Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I was looking at the photo of the Whiteheads' gravestone on Shelley's journal site.

They were both so close in age to Lizzie. I never think of that. Sad that, at the time of her death, Abby had such a loving relationship with a half-sister four years younger than Lizzie but was unable to bond with either of her step-daughters. At the inquest Sarah, when asked if she was on good terms with Abby, says: "Very good, more so, than anybody in the world."

I'd also forgotten Sarah died in Canada. I wonder if she was there on a trip or did she live there for a time? She outlived her husband by about 34 years. Hoffman claims she relocated from Fall River to New York city in 1912, which would be around 14 years after George died. Did she go alone? Rebello says her daughter died in Rhode Island in 1974. Did they live together in New York, maybe?

Interesting to wonder how Sarah's life played out after her beloved Abby was brutally murdered. Especially considering the speculation that a property transaction made to accommodate her might have been a contributory motive in the tragic event.

It was sad to think that Sarah and Lizzie might have been friends. Emma and Lizzie could have had so much fun with Little Abbie too if they had only made an effort. That's history- the what ifs.....

I think that Lizzies and Emmas dislike for Abby was missplaced. Liet me explain. Andrew had turned some property over to Abby's sister and husband. I think Emma and LIzzie were mad about that, and, instead of being mad at the father, they took it out on Abby. If you remember, in the beginning, they did get along with Abby. It was just after Andrew transferred the property, the girls started disliking Abby.

I think it was more about the influence that Abby might have had on their father that got them riled up, and also it might have dawned on them that they weren't going to get it all, if Andrew died before Abby. That he would see to it that she was taken care of for the rest of her life, and then what she had left, when she passed on, would go to her family and not them.

The newspapers gave differing accounts of how much Abbie's estate was worth. I think one claimed somewheres in the figure of $100,000! That would tend to inflame any family member who thought they deserved at least Abbie's share.

They always were all about money. I'd say Andrew made them that way. But we don't know what influence Abbie had on how that family viewed money either. She could have been very anxious about that for a long time, for all we know- especially since her father was not too sucessful, yet had a second family. That kind of anxiety could communicate itself to Lizzie and Emma at an impressionable age.

There's a news article from 1969 where Abbie Potter speaks. She is portrayed as "a niece of the victims, Mrs. Abby Durfee Gray Borden and her husband, Andrew J. Borden, a Fall River banker. Mrs. Borden was Lizzie's stepmother."

Li'l Abbie was a 1/2 niece. And seems to have labored under a false impression her whole life as to what monies should have come to her family thru Abbie Borden's death. It's too bad it soured her forever- at least that's my impression.
What was given them after the murders was thru goodwill only. No one was compelled to give Abbie's family anything.

Under the terms of the Commonwealth law at the time, Abbie dying without a will is a main reason they would not inherit anything. But still the natural children of Andrew would have inherited most all the estate, whomever died first.
See:
viewtopic.php?t=1352

About Abbie Potter:

Mrs. Potter left Fall Rver and moved to New York a half century ago after her marriage to a National Biscuit Co. executive, Charles E. Potter. They later lived in Salt Lake City, Toronto, Philadelphia and Winnipeg before Mrs. Potter returned to Rhode Island to live. There are no children.
...

She remembered Lizzie's stepmother as a very friendly woman.

'My Aunt Abby (sic) was short and fat,' Mrs. Potter said. 'She weighed about 200 pounds.'

She added that her aunt (sic) 'was wonderful to my mother and me' and said they often visited the Borden home.

'She would always bring a mince pie or something when she came to our house,' Mrs. Potter continued. 'I remember that she put rose water in it and I thought she must be very wealthy to be able to afford that.'
--Prov Eve Bull 1-17-69

Kat @ Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:34 pm wrote:About Abbie Potter:

She remembered Lizzie's stepmother as a very friendly woman.

'My Aunt Abby (sic) was short and fat,' Mrs. Potter said. 'She weighed about 200 pounds.'

She added that her aunt (sic) 'was wonderful to my mother and me' and said they often visited the Borden home.

'She would always bring a mince pie or something when she came to our house,' Mrs. Potter continued. 'I remember that she put rose water in it and I thought she must be very wealthy to be able to afford that.'
--Prov Eve Bull 1-17-69

It really made me sad to read that. Poor Abby.

Well we know where Dr. Masterton got his mince pie idea!

However, notice she claims they "often visited the Borden home":?: What's with that?

[quote="Kat @ Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:34 pm"]About Abbie Potter:

Mrs. Potter left Fall Rver and moved to New York a half century ago after her marriage to a National Biscuit Co. executive, Charles E. Potter. They later lived in Salt Lake City, Toronto, Philadelphia and Winnipeg before Mrs. Potter returned to Rhode Island to live. There are no children.

Thanks, Kat! So the most likely reason Sarah Whitehead was in Winnipeg when she died was because she was either visiting or living with her daughter at the time.

You're welcome.
It was my impression that Sarah Whitehead did live with her daughter, but I don't know where I would know this from.
Does Sullivan elaborate?
I wonder what source Dr. Hoffman has for Sarah living in NY?

Kat @ Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:34 am wrote:About Abbie Potter:

Mrs. Potter left Fall Rver and moved to New York a half century ago after her marriage to a National Biscuit Co. executive, Charles E. Potter. They later lived in Salt Lake City, Toronto, Philadelphia and Winnipeg before Mrs. Potter returned to Rhode Island to live. There are no children.
...

She remembered Lizzie's stepmother as a very friendly woman.

'My Aunt Abby (sic) was short and fat,' Mrs. Potter said. 'She weighed about 200 pounds.'

She added that her aunt (sic) 'was wonderful to my mother and me' and said they often visited the Borden home.

'She would always bring a mince pie or something when she came to our house,' Mrs. Potter continued. 'I remember that she put rose water in it and I thought she must be very wealthy to be able to afford that.'
--Prov Eve Bull 1-17-69

What she say
s about her aunt isn't really very revealing, it almost sounds like she's just saying what was already known about her (Abby) She said nothing personnel, like "Aunt Abby used to braid my hair" or "Once for my birthday she brought me a doll" What she does say just sounds like what she either read about Abby or what she was told.

Kat @ Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:50 pm wrote:You're welcome.
It was my impression that Sarah Whitehead did live with her daughter, but I don't know where I would know this from.
Does Sullivan elaborate?
I wonder what source Dr. Hoffman has for Sarah living in NY?

Here's Sullivan --

"'Aunt Abby's house looks just the same, but everything around it is so different,' said Abby Potter as, On 30 May 1972, she stood with me looking at the residence that had become famous across the nation as 92 Second Street.
Arriving in Fall River from Mrs. Potter's present home in Providence, we had first visited the former Whitehead place, only two short city blocks behind the Bordens'. Mrs. Potter was delighted to find that 45 Fourth Street was in remarkably good condition, for the attractive small dwelling was where she had been born and raised and where her mother, Mrs. Whitehead, had been born, raised, married and lived her entire life." (Sullivan, 10)

Hard to say what Hoffman's source was... he even gives the year she relocated to New York -- 1912.

Thanks Diana!

I didn't transcribe the whole article by/about Abbie Potter.
There's more personal stuff that we sort of are aware of now, but in 1969 that was news to the paper-reading public.

This article says Abbie Potter moved a half century ago to New York.
1969 - 50 = 1919, not 1912. Maybe Sarah lived there first?
It just makes more sense to me tho that Sarah lived with her daughter after Lil' Abbie's marriage, tho. Maybe Prof. Hoffman got the date a bit wrong?