{"id":4072,"date":"2018-07-14T11:29:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-14T15:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/HatchetOnline\/?p=4072"},"modified":"2024-08-19T14:02:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T18:02:49","slug":"when-cotton-was-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/when-cotton-was-king\/","title":{"rendered":"When Cotton Was King"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in August\/September, 2007, Volume 4, Issue 3, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nLizzie Andrew Borden had immense pride in the Borden family being largely responsible for the launch and development of the cotton cloth industry in Fall River. She was amazed that it was because of their efforts she could count forty-three busy cotton mills and hundreds of supporting businesses in 1892. Lizzie was spared working in the mills.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Oh no, this was not for her\u2014she was a Borden. The clattering of the shuttles banging back and forth in the loom room made the noise almost unbearable, to say nothing of the indoor hot and humid conditions, both winter and summer, necessary for cotton cloth manufacture.\u00a0 <\/span>Lizzie wondered about her ancestors who made possible this burgeoning of industry in her city.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Were they like her grandfather, Abraham who was a yeoman? Or did they resemble Andrew, her father, who was an undertaker and penny pincher? She decided to consult the history books. There were, she realized, four individuals with the vision and ability to create an empire of businesses\u2014they were the brothers Richard and Jefferson Borden, and Bradford Durfee who married their sister, and his stepson Holder Borden, their nephew.<\/span><\/p>\n

What manner of men were these, she wondered? What were they like and what did they do? So, she read further about the history of Fall River and the men who made it great when Cotton was King. She found, to her profound satisfaction, that her city\u2019s progress was paralleled by no other community in the country, culminating in its rise as the leading cotton manufacturing city in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Lizzie read that the Borden family is of original French stock. They came to England with the Norman conquerors, and there acquired wealth and influence. In reaction to religious restraints, Richard Borden immigrated to America in 1635. Richard\u2019s son John had six sons, two of which were Richard and Joseph.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lizzie and her father Andrew\u2019s second cousins, Col. Richard and Jefferson Borden, are all descended from the Richard branch of the family. Holder Borden is descended from the Joseph branch through his father George, but is also tied to the Richard branch through his mother Phoebe.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first Bordens settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, but soon recognized the value of land to the south. They were a part of the second division of the land that was purchased from the Indians in 1656. The original grant was known as the Freemens\u2019 Purchase, and after incorporation in 1683, as Freetown. That portion of Freetown, extending south from a small stream called Mothers Brook to the Quequechan River, became the northern part of Fall River.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The land further south of the Quequechan to Tiverton, Rhode Island\u2019s northern bounds, comprised land taken over from the Indians as the Pocasset Purchase of 1680. This area became the southern part of Fall River.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The land at the center of the Village, together with the waterpower of the Stream, came into the hands of the Borden family and never left those hands for over a hundred years, having been passed from generation to generation until 1821. In that year, control of the waterpower was shifted to the Fall River Iron Works Company, also owned by the Bordens.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1703, Benjamin Church erected a sawmill, a gristmill, and a fulling mill on the south side of the Quequechan River. These are believed to be the first evidence of the launching of industry in Fall River. Church subsequently retired to Little Compton, where his remains lie buried in the Old Commons Burial Ground, near those of Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie, the first child born of English parents in Plymouth Colony. Benjamin Church was none other than the redoubtable Indian fighter who brought about the downfall of King Philip in 1676, thus finally ending the Indian uprising now called King Philips War. Church\u2019s land holdings were passed to the ownership of the Bordens.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of the Durfee family, the first to arrive in this country was Thomas Durfee in the year 1660, also coming to Portsmouth. Thomas acquired large tracts of land there and in what was to become Fall River. Bradford Durfee was a fifth generation descendant.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s grandfather was the Honorable Thomas Durfee who married Patience Borden. Thomas came into possession of a large estate from his father and some important holdings from his father-in-law. The latter included property on the Stream, and rights to the waterpower of the Quequechan River, essential to the expansion of industry here. Thomas owned the deer park shown on old maps, including his residence on North Main where he entertained as his guest General Lafayette.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benjamin, Bradford\u2019s father, was elected a Selectman in this town when it was set apart from Freetown in 1803. Previously, he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, having spent most of his service as a private.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s father and grandfather had married Bordens. It is no wonder that he did, too. Thus had begun a long tradition of marriages between these two prominent families.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benjamin\u2019s brother was Col. Joseph Durfee, who was born April 27, 1750. During the Revolution, a marauding party of British seized Richard Borden. They took him prisoner and set fire to his mills and homestead. The British were repulsed by a band of local patriots led by Joseph Durfee, who wrote an account of the skirmish, and thus became the first Fall River historian, as well as Revolutionary War hero. In 1834, he wrote \u201cReminiscences of Col. Joseph Durfee, Relating to the Early History of Fall River and of Revolutionary Scenes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

From its beginning as a town in 1803, Fall River was essentially an agricultural community. Aside from the rudimentary grist and sawmills, no permanent foundation of manufacture was made until after the War of 1812. According to Peck and Earl\u2019s history of the area, Fall River and Its Industries<\/i>, in 1811, \u201cin Globe Village within the town of Tiverton, (now the southern wards of Fall River) Colonel Joseph Durfee, (of Revolutionary War fame) in company with a few others, erected a small wooden building\u201d on the grounds that are now \u201cthe northeast corner of Globe and South Main street.\u201d This was \u201cthe first cotton factory in the neighborhood . . . Its operation continued until 1829, when it was turned into a print works and so occupied til its destruction by fire in 1838.\u201d Later it was rebuilt, made profitable by Holder Borden, and bought by the Bordens\u2019 American Print Works.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the early days of cotton cloth manufacture, \u201cthe raw cotton was given out to the farmers\u2019 families of the neighborhood and handpicked. The yarn likewise was distributed among the diligent housewives to be woven into cloth\u201d and was returned to the factory to be further processed and prepared for sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

The year 1813 was a momentous one. Attracted by the abundant waterpower afforded by the Quequechan River, the falling waters of which dropped one hundred and thirty-two feet before emptying into the Bay, two cotton factories were constructed on the banks of the stream.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The promoters of one, the Fall River Manufactory, were David Anthony, Dexter Wheeler, and Abraham Bowen. Of the other, the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory, the promoters were Oliver Chace, Nathaniel Wheeler, and Eber Slade. They were people made prosperous by the whaling and trading industries in New Bedford, Providence, and nearby towns.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These were not the first of the mills in the area. Samuel Slater operated a spinning mill in Pawtucket for some years prior to 1808, and Dexter Wheeler ran a small yarn-mill, powered by horse power, in Rehoboth as early as 1807.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fall River, or Troy, as it was then known, consisted in 1813 of \u201cthirty dwelling-houses, three saw mills, four grist-mills, one fulling mill, a blacksmithy with trip hammer, and several small stores\u201d (Peck and Earl). At the time, Holder Borden was but fourteen years of age, his stepfather, Bradford Durfee, was only four years wed to Holder\u2019s mother. Richard Borden was busy with the saw and gristmills on the stream. Jefferson Borden joined his brother in 1819, but the four would not for many years come to attain the dominant position in industry they later achieved.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Fall River\u2019s march of progress, the second decade, the years 1820 to 1830, witnessed an unprecedented expansion of business. New Bedford interests had a major share in this development. In 1821, land just west of Main Street came into the possession of the Rodmans of New Bedford. On this site they built the area\u2019s third cotton mill, forming the Pocasset Manufacturing Company.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to Peck and Earl, \u201cthe Pocasset Company seemed to have made it a point to encourage smaller manufacturers, and to this end erected buildings\u2026which were leased to other parties,\u201d some for the printing of calico cloth. Among them was the Satinet factory occupied by J & J Eddy for the manufacture of woolen goods.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1821, the Fall River Iron Works was formed, providing the spark that ignited the industrial explosion in Fall River in the early 1800s. The company originated from a blacksmith shop operated by Major Bradford Durfee in conjunction with Col. Richard Borden. At first the product was chiefly hoop iron to bind the whale oil barrels in New Bedford. Later an iron nail factory was added. Ultimately, the company acquired \u201cthe whole section of land lying along the shore to the south and west of the Creek, as far as Annawan street on the south, and east to Canal street, and the land south to Ferry street . . . \u201d Due to the vision of its founders, this company was destined to become the largest employer in Fall River and the most profitable in the region.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first suggestion of this undertaking has been ascribed to Bradford Durfee and Richard Borden. There is little doubt, however, that Holder Borden cooperated effectively with them. Col. Richard Borden was made Agent and Treasurer and so presided for fifty years.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Building on its successful operations, the original works expanded to encompass major cotton mills. The Annawan Mill was organized in 1825; the American Print Works in 1834; the Metacomet Mill in 1846; the American Linen Company in 1852. By 1849, the company acquired controlling interest in the first of the Fall River cotton mills, The Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory, and the Fall River Manufactory.<\/span><\/p>\n

The clear-eyed vision of the owners reached far beyond iron and cotton. In 1847, the gas works were built. The city supplied gas for lighting and heating years before its introduction in neighboring Providence and New Bedford.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not surprising that firm\u2019s rapid growth [of the Fall River Iron Works] gave birth to the Providence Steamboat Co. in 1827. The farsighted Col. Richard Borden, stepping in to an area where others had met with only partial success, once again hit paydirt by establishing regular communication between this city and Providence\u201d (Fall River Herald News, October 17, 1978). The firm\u2019s steamboats included the Hancock in 1828, the King Philip in 1832, the Bradford Durfee in 1845, and the Canonicus in 1849.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under Borden sponsorship, the Fall River Branch Railroad made its first trip in 1845. At first, a wood burning locomotive pulled it, and candles lighted the cars. The train was always assigned the finest equipment and the latest improvements. Commenting on the splendid new equipment, the Fall River Weekly News reported it was \u201csurpassed by none other in the United States for elegance and convenience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1847, the line was extended to provide service into Boston. In the ninety years of its existence, the line was noted for its popularity, dependability, and long service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Col. Borden quickly realized the advantage of extending the route as far as New York via steamboat from this city. In 1847, he formed the Bay State Steamboat Company and began operating the steamers, Bay State and Massachusetts. The Borden family operated the line for seventeen years. In 1864 the line was sold to Old Colony Railroad interests, at one time controlled by the robber barons Jim Fisk and Jay Gould. Thus was born the famous Fall River Line, which became the favorite route of travel between New York and New England.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Other interests sponsored by the Bordens included the formation of the Metacomet Bank, and investments in the Watuppa Reservoir Company, the Borden Mining Company, the Fall River Machine Company, and several other business enterprises.<\/span><\/p>\n

PART 2<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Bordens and Durfees<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Having mastered the information about the beginning of industry in Fall River, Lizzie now wanted to know about the men whose vision made it possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bradford Durfee first saw the light of day in October 1788. He was seven years older than his friend and partner, Richard Borden, and eleven years older than his stepson, Holder, both later to become his business associates.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bradford was the seventh of eight children born of Benjamin and Sarah (nee Borden). As a youth, Bradford learned the ship building trade in New Bedford. Upon his return to Fall River, he began a long association with Richard Borden, first in the construction of a number of small vessels at the mouth of the Creek.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Larger ships, too, up to 75 tons burden, were produced in Fall River, which was then known as Troy (1804-1834). Other ships built here were the sloops Fall River, Golden Age, Reindeer, and the schooner High Flyer. They were engaged in coasting and West Indies trade. Their sloop Irene and Betsy was among the first to ply regularly the waters of Mount Hope and Narragansett Bay\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Later, in 1824, the brig William Tell was constructed in Troy. It was 207 tons and 84 feet in length. Among its owners were Samuel and Henry Brightman and Capt. Hezekiah Wilson. The latter gentleman was owner of the Green Dragon Inn, located at the Steep Brook Four Corners in the north part of town. Nearby was Capt. Wilson\u2019s wharf where connection was made with many riverboats. In those days water transportation was an important means of communication with other communities, rivaled only by the cumbersome express wagon running between Boston and Newport, and passing through Troy. Rufus B. Kingsley operated the express line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bradford married Holder\u2019s mother, Phoebe, and assisted in the management of the Mansion House, her boarding house on Central Street. Not long after, the place became known as \u201cthe house of Major Bradford Durfee.\u201d Holder closed the boarding house in 1828, although the family continued to live there for some time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bradford Durfee was a handsome young man, burly and strong. He was elected Major in the state militia, but never had to perform active service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historians Peck and Earl wrote about him: \u201cMajor Bradford Durfee was a man of more than ordinary executive ability and mechanical talent, and to him Fall River is mainly indebted for the promotion of many important branches of industry, begun at a time when such qualifications were specially needed to insure success. He accumulated a very large estate, which he left to his widow and child. He died in July, 1843, at the age of 54 years, 9 months\u201d as a direct result of his intensive efforts put forth in the Great Fire of that year, in his capacity of Chief Fire Warden. It was written that Bradford Durfee was a large man with black hair and a full face that was generally flushed, the latter a family trait. He was genial and companionable with his friends, affectionate and considerate with his family.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1838, Bradford went to Europe to learn about the British method of manufacture and to investigate machinery newly invented there. He brought back to this country the first self-acting mule (spinning machine) and had it installed in the Annawan Mill.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite vast business interests, Bradford found time to serve his community. He was asked to serve on many special committees, including building of a stone bridge in the village, establishing a firehouse, the purchase of a poor farm, and the one in 1836 to set the location of a Town House. He was one of the founders of the Fall River Institution for Savings in 1828, the first savings bank in town, whose name was later changed to the Fall River Savings Bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Phoebe died, her part of the fortune amassed by her son, Holder Borden, passed to his stepfather, Maj. Bradford Durfee. Then, young Mary Brayton, Israel\u2019s pretty daughter, caught Bradford\u2019s eye. It is reported that he met her while she was teaching at a private school. Mary at first turned him down, but upon his return from a European trip, married him in 1842. She was twenty-eight and he was fifty-four. Sadly, he died the following year, leaving a one-month old child born of that marriage, Bradford Matthew Chaloner Durfee.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Upon Maj. Bradford Durfee\u2019s death, his own and the remaining Holder fortune was passed to the hands of Bradford\u2019s widow, Mary Brayton Durfee, and their son. It proved to be the means of important future contributions for the welfare of this community, including the land on which the Public Library now stands and the magnificent B.M.C. Durfee High School, dedicated to the memory of their son, Bradford Matthew Chaloner Durfee. He was born in Fall River on June 15, 1843, and attended Yale University, but left because of ill health in his sophomore year. He visited Europe in 1865, and spent two and a half years in travel. Upon his return, he resumed management of his affairs, but health compelled him to spend long periods at sea on his yacht Josephine. Durfee Hall, one of the finest of college dormitories was his gift to Yale, which honored him with the degree of M.A. in 1871. He died at the age of 29 on September 13, 1872. His mother, Mrs. Mary Brayton Durfee, some years earlier had married Jeremiah Young of Andover, Massachusetts.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Borden was born April 12, 1795, in Fall River then known as Freetown. He was the ninth child of Thomas and Mary (nee Hathaway), parents of thirteen children.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his early years Richard was a farmer. In the War of 1812, he joined the local militia as a private, rose to the rank of Colonel in the 5th Regiment of Infantry in 1828, and thereafter was known as Colonel Richard to the end of his days.<\/span><\/p>\n

His first business venture was the operation of the saw and gristmills on the Stream, 1812-1820, and then joined with Bradford Durfee in shipbuilding. Richard also sailed, with his brother Jefferson, the sloop Irene & Betsy, named after their sister and aunt. It not only serviced the mills, but also served as a sort of a packet between here and neighboring wharves.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1828, Richard married Abby Durfee, a first cousin of his friend and partner, Bradford Durfee. They had seven children. Their home was on the site of the present Court House on North Main Street. In later years, Richard Borden was elected to the State Senate (1854) and the State House of Representatives (1871). He served the community as Town Assessor and Surveyor of Highways. He donated the monument and burial ground for Civil War soldiers in Oak Grove Cemetery, and the Richard Borden Post of the Grand Army of the Republic was named after him.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Borden was a principal promoter of the Fall River Iron Works. He was a guiding spirit and an officer in that company as well as in the various businesses associated with it. He had major interests in many other companies that contributed to the vitality of this city as an emerging cotton manufacturing center. He was named President of the Fall River National Bank in 1865.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By the time Lizzie Borden\u2019s church, the Central Congregational, was erected in 1875, Col. Richard Borden had been one of the major donors that made possible the building of that impressive structure.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Col. Borden was stricken with paralysis in 1872, invalided to death February 25, 1874. Amid the accolades of a grateful city, he was buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery, his grave to the left of the entrance. It is marked with an imposing stele topped with a statue facing southeast toward the industrial center he did so much to create.<\/span><\/p>\n

What manner of man was Richard Borden? He was clean-shaven, without beard or moustache, with a broad full face, bushy eyebrows, and high forehead. Hurd, in his History of Bristol County,<\/i> described him as \u201cbroad in his views . . . steadfast in his convictions\u201d and generous in charity. He was \u201clooked upon as the foremost citizen of this place,\u201d accomplishing in his lifetime more for its development than any other man. He was endowed with a strong healthy body, a man of commanding presence and self-reliance. He was a loving father, genial host, and the center of the warmest affections by all who knew him.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jefferson Borden was the twelfth of thirteen children born to Thomas and Mary. His birth date was February 28, 1801, six years after that of his brother Richard. The boys were the fifth generation after the founder of the family in this country, John Borden.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019s farm was located in the east part of Fall River, later occupied by the Richard Borden, Chace, and other mills. That is where Jefferson spent his time until his sixteenth year when he started his career in the world of business at the provisions store of William Valentine in Providence. Mr. Valentine had married into the Borden family, and upon his death Jefferson was named a Trustee of the estate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1819, Jefferson returned from Providence to Fall River and became associated with his brother Richard in the operation of the gristmill and running the sloop Irene and Betsy. Thus began an enduring partnership of the two brothers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon the creation of the Fall River Iron Works, Jefferson was chosen Clerk and subsequently spent fifteen years representing the company in Providence, where an extensive trade was created for Iron Works products. Upon Holder\u2019s failing health in 1837, Jefferson was called to manage the American Print Works. He was elected President and held that office for thirty-nine years. During his administration, the company bought the Bay State Print Works, housed in the mill building that Joseph Durfee started way back in 1811.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At different periods, Jefferson Borden was President of the Print Works, the Iron Works, the Fall River Bleachery, the American Linen Company, and the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory. In addition, he held office in the Bay State Steamboat Company, the Fall River Railroad, the Borden Mining Company, and he served as Director in many other business establishments.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jefferson married Susan Easton in 1828. They had nine children, five boys and four girls.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Borden\u2019s picture, in his maturity, is in Peck and Earl\u2019s Fall River and Its Industries <\/i>(1877). He gives the impression of a calm and serene nature, a deep thinking, kind and considerate person. He seems to have been rather less stern and business-like than his brother, Richard. He had an abundance of hair but with a high forehead emphasized by heavy eyebrows and a small curly beard under his chin.<\/span><\/p>\n

He died August 22, 1887, having lived to be the oldest person identified with the inception of the cotton industry in Fall River.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jefferson Borden was, according to the Peck and Earl history, probably superior to Holder in his financial ability. This is heady praise indeed, but we must bear in mind that books such as this one were published to sell to the leading citizens, and, at the time of writing, Jefferson was still among the living<\/span><\/p>\n

The first of his generation of Bordens to die was Holder. His father was Capt. George Borden and his mother Phoebe Borden. Holder was born in 1799, and was only seven years old when his father died in 1806.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Running the family farm on the eastern extremity of Fall River proved too much for the widow. She moved her family to Fall River center. There she opened an inn, called the Mansion House. It was located on Central Street west of Main, where the Richardson House was later built. Historian Arthur Phillips called it the \u201cgenteel hostel of the village.\u201d There young Holder, in pursuit of his duties, mixed with the gentry and from them learned the way of the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Three years after Capt. George died, Phoebe married Bradford Durfee. He was first cousin to her brother Richard\u2019s wife, Abby Durfee.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Alice Brayton, in her two volumes Life on the Stream<\/i>, wrote that Holder was small as a youth, and that he always was puny. In Peck and Earl\u2019s book, however, they maintained that he was tall and slim. Further, they wrote, he was constantly planning, \u201cnot much of a talker, rather slow and deliberate in his speech,\u201d and had \u201clittle patience.\u201d He was of dark complexion, bearded, and dressed carefully, a great smoker of cigars, an ardent horse lover, nervously disposed. \u201cAny inattention or inaccuracy\u2026was sure to\u2026call forth his displeasure.\u201d This is a word picture of an intense, nervous, exacting, and irascible individual, albeit an \u201cindependent\u201d and \u201cself-reliant\u201d person.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peck and Earl ascribe to him a \u201crestless disposition [that] could not brook inactivity.\u201d His ideas were larger than his predecessors. He was young in years but confidant in his own powers and capabilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1827, a stone building was erected so large that no one firm could use the whole space. But in January 1831, Holder Borden stepped forward to lease the entire mill building. He filled it with machinery for the manufacture of various cloths. \u201cDiscarding the old method of distributing power by heavy gearing, he was the first in this vicinity to introduce belting by which much of the noise and racket of machinery was done away with . . . [including] the reduction of friction and gain in power.\u201d The enterprise, called the Massasoit Mill, was successful from the first and established Fall River as the premier cotton cloth manufactory place in the country. Holder made its success the lodestone that attracted men and capital to the town.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Holder\u2019s crowning achievement was the creation of the American Print Works in 1834. Over Bradford Durfee\u2019s hesitation, he induced the stockholders of the Iron Works to provide the money for a new building on the Quequechan River. The plant was immediately successful and became the largest of its kind in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Holder Borden had three living sisters. All three married Durfee men and Holder built fine homes in the Highlands district of Fall River for each of them.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph Durfee, a carpenter and shipwright engaged in the construction of the Massasoit Mill, married Sylvia.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew Durfee married Fidelia. Their son, George, who married a daughter of Jefferson Borden, razed his parent\u2019s home. He built a new house, now occupied by St. Helena Convent. Matthew was cashier of the Fall River Bank (1825 to 1836), relocated in 1826 to the southeast corner of Bank and North Main Street. It is said that he kept the bank\u2019s money in a trunk under his bed, and rumor has it that the trunk is still in existence in the vaults of the Durfee Bank. He was editor for a short time of the Fall River Monitor<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Nathan Durfee married Delane Borden. His homestead, built by Holder for his sister, occupied several square blocks at the head of Rock Street. His drug store, on Central Street, was the first building in town made of brick. His acid mill, providing chemicals used in the cotton industry, was located just west of Bell Rock Road, and stonewall ruins are still visible there. This business was sold to Hale Remington and became the foundation of today\u2019s Borden & Remington Company. Dr. Durfee abandoned his profession to achieve success as one of Fall River\u2019s foremost industrialists. His interests embraced cotton mills, whaling, railroads, steamboats and real estate. He built the Mount Hope House in 1845, held municipal offices, and was a State Representative.<\/span><\/p>\n

Holder never married, perhaps because of a failed and tragic love affair. He died with a diagnosis of consumption on September 12, 1837.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lizzie\u2019s heritage extended beyond the Borden men heretofore mentioned. Considered her near contemporary was Nathaniel B. Borden (1801-1865), who died when Lizzie was four years of age. Nathaniel was the first from this city to be elected to the national Congress. He served, as well, in the State Legislature and in municipal office. In 1856 he was chosen Mayor of the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simeon Borden died in 1896, in time to have witnessed the news coverage of the murders and the trial of Lizzie Borden. He was the son of Nathaniel B. Borden. Although a lawyer by profession, like his father he, too, served in City and State offices. For thirty-two years he was Clerk of the Courts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cook Borden started a large and thriving lumber business. He was President of the Union National Bank and Director in three cotton Mills. He was the father of Jerome Borden, who testified as part of Lizzie\u2019s defense at the trial in 1893.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fall River City Directory of 1892 lists no less than 130 entries of Borden names. Occupations ranged from menial pursuits and small businesses to treasurers of corporations. Lizzie\u2019s father, Andrew, is noted as President of the Union Savings Bank. Other Bordens held offices as presidents, treasurers, and directors in the banks and cotton mills.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, the Directory lists 59 Durfee names. Holder B. Durfee was Treasurer of the Fall River Manufactory. Horatio N. Durfee was Treasurer of the Mechanics Mill Company. Walter C. Durfee was President of the Metacomet Bank, and President of the Fall River Five Cent Savings Bank, with a home at #1 Highland Avenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bordens and the Durfees continued to uphold their famous namesakes\u2019 stellar reputations for hard work and valuable industry in this city of Lizzie\u2019s birth, the great Fall River, and it made her proud.<\/span><\/p>\n

Works Cited:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Borden, Alanson. Our country and its people<\/i>. Boston: History Company, 1899.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brayton, Alice. Life on the Stream<\/i>. Fall River, 1962.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fall River Iron Works Prospered After Shaky Start.\u201d Fall River Herald News<\/i> October 17, 1978: G-12.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fenner, Henry M. History of Fall River<\/i>. NY: Smiley Publishing Company, 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fowler, Rev. Orin. History of Fall River<\/i>. Fall River: Almy & Milne, 1862.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Bristol County, Massachusetts<\/i>. Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1883.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peck, Frederick and Henry H. Earl. Fall River and Its Industries<\/i>. Fall River: Benjamin Earl & Son, 1877.<\/span><\/p>\n

Phillips, Arthur S. The Phillips History of Fall River<\/i>. Fall River: Dover Press, 1941.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reed, William F. The Descendants of Thomas Durfee of Portsmouth, RI.<\/i> NY, 1902.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lizzie Andrew Borden had immense pride in the Borden family being largely responsible for the launch and development of the cotton cloth industry in Fall River. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":5607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caplains-fall-river"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5608,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions\/5608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}