Charles Wilson Cummings was born around 1846 in Groton, New Hampshire, to Jotham Cummings and Mary Cheney. His father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate and $3,000 of personal property in 1860. Cummings grew up in Groton next door to Edward P. Hall, and the two became good friends. Cummings married Emily Merrill around 1877, and they lived in Plainfield, New Hampshire. By 1900, he was working as a clothing merchant in Warren, New Hampshire. He died in 1908.