Charles S. Hitchings
{{short description|American slipper manufacturer and politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|image =
|imagesize =
| name = Charles S. Hitchings
| birth_date = April 21, 1844
| birth_place = Saugus, Massachusetts
| death_date = December 12, 1894 (aged 50)
| death_place = Saugus, Massachusetts
|restingplace = Riverside Cemetery
Saugus, Massachusetts
| nationality =
| website =
| occupation = Shoe manufacturer
| residence =
| party = Democratic
| spouse =
| alma_mater =
| title = Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
| term_start = 1886
| term_end = 1887
| predecessor = John H. Town
| successor = Horace H. Atherton
| relations = Charles Sweetser (grandfather)
John B. Hitchings (father)
Benjamin Hitchings Jr. (uncle)
Otis M. Hitchings (uncle)
George H. Sweetser (uncle)
Albert H. Sweetser (cousin)
}}
Charles Sweetser Hitchings (April 21, 1844 – December 12, 1894) was an American shoe manufacturer and politician whose election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives was contested due to irregularities.
Early life
Hitchings was born on April 21, 1844, to John B. and Zeruiah (Sweetser) Hitchings.{{cite book |title=Vital Records of Saugus, Massachusetts To the End of the Year 1849 |date=1907 |publisher=The Essex Institute |location=Salem, Mass. |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SjV4YssuNN8C |access-date=4 May 2022}}
Business
Hitchings began manufacturing shoes in 1867. In 1879, Hitchings purchased Walton & Wilson, and he moved his business to their three-story factory located on the corner of Central and Pearson Streets.{{cite book |editor1-last=Huard |editor1-first=D. Hamilton |title=History of Essex County, Massachusetts |date=1888 |publisher=J. W. Lewis & Co. |location=Philadelphia |pages=414–415 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4da_fyBBU1IC |access-date=25 April 2022}} He employed as many as 50 people and at one point produced around 1,500 hand-made slippers annually for sale in New England and New York. He also grew strawberries, producing about 1,200 a year.{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=E. P. |title=Sketch of Saugus |journal=The Bay State Monthly |date=1885 |volume=2 |pages=144–147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=it8XAQAAIAAJ |access-date=4 May 2022}}
Politics
In 1885, Hitchings defeated Charles H. Mansfield 368 votes to 364 for the 13th Essex district seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Mansfield contested the election, alleging that Hitchings had received votes from men who resided outside of the district or had not paid the poll tax. An investigation by the House Committee on Elections found that one man who resided outside the district had indeed cast a ballot for Hitchings and 50 voters in Saugus had been registered after the deadline to do so had passed and without performing a literacy test. Of these 50 voters, 32 were believed to have voted in the election.{{cite book |editor1-last=Russell |editor1-first=Charles Theodore |title=Reports of Contested Election Cases in the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Years 1886-1902 |date=1902 |publisher=Wright & Potter |location=Boston |pages=3–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufZHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA4 |access-date=12 May 2022}} The committee voted in favor of a resolution to declare the seat vacant and call for a new election, however the House voted in favor of a substitute resolution that stated that it did not appear that the illegally cast votes would have changed the result of the election.{{cite book |title=Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1886 |date=1886 |publisher=Wright & Potter |location=Boston |page=346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVNBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA346 |access-date=12 May 2022}} Hitchings was reelected in 1886, this time in the 20th Essex District due to redistricting.{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/manualforuseofge1887mass/page/432/mode/2up?q |year=1887 |location=Boston |publisher=Commonwealth of Massachusetts |title= Manual for the Use of the General Court }}
References
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Category:Farmers from Massachusetts
Category:Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Category:19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court