. Also per Rebello, Grace and Louis Howe are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery. Possibly Grace Howe considered her husband's celebrity quite enough and decided not to partake of Lizzie's hospitality!

Incidentally, Rebello mentions (p. 333) that Louis Howe served as Secretary of the Navy. I've been unable to verify that in any of my references on FDR or Howe himself. Franklin Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913-20), so that may be where the confusion occurred.

[nbcatlover]

I think I need more clarity regarding the Howe plot in Oak Grove Cemetery. I have never visited it.

However, the Rural Cemetery in New Bedford in near my house. The "old" families have entire sections of the cemetery. I believe Lizzie was just conveying the right to be buried in the ancestral plot. There are even monuments and markers in some family lots for those lost at sea and prominent members who were actually buried in Portsmouth, RI. They serve as memorials and links to their heritage.

The irony in Lizzie's will should be noted in the following:

"...I also give to her the privilege, so far as I have the same, to use the Oak Grove Cemetery lot for burial purposes." (see Rebello, p 333)

I am sure there were many people, at the time of Lizzie's death, who believed Lizzie's privilege should have be revoked.

[nbcatlover]

Just another quick thought re Terry and Cook. Land, at certain times, gave men privileges that just money would not. Voting used to be tied to land ownership. Mortgages and lines of credit require security like land.

[Harry]

Incidentally, Rebello mentions (p. 333) that Louis Howe served as Secretary of the Navy. I've been unable to verify that in any of my references on FDR or Howe himself. Franklin Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913-20), so that may be where the confusion occurred.

According to the list of Navy Secretaries at this web site he never was:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq37-1.htm

[Kat]

Thanks for the quote from Lizzie's will, Cynthia.
Does this sound usual? Or was Lizzie being a groupie?

I wonder if Lizzie ever voted and cared about "landing" a servant with Hill property. Mr. Lake says that Lizbeth helped that servant buy a house.

It was posted that Lizbeth still kept as friend a neighbor across the street- I presume Mrs. Lake- but that Stevenson article of 1913 states Lizbeth managed to alienate her as a neighbor as well. Yet we have Russell Lake's memories in The Casebook, 264-266, but he says into his 'teens he doesn't remember much about Lizbeth so maybe the families were on the "outs" by then?

Good detecting, Edisto and Harry!

[stuartwsa]

I am very surprised that article that you mentioned, Kat, about Lizzie's life after the trial, was not included in "The Lizzie Borden Sourcebook."
Perhaps Mr. Kent could not locate a copy?
I had never seen the article before you transcribed it for The Hatchet, and now I think it is one of the more important pieces written about Lizzie.
If it weren't for you and your hard work, Kat, I might never have found a copy to read.
Many thanks!

[Kat]

Thanks Stuart. I asked our Joe to get it for me- I'd been after it for over a year and he came through!
The interview with Emma seems different now in context. Her remarks seem self-serving to me now- not so altruistic.

[stuartwsa]

In the aforementioned article by Gertrude Stevenson, Lizzie is mentioned as having cut her ties with last friend in the neighborhood, Mrs. E.B. Lake due to problems over the sale of property.
Yet in Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890s, Mrs. Lake's son Russell shares some very warm memories of Lizzie:
"She came over to our house a great deal and I went across the street with my mother to visit very often. My mother and Miss Borden were very good friends and neighbors...
My family was a great defender of Miss Borden. The firmly believed, as I do, that as kind and good a woman as Miss Borden could never have committed such a gruesome murder and in such a manner as it was done...
As I grew older, I still continued to go across the street to visit with Miss Borden whenever I came home from boarding school. When I went tautoe fishing, I knew that tautoe (the local Indian name for east coast black fish) was Miss Borden's favorite fish, so I always cleaned a couple and brought them over to her.
I do not remember as much about her as I grew into my teens as I did when I did when I was a child..."
There is no mention of a broken friendship, other than the mention of remembering her less as a teenager than as a child.
Comments?

[Kat]

Thanks for the quote from Lizzie's will, Cynthia.
Does this sound usual? Or was Lizzie being a groupie?

I wonder if Lizzie ever voted and cared about "landing" a servant with Hill property. Mr. Lake says that Lizbeth helped that servant buy a house.

It was posted that Lizbeth still kept as friend a neighbor across the street- I presume Mrs. Lake- but that Stevenson article of 1913 states Lizbeth managed to alienate her as a neighbor as well. Yet we have Russell Lake's memories in The Casebook, 264-266, but he says into his 'teens he doesn't remember much about Lizbeth so maybe the families were on the "outs" by then?

Good detecting, Edisto and Harry!

It's a good question. I actually asked it earlier.

I know someone who has correspondence with Russell Lake- maybe I should ask in that quarter. He's dead now.

[Haulover]

here is something on-topic yet from far left field:

while in the FRHS basement Aug 3, my eye caught an astrology book in the borden bookcase at the far end of the room. i found lizzie's birth chart in it and even jotted down some figures. anyway, this astrologer (did not have time to be sure what method the astrologer had used) gave her a virgo ascendant. -- realizing this chart is not proveable even if astrology is valuable for getting info --
and in taking a look at it later, i see several major indicators pointing at the 11th house with several planets there, the aspect there from neptune -- the upshot of it is that it looks like the chart of a serious humanitarian who feels for the "underdog."

by coincidence, i had already been thinking about lizzie as described by one person radin interviewed, the man said lizzie "was not prejudiced." there is a tendency to think of lizzie as a greedy social climber, etc. -- perhaps we miss a big piece of the picture to think that. maybe she was not a snob and did not like the snobs.

[Nancie]

Lizzie left quite a bit to Washington friends, makes
me believe she had another life, actually a life outside of the Fall River prison?

[Kat]

Lizzie's will, partial:
7. To Mrs. Margaret L. Streeter, of Washington, District of Columbia, the sum of five thousand dollars with my diamond and sapphire ring with five stones which she always liked.

8. To Mrs. Minnie E. A. Lacombe, of Washington, D.C. the sum of five thousand dollars.

9. To S. Howard Lacombe, the son of Minnie E. A. Lacombe the sum of two thousand dollars.

...
and:
27. To Animal Rescue League, of Washington, D. C., the sum of two thousand dollars.

~~~~~~~~

Were Streeter and Lacombe original Washingtonians or transplanted Fall Riverites?

[Edisto]

Well, it's said that nobody in Washington is actually "from" here, and it's largely true. There are some old names, though (many of them African-American). I looked in a 1963 copy of the Social Register for D. C. (the only year I happen to have). There wasn't a single Lacombe (or similar spellings) listed, but there were a slew of Streeters. That might indicate that Streeter was an old Washington name, while Lacombe wasn't. I also did some online searching. Found a little hamlet called "Lacombe" in the inner suburbs in Maryland, which frankly I'd never heard of before today. It was settled, apparently in the 1950s, by Lacombes who moved out from Washington (city), but I couldn't find any connection between them and Minnie. One of the Lacombes of that ilk (ah, finally a chance to use that word in its true meaning!) was a genealogist, but I haven't delved into his work. There are municipalities called "Lacombe" in both Louisiana and (as I recall) Ontario. I also learned that there is a person named Howard Lacombe still living in or near D. C., but his address and telephone are unlisted.

If we want to get really obscure, how 'bout Ethel H. Engel? Not only was she not a Fall Riverite, but she lived on the left coast. I wonder how Lizzie knew her. I don't believe I've ever read that Lizzie visited California.

[nbcatlover]

Kat, Edisto--thank you for bringing up the Lacombe bequests by Lizzie. Mr. Rebello had noted "No information at this time" regarding these heirs.

I have wondered if they were children of Mrs. Clara Lacombe who was a tenent of the Ferry Street property. (See 'Scene of Misery at the Old Andrew J. Borden Homestead/Joseph H. Hurd Die' in Rebello, pp. 30-31).

"Downstairs Mrs. Clara Lacombe lives and she told the story of the old man's illness."

I have heard all my life that Lizzie paid for the educations of several children who could not afford to go to college. My thinking jumped to this idea the first time I read the will bequests, but I guess I need to go back to researching the Fall River City Directories again on this topic.

[Kat]

Do you have City Directories or do you have to go to the Library?
Do you know Paul in Reference/Collections/Genealogy Section at the New Bedford Free Public Library?

[nbcatlover]

Kat--if Paul is Mr. Sears, he's been in Peru and the Genealogy room has been generally unavailable. My understanding is that he was due back yesterday.

I remember checking the microfiched directories before and not finding the information, I don't remember if I only checked 1892-93 or other years as well so I do need to search again.

But it's just another of the endless names which gets repeated. I'll keep you posted when I re-do the search.