Charles Stetson

Charles Stetson (November 2, 1801 – March 27, 1883) was a United States representative from Maine, and the eldest member of a powerful Bangor political family. He was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on November 2, 1801, but moved with his parents to Hampden, Maine, in 1802. His father Simeon Stetson (b. Braintree, Massachusetts) kept a store and a sawmill, and built vessels for the West India Trade. His uncle Amasa Stetson was proprietor of the nearby town of Stetson, Maine, where Simeon had briefly settled before moving to Hampden.

Stetson was 13 years old when a British invasion force sacked the town of Hampden and terrorized its inhabitants following the Battle of Hampden (1814). He subsequently attended Hampden Academy and graduated from Yale College in 1823. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Hampden in 1826.