It's a small world! Grace Brown in Cortland
Updated: Apr 16
This week I've been updating some data on my Leonard family in Cortland, New York, specifically zooming in on Charles L. Leonard, the son of Charles Russell Leonard. He was living in Cortland on Hamlin Street with his family when the census was taken in 1892 and 1900. In 1905, however, when the New York State Census was taken, his wife and son, Floyd, lived alone in Cortland.
I went to the census to check what Luella's marital status was in 1905, but that question was not asked on the 1905 New York State census, unfortunately. But while I sighed at the realization of facing another dead end, I noticed another name I recognized immediately on the page - Grace Brown, age 18, an Inspector at a Skirt Company. Could it be? Was this the same Grace Brown who was murdered by her boyfriend just to hide her pregnancy? Naturally, I had to find out.
Image Group Number: 004296294
I went searching to find out if Grace had a sister named Ada Hawley and lived at 13 Fifth Ave, in the neighborhood behind the Cortland hospital, just down the street from the Leonard home on Hamlin Street, shown here:
I'd imagine the Leonards who lived on Hamlin Street must have seen her, or could have possibly known her or her sister. To me that's what's fun about researching family history - finding connections to major events and people of the past.
With a little research, I found that Grace Brown was born on March 20, 1886. She grew up in the village of South Otselic, Chenango County, New York, the middle child of a successful dairy farmer. As the story goes on, it confirms this was in fact the same Grace Brown:
"In 1904, at the age of 18, Brown moved to nearby Cortland to live with her married sister Ada, and to work at the new Gillette Skirt Factory." (Wikipedia)
Chester Gillette, the nephew of the factory owner, had a less stable childhood. Longing for a better life, he moved to Cortland in 1905 to work at his uncle's skirt factory.
Like Grace, he too was counted on the 1905 New York State Census. He was 22-year old "day laborer" lodging in the home of John & Catherine Lonergau at 21 East Main Street, about three-quarters of a mile from where Grace was living, at her sister's home. The census date was June 1, 1905:
Chester and Grace began a romantic relationship soon after his arrival, and in Spring 1906, Brown became pregnant. She returned to her parents' home in South Otselic, concealing the secret from her family, while pressuring Chester to marry her - and rightfully so. It would be the only way to restore her respectability and social standing and "make an honest woman of her" as the old saying goes, at a time when "shotgun weddings" were held to cover up and correct these types of situation - and she might have had a shotgun wedding if she had told her father what was going on, but instead, Chester came up with a plan and she went with it.
He apparently promised marriage but some say he promised to take her to a maternity home where she could live until the child was born. Either way, he agreed to take her away to the Adirondacks, so they traveled together by train to Big Moose Lake, which lies on the border of Herkimer and Hamilton counties.
In the hotel's registry, Gillette used the pseudonym "Carl Grahm", a fact that probably helped prove his unlawful intentions and premeditation.
On July 11, 1906, the couple were seen rowing out on Big Moose Lake. While they were on the lake, Chester is believed to have struck Grace over the head with either an oar or a tennis racket that had been seen strapped to his suitcase. She ultimately fell or was pushed out of the boat and drowned. Her body was found the next day and Chester was apprehended in the nearby town of Inlet, New York.
The trial began in the Fall. The defense claimed that Grace had been confused and suddenly jumped out of the boat and into the water, despite being fully clothed.
"We talked a little more, then she got up and jumped in the water, just jumped in." (Chester Gillette)
Authorities confiscated Brown's love letters from Gillette's rented room as evidence. District attorney George Ward read Grace's letters aloud to the court during the trial. In her letters, she pleaded with Chester to accept responsibility and do the right thing.
In her final letter, written July 5th, she looked forward to her impending Adirondack trip with Chester. She expressed that she wished she could confess her pregnancy to her mother:
"I know I shall never see any of them again. And mamma! Great heavens, how I do love mamma! I don't know what I shall do without her (...) Sometimes I think if I could tell mamma, but I can't. She has trouble enough as it is, and I couldn't break her heart like that. If I come back dead, perhaps if she does not know, she won't be angry with me."
The trial lasted three weeks, and, in the end, justice was served - in a way. Gillette was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Grace. He was sentenced to death and was executed by electrocution on March 30, 1908, in Auburn Correctional Facility.
The story has inspired novels including Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy", Jennifer Donnelly's "A Northern Light", Craig Brandon's "Murder in the Adirondacks", and Harold Thompson's "Body, Boots and Britches". Dreiser's novel inspired two films. The first, "An American Tragedy", in 1931, and the second, "A Place in the Sun", in 1951, which portrayed the character of Grace as an opportunist who believed that marrying into Chester's family would bring her advantages.
Either way, Grace's involvement with Chester Gillette didn't benefit Grace or her family in any way. May she and her unborn child rest in peace.
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