Why so many unmarried wealthy Fall River ladies?

[camgarsky4]

It periodically comes up that Lizzie and/or Emma had their love life stifled by Andrew; the primary 'clue' being that they were over 30 years old, unmarried and we aren't aware of boyfriends. I asked our new friend "Google.gemini" if during this era if was unusual for wealthy women to avoid marriage. As you can read below, it was definitely a trend at that time. Happy reading...

From AI Google.gemini
In Fall River and across New England during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, remaining unmarried—often referred to as "Boston marriage" arrangements or single spinsterhood—was far more common among affluent women than in the general population. A "Boston Marriage" was two women cohabitating. Sometimes these arrangements were romantic and sometimes they were not.

Demographers refer to the period between 1880 and 1920 as the height of the "New England Spinster" phenomenon. Nationally, roughly 10% of American women remained unmarried throughout their lives, but among educated, upper-class women in Massachusetts, that rate surged to 20% to 30%.

1. Financial Independence & Inheritance
In affluent families—such as the Bordens, Durfees, and Chaces—daughters often inherited real estate, mill stock, or dividends directly from their fathers.

No Economic Obligation: Unlike working-class women, wealthy daughters did not need a husband’s income to secure shelter, status, or lifestyle.

Property Control: Under 19th-century law (even after the Married Women's Property Acts), marriage often complicated or compromised a woman's direct control over personal wealth and decision-making. Remaining single kept financial autonomy entirely in their own hands.

2. Regional Demographics ("Surplus Women")
The Civil War severely depleted the eligible male population across Massachusetts, creating a localized gender disparity.

The rapid growth of mill towns pulled thousands of single female mill operatives into urban areas like Fall River, Lowell, and Lawrence.

Within the upper class on "The Hill" in Fall River, the pool of "acceptable" male suitors—those from equivalent social standing, religious backgrounds, and industrial fortunes—was quite small, leading many wealthy women to prefer single life over marrying beneath their social tier.

3. Duty, Caregiving, and Household Roles
Upper-class New England culture placed heavy expectations on unmarried daughters to serve as domestic managers, companions to aging parents, or caregivers for extended family.

It was routine for one or two daughters in a wealthy family to stay single to manage the family estate or care for elderly parents in their home.

Unmarried women in these families were granted significant social standing as matriarchs, hostesses, and community figures without needing the title of "wife."

4. Civic Power and "The New Woman" Era
For wealthy women in Fall River, single life offered unprecedented freedom to engage in philanthropy, public reform, and social leadership.

Unmarried women were the backbone of regional charitable boards, hospital committees, historical societies, and church ministries.

Being unburdened by child-rearing allowed upper-class women to build lifelong female partnerships, run civic organizations, travel extensively, and direct philanthropic capital into their local communities.

[Lorcan]

I agree with all of that and would add that Emma's and Lizzie's mother was friends with a famous women's suffrage leader and Lizzie was a member of the temperance movement and other social roles - although there is debate on whether those roles were pragmatic to gain position in society or if she was a true believer. I would say we can cut her some slack on that because many people in those social groups are there for their social standing benefits in addition to the actual work they are trying to accomplish.

Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (1820–1905) was an intimate friend of Sarah Anthony Morse Borden, Lizzie Borden's biological mother. The connection was formed in Fall River, Massachusetts, in the mid-1840s, when Mary's husband, Rev. Daniel P. Livermore, served as a local Universalist minister.

Mary went on to become one of the most prominent women’s rights activists, journalists, and social reformers of the 19th century.Key

Accomplishments of Mary Rice Livermore
Women’s Suffrage Leader: She served as the president of the Association for the Advancement of Women (1873) and later as president of the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) starting in 1875.

Journalist & Editor: She co-founded and edited The Woman's Journal, a leading national women's rights publication based in Boston.

Civil War Organizer: During the American Civil War, she organized medical supplies, field hospitals, and nursing services as an Associate Director of the U.S. Sanitary Commission in Chicago.

Temperance Movement: She served as president of the Massachusetts Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) for two decades (an organization Lizzie Borden later joined as a young adult).

[Inspector]

Looking back at all of Lizzie’s doings, her relationships, circles, and endeavors, makes it hard to attribute the crimes to her.

I watched part of a video, and the lady said it was impossible physically, and psychologically for Lizzie to be the murderer.
Said it for two primary reasons.

1) Dhe couldn’t tie a corset back on in less than 8 minutes.

2) Across the board, everyone involved in a killing has a heart rate spike that lasts for over an hour and there’s no way she could have been calm after Andrew’s death if she was guilty.

[Lorcan]

Inspector, I kind of think you might be joking with those two things?

I'll explain the "dress" below, but as for heart rate, there is good evidence she had disassociated from both of them. Ask a sniper how much their heart rate goes up or ask a sociopath, which she may have been.

Lizzie was wearing a shirt and skirt, not a dress, and certainly not a corset. Shelley Dziedzig wrote a short, but excellent, highly illustrated book about all the dresses titled "Dressing Miss Lizzie" and another book with a lot of photographs of the Oak Grove Cemetery, also very well done. She worked at the house for a couple of decades and the Kooreys know her well.

Lizzie could have dressed and undressed herself, easily, in under 2 minutes. Remember these were practical morning house clothes, not ballroom dancing gowns or formal dresses that Lizzie would wear in a photograph or when out in public. That's why Abby, Alice, and even Bridget were all changing clothes or expected to change clothes. There is a huge gap in formality in what those women wore in the morning for chores in the privacy of their own house and what they wore in a public setting.

In Lizzie's own words she is describing a **two-piece outfit: a separate navy skirt and a separate navy top**, then a loose house dress later. She did not testify at trial; this is the inquest (the official Volume I is lost; what we have is the *New Bedford Evening Standard* transcription of that testimony).

**What she said she had on that morning**

> Q. What dress did you wear the day they were killed?
> A. I had on a navy blue, sort of a bengaline or India silk skirt, with a navy blue blouse. In the afternoon they thought I had better change it. I put on a pink wrapper.

> Q. Did you change your clothing before the afternoon?
> A. No, sir.

> Q. You dressed in the morning, as you have described, and kept that clothing on until afternoon?
> A. Yes, sir.

**What she said the fabric was (she corrects “India silk”)**

> Q. Was the dress that was given to the officers the same dress that you wore that morning?
> A. Yes, sir.

> Q. The India silk?
> A. No, it is not an India silk, it is silk and linen; some call it bengaline silk.

**Skirt vs underskirt, when they ask about blood**

> Q. Did you give to the officer the same skirt you had on the day of the tragedy?

> Q. Assume that there was, can you give any explanation of how it came there, on the dress skirt?
> A. No, sir.

> Q. Have you said it came from flea bites?
> A. On the petticoats I said there was a flea bite. I said it might have been. You siad [sic] you meant the dress skirt.

**What those words mean now**

- **“Skirt”** is the same as now: the lower half, worn as its own piece. When Knowlton says **“dress skirt,”** he means that outer skirt, not an underskirt.
- **“Petticoats”** are the underskirts. That is why she splits the blood question: flea bites on the petticoats, not on the dress skirt.
- **“Blouse”** in 1892 is not a man’s shirt and not usually a modern casual blouse. It means a **blouse-waist / shirtwaist**: a separate bodice, often looser than a tight fitted dress-waist, worn with the skirt. Closest modern picture: a blouse or shirt-top with a matching or same-color skirt — two pieces, not a one-piece dress.
- **“Bengaline” / “silk and linen”** is a ribbed dress fabric, silk mixed with linen (or sometimes wool). She is claiming a *good* two-piece, not a cheap morning cotton.
- **“Pink wrapper”** is a loose at-home dress or housedress, closer to a robe/housecoat than to street clothes. That is the afternoon change.

So if you translate her sentence into now: **navy silk-blend skirt and navy blouse, kept on until afternoon, then a pink housedress.**

That is not how the first neighbor described her. Adelaide Churchill, same inquest, said cotton, and used “blouse” for the *cut of the top*, not for Lizzie’s silk story:

> Q. What dress did she have on, Lizzie?
> A. She had on a blue and white calico. Blue and white with a deeper navy blue diamond on it…

> Q. Are you sure it was calico?
> A. No, it might be gingham; it is cotton goods I think.

> Q. It could not have been india silk, or anything of that pattern?
> A. No, I dont think it was; it was calico or gingham I think. I do not think she would wear an india silk in the morning, unless she was going out.

> Q. Was it all one piece, like the dress you have on now?
> A. It was a looser waist, more like a blouse waist.

Churchill’s “blouse waist” means the **bodice was cut loose, blouse-style**. Lizzie’s “navy blue blouse” means the **top half of what she says she wore**. Same period word; two different claims about the actual garment.

[Inspector]

You are correct Lorcan.
My first thought was, how do you know she wore a corset?
Actually, in the video the narrator said Lizzie had on eight layers of clothing.
I couldn’t continue watching, because obviously she assumed more than testimony showed was the case.

The heart rate analysis held a bit more weight, but doesn’t prove anything.

Probably two of the weakest arguments I’ve ever heard.

[Lorcan]

I thought so, Inspector, but with the Lizzie show starting soon, I wanted to give the forum some details. With the age of the actors for Abby and Andrew, I wonder if there is going to be some back story of their earlier lives or if it's just standard Hollywood casting of attractive actors for almost all roles.

For instance, Rebecca Hall is playing Abby. Abby was 64, about 5' 3", and a bit over 200lbs. Rebecca Hall is 5' 10" and 44 years old. Of course, Lizzie, who was 5' 3" or 5' 4" depending on the document, is being played by Ella Beatty, who is 5' 9".

All 8 episodes premiere tomorrow, but I wont have time to start watching until the weekend.