Charles Nason was born around 1823 in Kennebunk, Maine, to Moses and Betsey Nason. He married a woman named Sarah, and they had at least two children: Charles, born around 1845; and Osmon, born around 1858. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844, and he earned a living as a minister. The family lived in Concord, New Hampshire, and he graduated from the Methodist General Biblical Institute in 1851. They moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the 1850s. By 1860, he owned $400 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 15, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in the 8^th Maine Infantry. He became a chaplain soon afterward. Army officials assigned him to the 2^nd Maine Cavalry in December 1863, and he resigned on March 1, 1865.

 

He settled in Coventry, Rhode Island, after the war and resumed his work as a minister. By 1870, he owned $2,000 of personal property. He moved to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in the 1870s. He was a member of the local school board and the local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he served as chaplain of the Rhode Island Hospital. He died of pneumonia in Woonsocket on May 28, 1885.

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