Elizabeth Bailey Hardee & Sarah Chamberlin Weed: Murder/Suicide

Elizabeth Bailey Hardee & Sarah Chamberlin Weed founded the Laurens School at 107 Audoben Rd in Boston, MA. It was a girl's finishing school.

Elizabeth Bailey Hardee

Elizabeth was born in 1873 in Savannah, GA. To Willian P. Hardee & Cornelia W. Richardson. Elizabeth graduated from Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA.

Sarah Chamberlin Weed

Sarah was born 25 May 1869 in Greenfield, NY to Alvah Weed & Sylvia Warren. She also graduated from Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. According to newspaper articles Sarah had been stressed from working so hard at getting their school ready and she had a breakdown and was put in the asylum for a time, she escaped came back to the school and Elizabeth settled her down and got her to lay in bed to rest, Elizabeth share the room with her and she laid in her bed. In the morning their bodies were found, and it was come to the conclusion that Sarah first shot Elizabeth then herself on the 11 of March 1908. See attached newspaper articles.

They were both teachers.

 

Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA

Saint John, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

Wed, Mar 18, 1908 · Page 9

                                                       Death certificates are from Ancestry.com

The Louisville Herald

Tue, Mar 17, 1908 ·Page 6

The Courier-Journal

Thu, Mar 12, 1908 ·Page 1

The following article just click the links to read:

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fargo-forum-daily-republican-and-m/191520521/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/darlington-democrat-sarah-chamberlin-wee/191519739/

I found an advertisement for their school in the newspaper.

Boston Evening Transcript

Sat, Aug 03, 1907 ·Page 26

Such a sad story and they labeled Sarah as having melancholia due to over working, of course the mental health of persons during this time were horrible. They had just opened their school the following Fall. I did not find any information on the school so it must have closed after their deaths. The photo in the article above shows their school, it's a nice-looking building, I wonder how many students they had.

Sarah had been going through her breakdown since the 1st of Oct 1907. Heart breaking story. Please leave a comment on your thoughts and click that follow button pretty please. Thank you so much for stopping by.