Charles Stetson (1858 - 1881)

Born 14 Feb 1858 in Shutesbury, Franklin County, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Husband of Juliette (Smith) Joslin — married 12 Jan 1877 in Leverett, Franklin County, Massachusetts

Died 11 Apr 1881 at age 23 in Pelham, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Charles Stetson was born in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, in 1858, the son of William Barry Stetson and his first wife, Katherine Beals Stetson. The Shutesbury birth register for the year 1858 lists the birth on 14 February of a male child with last name Stetson, born to parents Wm. B. Stetson and Catherine Beals, natives respectively of Shutesbury and Hadley. Wm. B. Stetson was recorded as a farmer.^[1] The 1860 U.S. Census recorded 2-year-old Charles Stetson in the Shutesbury household of William B. Stetson, 25, a lumber dealer, along with Catherine Stetson, 24; Jenette Stetson, 4; and John Haskins, 24, a day laborer.^[2]

His mother died in 1863, and his father remarried.

The 1865 Massachusetts state census recorded 7-year-old Charles Stetson in the household of his father, 30-year-old lumber dealer William B. Stetson, in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. Other family members in the record are Sarah M. Stetson, 19 (his stepmother); and his sisters Nettie Stetson, 8; and Carrie Stetson, 3. Their household also included two men identified as laborers and a female servant.^[3]

The 1870 U.S. Census recorded Charles in his father's household in Shutesbury.^[4] It also recorded Charles and his sister Clara living in the home of their uncle, John Stetson, in Amherst.^[5]

He married Juliett Smith in Leverett, Massachusetts, on 12 January 1877. The marriage record indicates that he was age 20, born in Shutesbury, a son of William B. and Kate Stetson, and he lived in Leverett and worked as a teamster. Juliett was recorded as age 18, a daughter of William Smith, born and residing in Amherst. They were married by a clergyman named Taggart.^[6] A daughter of Charles and Juliett Stetson, Jennie N. Stetson, was born on 2 March 1878 in Enfield, Massachusetts. ^[7] Jennie Stetson must have died very young, as she was not recorded in the 1880 census. The 1880 U.S. Census recorded Charles Stetson, 22, a farmer, living in Enfield, Massachusetts, with wife Julia F. Stetson, 19, and three others: Jennie Jones, 14, "helps in home"; David Glazier, 20, and Alonzo Pratt, 40, both boarders with the occupation of laborer. ^[8]

Murder

Charles died in 1881, when he was murdered by Charles Briggs, his wife's lover, at Adam Cole's cider mill in Pelham, Massachusetts. The Boston Post newspaper reported the event on 13 April 1881:^[9]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. April 12. Charles Briggs, aged ??, shot and killed Charles Stetson, Monday night, during a dance at a cider mill in Pelham, a little town four miles from Amherst. Stetson had separated from his wife, partly because of Briggs' intimacy with her. Briggs took the woman to the dance, and in a quarrel between the men, Briggs put three balls into Stetson's brain, either of which would have been fatal. Briggs was committed to the Northampton Jail this morning. He claimed that Stetson assaulted him and he was forced to shoot. Stetson was highly respected, aged 23. Neither had been drinking.

An 1893 study entitled "Murders in Massachusetts," includes this description of the incident:^[10]

Charles A. Briggs, 21 years old, killed Charles Stetson with a pistol April 12, 1881, at Pelham. Both were country boys of American stock. Briggs paid attentions to Stetson's wife, who had left her husband. The three met at a "country dance" in a cider mill to which Briggs had escorted Stetson's wife. There was a quarrel over the woman at the dance resulting in the murder. Like many country boys of his loose character, Briggs carried a pistol.

Charles A. Briggs received a life sentence for the murder. In his annual report for 1881, the Massachusetts Attorney General reported on the case: ^[11]

IN THE COUNTY OF HAMPSHIRE

An indictment against Charles A. Briggs for the murder of Charles Stetson at Pelham by shooting. He was arraigned on the nineteenth day of September, and pleaded not guilty; and Messrs. Charles Delano and Charles N. Clark were assigned as his counsel. At the time fixed for his trial, he offered through his counsel to retract his plea, and to plead guilty of murder in the second degree. I was entirely satisfied that this result would be consistent with public justice; and I consented, and accepted the plea which was tendered. The defendant was then sentenced to imprisonment in State Prison for life.

Briggs received a pardon from Massachusetts Governor William Russell on Thanksgiving Day, 1891. The Governor's message to the General Court of Massachusetts (the state legislature) stated:^[12]

Charles A. Briggs. Convicted of murder, second degree supreme judicial court, Hampshire county, Dec. 6, 1881. Sentenced to state prison for life. Pardoned Nov. 26, 1891, as an act of executive clemency for thanksgiving day. Briggs had never violated a single rule of the prison. His deportment had been perfect during the ten years of his imprisonment. There was every reason to believe that he would l become a good citizen and a worthy member of society. The pardon was recommended by warden Lovering and ex-wardens Usher and Russell.

The pardon was criticized in western Massachusetts. The Fitchburg Sentinel newspaper stated that when they received the news, "we remarked that, to those who knew the circumstances attending the crime committed by Briggs, this pardon made a farce of justice," and quoted more extensive criticism from the Amherst Record:^[13]

In accordance with a time-honored custom. Gov. Russell signalized the advent of Thanksgiving day by the pardon of two criminals confined in state prison. One of these criminals was Charles A. Briggs, who in December, 1881, plead guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to state prison for life. The crime which Briggs confessed was the killing of his friend Charles Stetson at a dance at Adam Cole's cider-mill, on Pelham Hill, April 11, 1881. ... For some reason that has never been explained, Attorney General Manton accepted his plea of guilty of murder in the second degree. [The evidence presented] showed it to be one of the most coldblooded on record; and Briggs was considered fortunate to have escaped hanging. Of course, as is the common case in most of these hill-town tragedies, there was a woman at the bottom of the affair, and that woman was the wife of Charles Stetson, who had left her husband and was living apart from him on account of family troubles caused by her relations with other men, notably Briggs. Briggs had been at one time in the employ of Stetson and had lived in his family, and the testimony went to show that he had been intimate with Stetson's wife, and that Stetson had been informed of the fact. At all events there had been trouble between the men on this account, and several witnesses testified that Briggs had threatened to kill Stetson if the latter interfered with him. Two nights before be had bought a box of cartridges at East Amherst, and on his way home had fired his revolver two or three times as if to test it. At the dance he had spoken of Stetson to a friend, at the same time showing him the handle of the revolver. Both of the men had been drinking, but not sufficiently to render either intoxicated. Two or three times while the dance was in progress the men had met in a hall way and words passed between them. The testimony as to the shooting was to the effect that Briggs followed Stetson out into a hallway, and after a few words, standing within three or four feet of him. pulled his revolver and fired three shots at him point blank, two of the balls striking him in the head and one in the neck, either of the first two wounds inflicted being sufficient to cause death. Stetson was unarmed at the time, and seemed anxious to avoid a quarrel. In view of this testimony. and a great deal more to the same general effect that was brought out at the hearing, it would seem that if ever a cowardly murder was committed such was the crime of Charles A. Briggs, and if ever capital punishment ought to be inflicted it should have been in this case...

Burial

Charles Stetson is buried in the Stetson family cemetery in Shutesbury.^[14]

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QT9-HPZ?cc=1536925&wc=M61J-KPN%3A73568501 : 27 October 2020), 004341180 > image 690 of 1088; Massachusetts Archives, Boston.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GB9J-9PHM?cc=1473181&wc=7Q6K-LMX%3A1589422209%2C1589422251%2C1589429440 : 24 March 2017), Massachusetts > Franklin > Shutesbury > image 6 of 21; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3. ↑ "Massachusetts State Census, 1865," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D169-Q1S?cc=1410399&wc=M6PX-HMS%3A27784001%2C27816201 : 1 June 2018), Franklin > Shutesbury > image 10 of 13; State Archives, Boston.
4. ↑ United States Census, 1870. Enumeration sheet for Shutesbury, Franklin County, Massachusetts, (New Salem post office), recorded July 20, 1870. Household: Stetson, Wm B, 35, Lumberman. Stetson, Sarah E, 24, Keeping House. Stetson, Janette, 14, At School. Stetson, Charles, 12, At Home.
5. ↑ United States Census, 1870, Enumeration sheet for Amherst, Hampshire County, Mass. Post office: Amherst, Mass., recorded June 8, 1870. Household: Stetson, John H. 40, Farmer. Stetson, Eliza M., 38, Keeping House. Stetson, Charles W., 12, At school. Stetson, Clara K., 10, At school. Peirce, Susannah, 33, At Home. Peirce, Waldo H., 20, Farm laborer.
6. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6PY5-GQ?cc=1469062&wc=3PMM-6TG%3A1063285702 : 24 May 2018), 004279601 > image 158 of 239; State Archives, Boston.
7. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4DH-JPY : 14 January 2020), Charles Stetson in entry for Jennie N. Stetson, 1878.
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBZ-9G6?cc=1417683&wc=XZQS-BZ9%3A1589405656%2C1589405800%2C1589397955%2C1589403092 : 24 December 2015), Massachusetts > Hampshire > Enfield > ED 325 > image 18 of 27; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.)
9. ↑ Accessed at http://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10025/newspaper-archive?s=240385321&itemId=695574980&indId=individual-240385321-2000112&action=showRecord&siteId=240385321 .
10. ↑ Cook, "Murders in Massachusetts." Page 18 of the original, page 374 in the compilation volume.
11. ↑ Public Documents of Massachusetts, Volume 3, 1882. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Attorney General's Report, Jan. 18, 1882, Page 6.
12. ↑ Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1893. page 622.
13. ↑ Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts), Saturday, December 5, 1891, Page 4. http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/66451226/ . Note: This partial quotation is from OCR text, some of which was seriously garbled.
14. ↑ Gravestone photographed in 2013 by Ellen Smith.

• Cook, Waldo L. "Murders in Massachusetts." Publications of the American Statistical Association, Volume 3, New Series, Number 23, September 1893, pages 1-27. Pages 357-378 in the compilation volume at https://books.google.com/books?id=cUpEAAAAIAAJ

See Also:

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80627979/charles-stetson : accessed 03 May 2021), memorial page for Charles Stetson (14 Feb 1858–11 Apr 1881), Find a Grave Memorial ID 80627979, citing Luther Henry Tomb Yard, Shutesbury, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Philip Johnson (contributor 47388584).
• Parmenter, C. O. History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898. Amherst, Mass.: Press of Carpenter and Morehouse, 1898. page 498.