Chester Ellsworth Gillette (1883 - 1908)

Born 9 Aug 1883 in Wickes, Jefferson, Montana Territory, United States

Ancestors

Died 30 Mar 1908 at age 24 in Auburn, Cayuga, New York, United States

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Biography

Chester was born in 1883. He was the son of Frank Gillette and Louisa Rice.

Chester was convicted of murdering Grace Mae Brown on 11 Jul 1906 at Big Moose Lake, Herkimer County, New York. Grace was pregnant with Chester's child at the time of her death. Chester was executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison on 30 Mar 1908 at the age of 24.

The story of the murder and subsequent trial was the basis for Theodore Dreiser’s best-selling novel An American Tragedy, which spawned the 1951 movie A Place in the Sun, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters and Montgomery Clift.

Sources

• "New York State Census, 1905," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKM2-2DB : 19 July 2018), Chester Gillette in household of John E Lonergau, Cortland, Ward 04, E.D. 01, Cortland, New York; citing p. 8, line 40, various county clerk offices, New York; FHL microfilm 843,869.
• The Murder Trial of Chester Gillette, by The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York, 140 Grand Street, Suite 701, White Plains, N.Y. 10601
• Wikipedia: Chester Gillette
• An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser, published by Boni & Liveright, 17 Dec 1925
• A Place in the Sun, directed & produced by George Stevens, screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, Paramount Pictures, 05 Apr 1951
• The Prison Diary and Letters of Chester Gillette: September 18, 1907 through March 30, 1908 by Jack Sherman and Craig Brandon, published by Richard W. Couper Press, 20 Dec 2007
• The Diary of Chester Gillette, by Jessica Ryen Doyle, Utica Observer-Dispatch, 13 Jan 2008
• Murder of Grace Brown: Relive infamous crime at Big Moose Lake in Adirondacks, by NYup.com, 18 Apr 2016
• The murder at Moose Lake: a young pregnant woman dies but her tragic story lives on, by Mara Bovsun, NY Daily News, 24 Jul 2011
• Find A Grave: Memorial #5809273 for Chester Ellsworth Gillette (9 Aug 1883–30 Mar 1908), citing Soule Cemetery, Sennett, Cayuga County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave.