Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Hello all.

I wanted you all to be the first to know that very recently, I had the very good fortune of discovering an unseen portrait of Andrew Borden. I was really amazed to realize that it had remained hidden for all these years! And still looks rather good for being over 150 years old.

An article on the discovery will be the feature piece in the next issue of The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies, due to be published on Monday, the 5th of November.

But I did want to share it with you first.

The story is here: http://lizzieandrewborden.com/MondoLizzie/

Enjoy!

Stefani

Hey Stef, your stealing my lead stroy/post.

WOW, thanks for the preview Stefani. Now, I can't wait for November 5th to get here!!!

It has been a GREAT summer/fall for Borden discoveries! Well, I can see where Sarah might have seen an attraction-and of course, those EYES are unmistakable. This goes under my catagory of Stop the Press!

He's very handsome!

It's a FANTASTIC find! Without a doubt "our" Andrew.

Bravo!

Very cool.

Wow, what a great find! And the resemblancce between Andrew and Emma is even more pronounced in this new photo.

I sure wonder where Lizzie got her looks. Especially those eerie light eyes.

Mostly I find that his thin, mean mouth never changes. Frugality and a thin, unsmiling lower lip seem to go together. I am trying to picture Sarah kissing THAT mouth! I think Lizzie inherited that fine, pale complexion though-the kind of fine-pored skin that shows a blush easily. He has an intelligent high forehead- full of mathematical brains toting up figures!

Angel, Lizzie got those light, "eerie" eyes from her mother Sarah. Her uncle John had them too. I wonder if those eyes were a Morse family trait?

I think they must have been a genetic thing- guests at the house were discussing this very topic last night on the house tour. John's picture is on the wall in the guest room and the next photo they see is Sarah Morse holding Emma as a baby in Lizzie's room, and the first thing most visitors say is "They sure look like brother and sister" and "Lizzie's got those spooky EYES"!

Hey Stefani: Lizzie sure does not look like her father. What if you discover that Andrew is not her "real" father, would make a great story for your next issue.

Don't tell Professor Starrs- he will want to dig 'em up again to get some DNA!

How long before somebody we know rips this off and starts selling copies on ebay?

Intriguing thought, that. I suppose time will tell, eh?

Hmm- is there no copyright protection? That party will be in Fall River Thursday-Sunday, and I imagine a "visit" may be frantically arranged.
To the discoverer goes the victory. Publish first- or perish! There are no red roses for second place finishes in the Kentucky Derby of publishing

One thing's for sure- you will want to be watching the clock for the moment The Hatchet hits the streets!

I'm in shock! That is a wonderful discovery, Stefani. Good for you!

I'm wondering if maybe that was a wedding portrait from his marriage to Sarah...he seems the right age there.

I can't wait to read the article...

The Andrew Borden portrait is a pivotal find for the HATCHET.

All credit goes to its editor who's eagle eye is always on the look out for new discoveries.

This deputizes the HATCHET as a significant player in the publication world and as a pro-active and detailed periodical to the study of True Crime, History and Literature.

So, discoveries such as this is no surprise to me. Kudos to the HATCHET for nothing short of a beacon issue this quarter and to Stefani Koorey for her great tenacious investigation and skilled research.

The story behind the find, though not as remarkable as the find itself, is also amazing.

Can't wait to read it all as soon as the HATCHET hits the racks.

What thoughtful, kindly eyes. He must have been a lovely man...

Amazing find, Stefani!! I can't believe a new picture has been found after all these years. It makes me wonder what else is out there from the Borden family/case just waiting to be discovered...

His eyes were so close-set! More than ever, I'd like to see James Cromwell as Andy.

Yes, I too thought this portrait might be from the same sitting as the wedding portrait.

He has very thin, tight lips, and the beard has got to go. How wierd, his eyes remind me of the Mona Lisa!

I don't see kindly eyes at all. His face gives me the impression of a very closed mind.

Smudgeman @ Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:29 pm wrote:How wierd, his eyes remind me of the Mona Lisa!

Couldn't resist this comparison!

Good lord! You're right! The eyes. But Andrew's mouth looks like it's carved in stone.

Holy Cow!!! Looks as though they are related!

Aha- I smell a whole new DaVinci Code! Uncanny!

Hehehehehe....Hahahaha!

Better keep this one from Sylvia Browne!

Well, when I said "kindly" I was being entirely facetious!

Wow !! What a great find!! So that's what Andrew looked like as a young
man!! He looked like a miser even then LOL

In this new discovery of Andrew I find his eyes much more passive, kindly maybe a better word, than his later photo as an old man. (Page 50/51 Edward Radin "Lizzie Borden The Untold Stroy)

He does look like a determined person, perhaps not thoughtful in the true sense of the word, but alert and sure of himself. The fact that he is a determined and self-assured person is revealed all over his face. Same determination displayed by Lizzie.

All and all it's a respectable, distinguish representation of the man........as I choose to remember him.

How did I do talking myself around that one BOB?

This may seem irrelevant at first, but:

I have a bunch of books of art criticism by a man named Theodore L. Shaw. He was quite iconoclastic, attacking assorted cliches of art criticism. (One of his books is called Don't Get Taught Art This Way, as so Many People Do. On the cover is a bully with a baseball bat intimidating a rather milquetoasty-looking fellow and saying, "Listen, ignoramus! As a special favor to you, I'm gonna teach you about art. But let's not have any backtalk from you about what YOU think.")

Anyhow, one of his favorite points is that you CAN'T PUT CHARACTER into a face. It simply can't be done! There are homicidal maniacs who look like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths and there are gentle people you wouldn't want to get into an elevator with if you look at them.

An interesting observation, Constantine - quite relevant and very true.

The impasse for me is that I know Andrew Borden was considered a miser. Therefore, if I'm looking at a portrait or a photo of Andrew Borden, then that is definitely a portrait or photo of a miser. This conclusion is reached without consideration for whether all misers look like Andrew Borden (certainly not), or whether Andrew Borden would look like that were he not a miser (he certainly would). A little bias goes a long way!

I agree, it is relevant and true. Thanks for the reminder, Constantine. Trying to stay objective is tough for me sometimes.

Look at serial killer Ted Bundy and see if you see a face of evil. Yikes.

The picture is fascinating to see after already having an impression of how Andrew looked as an older man. Great find! Really cool and thanks for sharing. I've gotta get the Hatchet.

I'm sorry...am I the only one who is thinking "What is up with that beard!"

Can you say "scraggly"?

Yes nbcatlover:

Many seem to be hypnotize or put aside by Andrew's beard. There is a good chance that it was enhanced or inflated by the artist who touched up the portrait.

Such BEARDS were very popular in Andrews day. Some called them a "BELIEVERS BEARD. It was usually a sign of a pious or godly man. A sign of religious pacifism. The style was made popular in the Amish-Mennonite community.

Many also called them LINCOLN BEARDS. Living around the same time, one could understand how the style of the day could have made the decision for old Andrew to wear one.

Andrew wore the same beard all his life. From what little we know about his religious background, most believe he abandoned the church, so the beard must have more to do with fashion than anything else.

Probably he was stuck in that era. It's very human. I know a lady who still has her 1960s cat-eye glasses frames.

Certainly Andrew's house was largely stuck back in the 1860s era too (keroscene lamps, heavy furniture, etc). His clothing wasn't much better.

MB, I loved that post in which you waxed philosophical about the portrait! I do see a slight resemblance to the younger me, btw, though Andrew had a more heroic nose, I think - at least, until someone chopped off the tip!

Tina-Kate @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:18 am wrote:Certainly Andrew's house was largely stuck back in the 1860s era too (keroscene lamps, heavy furniture, etc). His clothing wasn't much better.

Andrew was not particularly backward or out of style. Fairhaven only got electricity in 1889 and when the Town Hall was built (beginning in May 1892) both gas and electric lights were installed because electric lighting was still considered very unreliable. There were frequent brownouts and blackouts in those days. Our Millicent Library, which opened almost half a year after the Borden murders, quit using its electric lights and installed Rochester oil lamps because they provided better light.

Men's fashions did not change a whole lot between the Civil War and WWI, really. There's no reason why a man wouldn't wear a couple of good, well-made coats through most of his adult life. Only a generation or two before Andrew, people actually left coats and boots in their wills.

Besides being "Amish-Mennonite" as mb points out, that beard was also typical of the Quakers, who certainly were part of Andrew's religious background.

My friend, the late Edie Nichols, who used to portray Hetty "Witch of Wall Street" Green, argued that Hetty was unfairly characterized as a miser when she was, in fact, living up to the plain and frugal standards of her Quaker beliefs.

I believe Andrew was a thrifty Yankee. And I don't think Lizzie liked that at all.

Andrew's beard has reminded me of Gregory Peck's Capt. Ahab.
Was this a common New Bedford Sea Captain's style beard?

Very nice avatar, FairhavenGuy.

Kat,
Many, many sea captains from New Bedford were from a Quaker background.

In fact, Fairhaven split from New Bedford during the War of 1812 because the New Bedford Quakers, heavily invested in maritime trades and morally opposed to taking up arms, did not favor the war, while the patriotic farmers in Fairhaven were all for it.

I always kinda thought Andrew was unfairly considered a miser. I saw it as plain old Yankee thrift and I'm sure it was very common back then. Waste not, want not!

Lizzie, obviously, wanted to live a lot more extravagantly than Andrew intended and she was probably put off by his thrifty ways. However, Andrew had no obligation to cater to Lizzie's desires. She was a grown woman. He put food on the table, a roof over their heads, money in her bank account, and she didn't have to work! He probably considered that she was adequately provided for, since she obviously had no intention of finding a husband.