Charles Thomas Wetherby

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Charles Thomas Wetherby was born March 4, 1807 in Fitchburg, Worcester County, Massachusetts, the son of Ephraim Wetherbee and Elizabeth Brown Chamberlin Wetherbee. He was the eldest of their six children. He married Nancy Hyde, the daughter of John and Abigail Hyde, on May 5, 1831 in Winchenden, Worcester, Massachusetts. Charles Wetherby was a woolen manufacturer, by trade, who moved around considerably in the Cheshire County area in the 15 years he lived in New Hampshire. He settled in Walpole in 1831, moved to Drewsville, in the north part of Walpole in 1837, staying there five years; transferred to Gilsum where he carried on his business with Gerould and Nichols for seven years; and then moved to South Acworth.

He and Nancy were the parents of ten children, six boys and four girls.

Sadly she was to die within months of the birth and death of their last child, on September 6, 1849. Their first child, Charles was born June 10, 1832, in Walpole, Cheshire County. Eliza Ann was born August 16, 1833; Mary Jane, April 2, 1835; William, September 4, 1836; Edwin, January 22, 1840 in Drewsville; Ellen Augusta, March 15, 1842 in Drewsville; Julietta, February 14, 1844 in Gilsum; Austin, August 11, 1845 (died December 26, 1848); Baxter, September 8, 1847 in Acworth; and Thomas, May 7, 1849.

Charles was married a second time to Martha P. Fish on April 1, 1850, and losing yet another child, Baxter, the following year, they set off for Lowell, Ohio in 1852, where they were to live until his death June 5, 1871.

He and Eliza were listed as founding members of the Congregational Church of Lowell on November 13, 1857. "Reverend Charles Wetherby was the first pastor of the church and considerable prosperity attended his labors.... A house of worship was erected in 1858 and 1859. This is a substantial brick structure 40 by 50 feet and cost $1,600, exclusive of the lot which was donated by Dr. Cyrus Spooner."

Since Eliza's future husband, Harrison Gray Otis, was educated at the Wetherby Academy in Lowell in 1856-1857, it can be presumed that Charles was a school teacher as well. Eliza had graduated in 1856 from Castleton Seminary, now a state college in Vermont, so it is possible that their romance began as she taught this young man, who was four years her junior. They were married September 11, 1859 in the newly constructed church by her father.

The five children who survived Charles were Charles, who lived until 1887, Eliza and Edwin who both lived until 1904, Ellen and William.

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Charles Thomas Weatherby	Charles Thomas Weatherby
Charles Wetherby's house in Lowell OH	Charles Thomas Weatherby