A Life before the Famous Case
Sarah Anthony Borden, born Sarah Anthony Morse, lived from September 19, 1823, to March 26, 1863. She was the first wife of Andrew Jackson Borden and the mother of Emma, Alice, and Lizzie. I find the dates essential because Sarah died nearly three decades before the murders and trial that later made the Borden name so familiar.
Her biography belongs to the earlier history of the family in Massachusetts. It is a story of marriage, three daughters, the death of a young child, and her own death at 39. Those events should be described on their own terms rather than treated as clues to something that happened long afterward.
Somerset and the Morse Family
Sarah was born in Somerset, Massachusetts, to Anthony Morse and Rhoda Morrison. The Morse family connection explains the surname that appears in her full name before marriage. Somerset and nearby Fall River form the geographical background to the life described here.
Her parents’ names help distinguish her from other women called Sarah Borden. I prefer that simple identification to elaborate claims about her personality or upbringing. The family history establishes her parentage and birthplace, but it does not provide the detail needed to reconstruct private conversations or childhood habits.
She was born in 1823 and married in 1845. That puts her marriage at age 22. The interval is the first major division in her chronology: an early life within the Morse family followed by marriage into the Borden family and motherhood in Fall River.
A Christmas Day Marriage
Sarah married Andrew Jackson Borden on December 25, 1845. Andrew had been born in 1822, making them close in age. Their Christmas Day wedding began a marriage that lasted until Sarah’s death in 1863.
Andrew worked as a carpenter before developing business interests that included banking, textiles, and real estate. Those activities belong to his professional history. I keep them as household context without treating his later wealth as Sarah’s personal fortune or assuming that every stage of his success occurred during her lifetime.
The marriage lasted a little more than 17 years. Within that period came the births of three daughters, each with a distinct place in the family. The dates provide a clear structure even though the daily domestic life of the couple is not richly described in the material available here.
Emma Lenora Borden
Emma Lenora Borden was born on March 1, 1851, Sarah and Andrew’s eldest daughter. She was 12 when Sarah died in March 1863. The age matters because Emma had known her mother for substantially longer than her younger sister Lizzie had.
Emma later became an important presence in Lizzie’s life. Family accounts describe her as caring for her younger sister after their mother’s death. I treat that relationship as part of the later household history without recreating a promise or private scene at Sarah’s bedside.
Emma lived until June 10, 1927. Her adulthood extended far beyond Sarah’s lifetime and into the period when the family became a subject of public scrutiny. The mother and daughter therefore belong to overlapping but very different spans of history.
Alice Esther and an Early Loss
Sarah’s second daughter, Alice Esther Borden, was born on May 3, 1856. Alice died on March 10, 1858, before her second birthday. Her death is attributed in the family account to hydrocephalus.
I find Alice’s name important because summaries sometimes refer only to Emma and Lizzie, the two daughters who reached adulthood. Sarah was the mother of three children, and Alice’s short life belongs in that count. Omitting her would make the earlier family chronology incomplete.
Alice’s death came more than two years before Lizzie’s birth. It also came five years before Sarah’s own death. These intervals identify the sequence of losses and births without assigning unrecorded emotional reactions to the household.
Lizzie Andrew Borden
Lizzie Andrew Borden was born on July 19, 1860, the youngest of Sarah’s daughters. When Sarah died on March 26, 1863, Lizzie was two years old. She therefore lost her biological mother at a very young age.
I keep Lizzie’s later notoriety separate from that fact. Sarah’s death may be discussed in accounts of Lizzie’s upbringing, but it should not be used as a convenient explanation for events decades later. A biographical connection is not proof of a psychological cause.
Lizzie lived until June 1, 1927. She was acquitted at trial following the 1892 deaths of Andrew and his second wife Abby. The acquittal belongs to Lizzie’s adult history, while Sarah’s life had ended in 1863. Calling Sarah a participant in the famous case would collapse nearly 30 years of chronology.
Sarah’s Death and Burial
Sarah died in Fall River on March 26, 1863, at age 39. The recorded causes in the family account are uterine congestion and spinal disease. I retain those historical descriptions without translating them into a modern diagnosis that the information does not establish.
She was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, where the Borden family plot later became associated with the broader family history. Her burial is a memorial to a woman who died young, not simply a landmark attached to a famous trial.
Her death left Andrew with two surviving daughters: Emma, age 12, and Lizzie, age two. Alice had already died in 1858. That immediate family situation is one of the clearest ways to understand the effect on the household without inventing the private experience of each person.
Abby and the Later Household
Andrew married Abby Durfee Gray in 1865, two years after Sarah’s death. Abby became the stepmother of Emma and Lizzie. She was not their biological mother, and she should not be confused with Sarah in discussions of the family.
I find the distinction particularly necessary because Abby was one of the two people killed in 1892. Sarah was already deceased. The earlier marriage, the second marriage, and the later murders are separate chapters connected by Andrew and the surviving daughters.
FAQ
Who was Sarah Anthony Borden?
Sarah was the first wife of Andrew Jackson Borden and the mother of Emma Lenora, Alice Esther, and Lizzie Andrew Borden. Born Sarah Anthony Morse in Somerset, Massachusetts, in 1823, she married Andrew in 1845 and died in 1863 at age 39.
Was Sarah alive during the Borden murders?
No. Sarah died on March 26, 1863. Andrew and his second wife Abby died in 1892, nearly three decades later. Sarah’s place in the family belongs to the earlier marriage and her daughters’ childhoods, rather than the later criminal proceedings.
How many children did Sarah have?
She had three daughters. Emma was born in 1851, Alice in 1856, and Lizzie in 1860. Alice died in 1858 before turning two. Emma and Lizzie survived their mother and lived into adulthood.
How old were Emma and Lizzie when Sarah died?
Emma had just turned 12, while Lizzie was two. Their different ages are important when describing the family chronology because they had known Sarah for different lengths of time before her death in March 1863.
