Leffingwell House History

Sarah Cornell

In 1832, Sarah Cornell, a pregnant mill worker was found hanged in the small New England town of Fall River, MA.

The investigation implicated a prominent Methodist minister. The trial demonstrated one of the earliest attempts by American lawyers to prove their client innocent by assassinating the moral character of the female victim. The mother of Sarah Maria Cornell was Lucretia Leffingwell, daughter of Christopher Leffingwell of Norwich, CT.

Lucretia became a "poor relation" when she married fortune hunter James Cornell.

To learn more about this read by David Richard Kasserman. (Read Fall River Outrage online courtesy of Google.)

Compliments of the Leffingwell House Museum Archives