Charles W. Thomas was born on July 24, 1835, in Ohio to Camm and Rachel Thomas. His father was a farmer who owned $7,000 of real estate and $900 of personal property by 1860. Thomas grew up and attended school in Somerset, Ohio, and by the early 1860s, he was living in California. He married Lydia Morris on November 16, 1862, and they had at least three children: Atlanta, born around 1865; Mary, born around 1868; and George, born around 1878.
They moved to Harlan, Ohio, in the late 1860s, and Thomas worked as a farmer there. By 1870, he owned $1,000 of personal property. They moved to Pesotum, Illinois, in the 1870s and then to Wilson, Kansas, in the early 1880s. By 1900, they were living in Big Apple, Missouri. He died in Missouri on April 19, 1909.