Charles Hathaway Larrabee, the son of Maj. Charles Larrabee of the regular army and Elizabeth (Hathaway) Larrabee, was born at Rome, Oneida County, New York. His father was probably of Huguenot stock; his mother was descended from John Haynes, colonial governor of Massachusetts and later of Connecticut, while Judge Joshua Hathaway, her father, at sixteen, was one of six brothers, who, with their father, carried muskets at Bennington under Gen. John Stark.
Charles attended Springfield Academy and Granville College, now Denison University, Ohio, then read law in the offices of Samson Mason and W. A. Rogers in Springfield, Ohio.
In 1841 Larrabee went to Pontotoc, Mississippi, as a civil engineer. Here he made an unsuccessful attempt at farming but was admitted to the bar. Finding the climate of Mississippi harmful to him, he removed to Chicago in July 1844, entered upon the practice of his profession, and was elected city attorney. In March 1847, he settled at Horicon, Wisconsin. Here Larrabee erected mills and developed a fine water power. He was chosen in October 1847, by an overwhelming majority, one of three members to represent Dodge County in the second constitutional convention of the territory of Wisconsin.
In 1848 he was chosen circuit judge of the third circuit, made up of six large counties. As a circuit judge he became, upon the adoption of the constitution, ex officio a member of the supreme court and served in that capacity until the separate organization of the supreme court five years later. He was a strong supporter of Stephen A. Douglas and at the latter's solicitation resigned from the bench to become a successful candidate for Congress at the fall election in 1858, overcoming a strong Republican majority in his district. He went down with Douglas, however, when in 1860 he was a candidate for reëlection. He rendered creditable service in Congress and at the close of his term offered his services in April 1861 to Gov. A. W. Randall and Gen. Rufus King.
He was commissioned a major of the 5th Wisconsin Infantry May 28, 1861, and with his regiment saw much hard service in the Army of the Potomac. He proved himself to be an excellent officer but his friends felt that his chances of promotion were diminished because of his former political affiliations. On July 25, 1862, by appointment of Governor Salomon, Larrabee became colonel of the 24th Wisconsin Infantry. As a commanding officer he rendered distinguished service but he fell a victim to a disease contracted in the swamps of the Chickahominy and on August 27, 1863, he retired from the service.
After leaving the army, in the hope of regaining his health, he settled in California. He lived also for a short time at Seattle and here, almost exactly thirty years after he had served as a member of the Wisconsin Constitutional Convention, he became a member of a convention to frame a constitution for Washington Territory. This constitution was, however, rejected. Subsequently he settled at San Bernardino, in Southern California, where he resumed the practice of his profession. He was killed in a train accident at the Tehachapi Loop near Tehachapi, California, on January 20, 1883. The distinguished services which he rendered in so many fields did not win adequate recognition because of his rather nomadic life.
Quotations: In a letter which he wrote two or three years before his death he said: "Being born in the army, I never had a particle of State pride. All States seem to me like so many Counties. Nor have I love of locality. Cities I hate. I am happiest in building up new homes, introducing new fruits, and other light productions of the soil" (Draper, post, p. 388).
On May 13, 1846, Larrabee was married to Minerva Norton.
