Database

Lizzie Andrew Borden

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Name Lizzie Andrew Borden Born 19 Jul 1860 Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States Gender Female _AMTID 190111200304:1030:113173531
Died 2 Jun 1927 Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States Notes - My half-sixth cousin five times removed!!
From the 'Ancestors of Lizzie Borden' website, http://members.aol.com/a
licebeard/borden.html
"Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother 40 whacks.
And when she saw what she had done,
She gave her father 41."
Remember singing that rhyme on the school playground, jumping rope and s
eeing if you could get to 41 whacks? Research on Lizze's genealogy foun
d an interesting twist: While Lizzie was found not guilty of patricide d
espite strong evidence, she had a five-greats grandfather who was found g
uilty of matricide on no more than the testimony of what a man had drea
med. Lizzie descended from Thomas CORNELL, born 1627 in England and exe
cuted 1673 in Portsmouth, RI. Cornell was convicted of matricide on the t
estimony of a man who said that the late Mrs. Cornell had come to him i
a dream and accused her son of having killed her. Thomas Cornell almo
st certainly was not guilty. Thomas had another descendant (a 4th great
-grandson) named Ezra Cornell; Ezra Cornell donated the original endowm
ent for Cornell University.
Lizzie descended from Thomas Cornell's daughter Innocent Cornell, who w
as born posthumously. Whether the widow Cornell [Sarah Earle] named her b
aby "Innocent" as a way of saying, "No matter what the sins of her fath
er, this baby is innocent," or whether she named the baby "Innocent" as a w
ay of stating her own judgment on her late husband is unknown.
Regarding the strange case of Thomas Cornell's conviction for matricide
, The GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY OF RHODE ISLAND has the following, which i
s from The Friends' records of 8-Feb-1673:
"Rebecca Cornell, widow, was killed strangely, at Portsmouth, in her ow
dwelling house, was twice viewed by the Coroner's Inquest, digged up a
d buried again by her husband's grave in their own land.' Her son Thom
as was charged with her murder, but although the jury's verdict in rega
d to this affair was, that 'he did murder his mother Rebecca, or was a
iding or abetting thereto;' yet the evidence in the case would seem to h
ave been in no way conclusive. There was much evidence taken. The son s
aid in his own defence that having discoursed with his mother about an h
our and a half he went into the next room and staid three-quarters of a
hour. His wife then sent his son Edward to his grandmother to know wh
ether she would have some milk boiled for her supper. The child saw som
e fire on the floor and came back and fetched the candle. Then Henry St
aight, myself and the rest followed in a huddle. Henry Straight saw wh
at he supposed was an Indian, drunk and burnt on the floor, but when Th
omas Cornell perceived by the light of the candle who it was, he cried, '
Oh Lord it is my mother.' Her clothes and body were much burned, and th
e jury found a wound on uppermost part of stomach.
"John Briggs [Rebecca's brother] testified as to an apparation of a wom
an that appeared at his bedside in a dream, and he cried out 'in the na
me of God what art thou,' and the apparition answered, 'I am your siste
Cornell' and thrice said 'see how I was burnt with fire.'
"John Russell, of Dartmouth, testified that George Soule told him (sinc
e the decease of Rebecca Cornell), that once coming to the house of Reb
ecca, in Portsmouth, she told him that the spring she intended to go an
d dwell with her son Samuel, but she feared she would be made away with b
efore that. Thomas, Stephen, Edward and John Cornell (sons of Thomas), g
ave testimony as to their grandmother's death, saying their father was l
ast with her.
"Mary Cornell, wife to John, aged twenty-eight years, testified that th
ee or four years past being at her mother-in-law, Rebecca Cornell's, a
d meeting her on returning from the orchard to the house, she said to d
eponent that she had been running after pigs and being weak and no help a
d she being disregarded, she thought to have stabbed a penknife into h
er heart, that she had in her hand, and then she should be rid of her t
ouble, but it came to her mind 'resist the Devil and he will flee from y
ou' and then she said she was well satisfied."
Person ID I18631 Megan's Big Tree Last Modified 31 Dec 1969
Father Andrew Jackson Borden, b. 13 Sep 1822, Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States
, d. 4 Aug 1892, Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States
(Age 69 years)
Mother Sarah Anthony Morse, b. 19 Sep 1823, Somerset, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States
, d. 26 Mar 1863, Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States
(Age 39 years)
Married 26 Dec 1845 Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States [1]
Family ID F7395 Group Sheet | Family Chart
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Event Map Born - 19 Jul 1860 - Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States Died - 2 Jun 1927 - Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States = Link to Google Earth
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Sources - [S277] I Dream of Genealogy Web Site
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- [S277] I Dream of Genealogy Web Site
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