My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES M. HAPGOOD, President of the C. M. Hapgood Shoe Company, of Easton, was born in Peru, Bennington County, Vt., March 3, 1845, and is the son of Joseph J. and Hepsibeth (Barnard) Hapgood. His paternal ancestors were of English origin, though the family was represented in Massachusetts early in the history of that commonwealth. His grandfather, Joseph Hapgood, a native of the Bay State, was there engaged in agricultural pursuits. Joseph J., who was also born in that state, was taken to Vermont when about three years of age. For about sixty years he was engaged in mercantile business, in which he met with excellent success. Politically he was a Republican, and on that ticket was elected to various town offices. In the work of the Congregational Church he took an active part, and was instrumen tal in securing the erection of an edifice in his locality. Unto his union there were born six children, of whom Charles and Marshall died before reaching maturity. The others are: Charlotte H.; Luke B., a resident of Easton; Marshall J., who lives on the old homestead; and Charles M., the subject of this sketch. Grandfather Barnard was one of the earliest settlers of the village of Peru, where he kept a hotel and also superintended a farm.

Prior to the age of sixteen nothing of special note occurred to vary the usual routine of school work with our subject. At that age his patriotic spirit was stirred by the firing on Ft. Sumter and the secession of the Southern States, and he determined to aid in protecting the Old Flag and saving the Union. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Second Vermont Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac for three years. He participated in nineteen engagements of the Peninsular campaign, including the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House. In the last-named engagement, May 12, 1864, he was wounded to such an extent that he was obliged to spend some months in a hospital. He did not again enter the active service, but was discharged from the hospital and from the army in October, 1864.

On his return to civil life Mr. Hapgood went to Boston, and for three years was employed as a clerk in a shoe store, after which he was in business for himself for eight years. At the time of the Boston fire he suffered a heavy loss in the destruction of building and stock, but with that exception he was prospered in his enterprise. In 1875 he came to Easton, where he commenced in the wholesale and retail shoe business, for two years conducting the trade under the firm name of J. Curtis & Co., and afterward for twelve years as Hapgood, Hay & Co. The firm name was then for four years C. M. Hapgood & Co., but in January, 1894, a stock company was formed, under the title Of the C. M. Hapgood Shoe Company, with our subject as the principal stockholder, the President and general manager. The sales run from $500,000 to $600,000 per annum, and goods are sold in almost every state in the Union.

Besides this business Mr. Hapgood is the principal stockholder in the Easton Boot and Shoe Company, which was organized in 1889, and of which he was President for three years and is now Director. Politically he is a Republican, and has been a member of the City Council. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church, and socially is connected with Lafayette Post No. 217, G. A. R. July 28, 1875, he married Margaret E. Rockwell, an estimable lady, who was born in Nova Scotia, but has spent her life principally in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.