Charlie Hadaway

Charlie was the second son born into a working middle-class family in Worcester, Massachusetts - a couple hours away from Boston - on December 12th, 1866. His mother had fallen ill during the pregnancy and therefore caused Charlie to come into the world a little prematurely - in the midst of a particularly brutal Massachusetts winter, no less. Merideth and Henry feared that their new baby would not survive under the circumstances, but with a little luck and determination, Charlie strengthened over the next few weeks and before long, it became clear that he was going to make it.  

The Hadaways were fortunate enough to have their own stables, where they made the majority of their money by breeding quarter horses that were the primary source of transportation those days. Everyone needed a good horse to traverse the country, and not long before Charlie had been brought into the world, they were blessed with a fine stallion and several different mares to genuinely kick off their business. It was especially popular being so close to the bustling city of Boston. 

Even though Charlie survived infancy and grew into a young child, he was considerably smaller than other kids his age and found himself sick quite often. His brother Sammie, older than him by three years, was quite the opposite - a burly, headstrong boy that was hardly ever fazed by anything. Their father was a rather stern man, and was exceptionally proud of Sammie for being the strong son he’d always wished for - in his eyes, he was the perfect candidate to carry on the horse business later in life when his back inevitably gave out.  

Thanks to dulling in comparison to his older brother throughout their childhood, Henry treated Charlie with considerably less warmth as his personality took shape over the years. A passion for animals developed pretty early on thanks to being raised around horses, dogs, and cats. Merideth on the other hand absolutely adored her soft-hearted boy, and bundled him with affection to compensate for the dislike her husband had developed of him over the years. Needless to say, he has fonder memories of his mother rather than his father to date. 

For the most part, Charlie had an uneventful childhood. It kind of compensated for the absolutely wild ride the rest of his life had in store for him. He was schooled at home by his mother, and was not able to make many friends due to their location. By the time he was eight, they suddenly had a new little sister - an event that delighted the boys. It was around this exciting time that his father suffered from a particularly nasty accident being thrown from a horse, and to cope with the pain, he resorted to alcohol. This caused him to develop a drinking problem rather quickly - and the drink brought the anger out. He took his frustrations out on Charlie for several years, and violence became more frequent the more he drank.  

Due to this, Charlie wandered from home quite a bit. He was naturally a curious kid, and liked to explore the wilderness around their farm for the majority of the days to avoid returning home to a drunk father, crying baby, and exasperated mother. There were many days that his brother joined him. They were close, despite their differences. Charlie looked up to Sammie, and they often played tag in the woods or used their imaginations to build kingdoms and such out of the elements.  

When Charlie turned ten, he was finally expected to start throwing his weight around the farm - by now, Sammie was thirteen and Alice was about to turn two. He found it difficult to move wheelbarrows, store hay, or pretty much any other activity that involved a lot of strength or physical endurance. Even so, he was very good with the horses - there were many that he was tasked with feeding and cleaning up after, but out of all of them, his favorite was a little grey mare named Annabelle.  

Most of what he can remember from his childhood just involved that - working around the farm, avoiding triggering the wrath of his drunk father, and taking care of their little sister to help their mom. Sam brought home his first girlfriend - Mary - when he was sixteen after meeting her in town. Charlie, who was thirteen at the time, was honestly not too interested in girls or love or all that. Even through his teenage years, he kept a pretty neutral outlook about finding a relationship.  

Not long after he turned sixteen himself, Sam proposed to Mary and three weeks later, they were married and moving into their own house away from the horse stable - much to their father’s dismay. Sam had never really felt committed to horses or their business, and it was kind of like a ‘fuck you’ to their hardass father. He offered to let Charlie come stay with them, but that would mean leaving Merideth, Alice, and his favorite horse behind, therefore he reluctantly declined. He promised to visit, though.  

Due to Sam abruptly jumping ship with his new wife, Henry finally decided to cut his younger son a little slack. That didn’t mean Charlie forgave him for the years of abuse, however - he kept a cold distance between himself and his father for several years after that.