Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Hi everyone! Dover, MA resident here, just newly introduced to the deeper discussions around this case. Is there any information to suggest a member of the family had been trying their hand at painting or other artwork? Thanks for any insight!

Hello Dontchacano, welcome to the forum.

Hmmmm, I don't know of any Borden trying their hand at painting or other artwork. Have you tried a forum search, using the search engine at the top of each page, for "painting" or "artwork"?

No, there is no history or documented confirmation, story, or rumor that anyone in the immediate family had any artistic talent. Nor any close family member.

Though there was someone across the street from Lizzie on 2nd street that became quite famous as an artist.

The carpenter who built 92 Second street in 1845 lived across the street in the same building as Lizzie's Doctor, Seabury Bowen. Southard Harrison Miller.

Southard Miller had a son who became well known as an artist. His name was Franklin Harrison Miller. Franklin was born in 1843, which would make him much older than Lizzie.

Mr. Miller was known for his still life and landscape paintings. Below is more information about Mr. Miller. And an example of his works which sold at Sotheby's.

The Borden's were not artists.




Biography Franklin Harrison Miller

According to historical documentation, Franklin Harrison Miller was born in 1843 to Southard Harrison Miller and Esther Peckham Miller of Fall River, Massachusetts. Southard H. Miller was a prominent builder and contractor. In 1845, S. H. Miller built the Trafton house in Fall River that eventually became the family home of Lizzie Borden.

Franklin H. Miller, listed in records as a professional artist, pursued his early studies in Boston and Paris. The artist also studied with the acclaimed painter, Robert Spear Dunning (1829-1905). Dunning was a co-founder of the Fall River School of painting. In 1870, Dunning established the Fall River Evening Drawing School.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction ... still-life

WOW, MB, thank you for the above information! I always learn incredible things from your post.

Thanks for the Kind words, Twins.
The Historical Society just acquired a couple of Miller's this summer. I don't know how popular Franklin Harrison Miller in the art world of Manhattan, but in Fall River he's a big deal.

https://lizzieborden.org/CuratorsCorner ... paintings/

That’s actually really interesting information. Good chance he used cadmium paint? That stuff is incredibly toxic if ignited and inhaled. If you Google rare earth metal poisoning, the symptoms are eerily similar to those experienced by the Borden’s. COD: Not murder. Accidental self-poisoning by Toxic RE metals.

Thoughts?

Perhaps the neighbor is painting Miss Emma like one of his French girls and AJ finds out? Perhaps explains why Emma traded bedrooms with Lizzie? To hide her bedroom from view? And why she was out of town on those fateful days. To separate the forbidden lovers. Lol. Ok. I’m gonna go write soap operas now.