Page 9 - Q1 Newsletter

Charles Nelson Hair was born on May 17, 1831 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Susan and
Horatio Nelson Hair. His first marriage was to Annie E. Cooper of South Berwick, Maine on September
5, 1855. Hair, age 31 and a Worcester police officer, enlisted on August 20, 1862 as a corporal with
the Fifty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. His military records indicate he was 5’ 11 ½ “, dark
complexion with blue eyes. He was appointed sergeant on December 24, 1862 and mustered out on
July 27, 1863. He reenlisted with the Fifty-seventh Infantry on January 5, 1864 and was wounded in
May 1864 and was discharged for promotion. Hair was commissioned a lieutenant on August 12, 1864
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with the 4 Regiment Heavy Artillery and mustered out on June 17, 1865. In the 1865 state census
he was living in Worcester and his occupation was soldier. Hair was appointed as one of the very first
deputy constable assigned to Worcester County in July 1865 and he served until 1872. In the 1870
census he was living in Ward 7, in Worcester, MA and his occupation was “State Constable.” In 1872 he
was appointed Deputy Sheriff, Jailer and Keeper of the House of Correction in Worcester. Charles and
Annie had three children, Charles Sumner (1856), Frank Nelson (1866) and Fannie (1871). His first
wife Annie died on July 20, 1876, and he married a second time to Mattie A. Fay on January 15, 1879
in Princeton, MA. Hair died of a heart attack at age 59 at his home on 94 Austin Street in Worcester on
October 19, 1890, and is buried in Hope Cemetery in Worcester. His occupation on his death record
was Constable. (Family Search) (genalogybank.com) (Military Photo - United States Army Heritage and
Education Center, Carlisle, PA) (Manual for the General Court) (Soldiers & Sailors of Massachusetts)
(Fold 3)(Find A Grave) (Photo of Constable Hair from The Collection of The Worcester Historical
Museum, Worcester, MA) (Color added to photo by Willie Brown, Powhatan Point, OH.)

F irst and F inest P age 9