Carlos Coolidge Fletcher was born on February 13, 1839, in Acworth, New Hampshire to Benjamin Fletcher and Lucinda Davis. His father was a carpenter who owned $300 of real estate and $200 of personal property in 1860. The family lived in Nashville, New Hampshire, until the 1850s, when they moved to Chester, Vermont.
By 1860, he was working as a laborer on his father’s farm, and he owned $75 of personal property. He married Lydia Ursula Davis in Chester on January 22, 1861, and they had at least three children: Elmer, born around 1863; Leon, born around 1868; and Leslie, born around 1870. The couple lived with Lydia’s parents, and Fletcher worked as a farmer. He supported the Republican Party and reportedly cast his ballot for Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1864. By 1870, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $1,050 of personal property. He worked as a farmer in Chester for the rest of his life. Newspapers throughout the state recognized their 60th wedding anniversary in January 1921 and their 68th anniversary in January 1929. He died in Chester on April 5, 1930.